July 15, 2016

Weekly Wrap:

It looks like we have to say goodbye for the summer to the Pennsylvania Legislature, who completed work on a state spending plan on Wednesday, two weeks after the June 30 deadline. Even though the General Appropriations Bill, S.B. 1073 (Browne, R-Lehigh), was presented to the Governor on July 1 and lapsed into law without his signature on July 11, the remaining pieces of a complete and balanced state budget lagged behind and weren’t enacted until Wednesday, July 13.

To foot the bill for the $31.6 billion spending plan, the legislature imposed additional taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, digital downloads, table games at casinos and cash lottery winnings. Additionally, amendments were made to the calculations for the bank shares tax and the sales tax vendor discount. These items –all addressed in the Tax Reform Code–cover about half of the tab, while revenue from previously enacted liquor reforms, yet to be enacted gaming expansion legislation, a tax amnesty program and loans and transfers from other funds cover the rest.

Read more from our earlier blog: https://www.buchanangovernmentrelations.com/worth-another-look-amendments-tax-reform-code/

But there’s more to it than raising the revenue and doling it out; legislation laying forth particular directives on how the appropriations can be spent is also a critical part of the budget. To that end, the legislature enacted comprehensive amendments to the Fiscal Code and the Public School Code.

For more, check out our blogs from earlier this week:

https://www.buchanangovernmentrelations.com/worth-another-look-amendments-fiscal-code/

https://www.buchanangovernmentrelations.com/worth-another-look-amendments-public-school-code/

Also on the budget front, the Governor signed H.B. 2137, H.B. 2138, H.B. 2139, H.B. 2140 and H.B. 2141this week. All sponsored by Rep. Adolph (R-Delaware), these bills make appropriations to Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University,  Lincoln University and The University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

Looking beyond the budget, other notable bills made it across the finish line this week. The following are currently on the Governor’s desk for his signature:

  • H.B. 59 (Baker, R-Bradford), which requires that hospitals and doctor’s offices offer screening for Hepatitis C to anyone born between 1945 and 1965;
  • S.B. 514 (Vance, R-Cumberland), providing for generic substitutions of biologics;
  • S.B. 1221 (Costa, D-Allegheny), reforming the Pittsburgh Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority;
  • S.B. 1227 (Blake, D-Lackawanna), which amends the Administrative Code to transfer the duties related to pension and legislative analysis of PERC to the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO). The bill also transfers PERC’s duties under the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act to the office of the Auditor General.; and
  • S.B. 1267 (Rafferty, R-Montgomery), supplementing Pennsylvania’s “Green Light Go” Program.

There was also a special election this week that went pretty much unnoticed. The House seat for the left empty when Rep. Tom Killion became Sen. Tom Killion (R-Delaware) earlier this year was up for grabs on Tuesday. Republican Chris Quinn defeated Democrat Diane Cornman-Levy in the race and will now represent the 168th district, which is located in Delaware County. Quinn’s victory yields no net change in the make-up of the House of Representatives.

Also going largely unnoticed, last Friday the Governor published his Regulatory Agenda for the final quarter of the 2015-2016 legislative session. In order to keep the regulated community apprised of developments in regulatory activity, a long-standing executive order requires all agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction to publish an agenda of regulations under development or consideration on the first Saturday of February and July.

The Regulatory Agenda can be found here: http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol46/46-28/1182.html

A Look Ahead:

Neither the House nor the Senate will return to Harrisburg until September, and no standing committees have scheduled public hearings for next week as of this writing. However, the House Democratic Policy Committee will be on the road, holding hearings on opioids (Monday), defective SEPTA cars (Tuesday) and Fair Chance Housing (Wednesday).

Check out the schedule here: http://www.pahouse.com/PolicyCommittee/Events/

In Other News: