Weekly Wrap
The House of Representatives was the only chamber in Harrisburg this week.
On Monday, the House Transportation Committee held a public hearing on HB 1633 (Kinkead, D-Allegheny), which would allow municipalities to authorize shared e-scooter programs.
On the House Floor, a few bills of note passed finally and will head to the Senate for their consideration:
- HB 2084 (Harris, D-Philadelphia), which would establish a higher education grant program for students attending Pennsylvania community colleges, state system universities, and state-related institutions;
- HB 2450 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would amend provisions related to nuclear power plant fees; and
- HB 2540 (Williams, D-Chester), which would require chip-enabled access cards for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Tuesday, HB 2625 (Dougherty, D-Philadelphia) was reported from the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. The bill would clarify fingerprinting and criminal background check requirements for applicants seeking licensure through the State Horse Racing Commission.
The House Finance Committee reported out HB 2610 (Fleming, D-Dauphin), which would create an electronic lien filing system and centralized repository where taxpayers can view and print their satisfaction documents.
The House Transportation Committee reported out several bills of note:
- HB 1296 (Brown, R-Lawrence), which would allow individuals renewing their driver’s license or vehicle registrations to donate to the Fire Company Grant Program and EMS Grant Programs;
- HB 2219 (McNeill, D-Lehigh), which would prohibit the use of license plate obscuring devices; and
- SB 1294 (Ward, R-Blair), which would increase penalties for those operating unlicensed commercial driving schools.
The House Education Committee reported out three bills of note:
- HB 2632 (Rivera, D-Lancaster), which would amend the current EITC/OSTC programs by: (1) increasing oversight of scholarship granting organizations; (2) targeting resources to students living in the attendance area of a low-achieving public school or attending a nonpublic school in a low-income zip code; (3) increasing transparency on how scholarship dollars are used, including requiring reporting by income level and amount of remaining tuition charged to the student; and (4) expanding funding opportunities to include childcare costs;
- HB 2633 (Rusnock, D-Berks), which would open PlanCon 2.0; and
- HB 2634 (Prokopiak, D-Bucks), which would make changes to the charter school tuition rate formula and implement cyber charter school funding reforms proposed by the Governor.
On the House floor, two bills of note passed finally and will go to the Senate for consideration: HB 2264 (Davidson, D-Dauphin), which would establish virtual power plant programs by electric distribution companies; and HB 2307 (Kinkead, D-Allegheny), which would provide for new requirements for the distribution of funding for extraordinary special education program expenses.
Wednesday, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee and House Human Services Committee held a joint informational meeting on In Lieu of Services.
The House Energy Committee reported out three bills of note:
- HB 2359 (Ciresi, D-Montgomery), which would adjust the Computer Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption Program by adding community protection eligibility requirements;
- HB 2380 (Rivera, D-Lancaster), which would require electric distribution companies to procure battery storage systems; and
- HB 2595 (Ingliss, D-Allegheny), which would establish deadline requirements for the interconnection safety reviews of small-scale energy projects.
The House Finance Committee reported out HB 2650 (Webster, D-Montgomery), which would implement the Governor’s proposed Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) plan for data center development.
The House Health Committee reported out the following legislation of note:
- HB 2378 (Madden, D-Monroe), which would expand the age for current influenza vaccine offering requirement from 65 and older to 50 and older;
- HB 2614 (Kosierowski, D-Chester), which would ban Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in IV bags and tubing;
- HB 2621 (Shusterman, D-Montgomery), which would provide permanent funding for the Pregnancy Risk Assessment System (PRAMS); and
- HR 528 (Cooper, R-Westmoreland), which would direct the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study on Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS).
The House Local Government Committee reported out HB 2496 (Friel, D-Chester), which would allow a municipality to impose a 180-day pause on the consideration of applications for data center developments under a land use ordinance.
Two bills of note passed finally and will go to the Senate for consideration: HB 95 (Pielli, D-Chester), which would prohibit a person from knowingly or willfully disseminating an advertisement containing synthetic advertising content without clear and conspicuous disclosure; and HB 2299 (Bizzarro, D-Erie), which would authorize the use of body cameras by county probation and parole officers.
Week Ahead
Both chambers return to Harrisburg next week, with the June 30 budget deadline looming.
Monday, the House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee will hold an informational meeting on HB 2553 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would update the Pennsylvania’s Covered Device Recycling Act to address electronic waste.
On Tuesday, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a public hearing on “lowering your electric bill costs, cost-savings solutions for ratepayers, and SB 312 (Kane, D-Chester). The bill would enroll customers into utility provided default service when they take no affirmative action to enroll in another electric generation supplier plan at the time their current plan expires.
The House Communications and Technology Committee will consider HB 634 (Cepeda-Freytiz, D-Berks), which would require schools to consider implementing a panic alarm system within their classrooms during the annual review of their safety and security practices.
The House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee will consider the following bills of note:
- HB 1213 (McNeill, D-Lehigh), which would require municipal authorities and public utility companies to provide notice to utility customers if they determine that a property’s water usage has increased by 200 percent above average for one month and require the municipal authority or public utility to make reasonable efforts to inform the utility customer of the increase in usage and assist the utility customer in identifying any potential leaks or other wasteful inefficiencies on the property;
- HB 2184 (Otten, D-Chester), which would require consideration of the public interest in PUC proceedings; and
- HB 2626 (Davidson, D-Cumberland), which would ban dynamic pricing via electronic price tags in retail settings.
HB 1667 (Takac, D-Centre) will be considered by the Senate Finance Committee. The bill would permit the distribution of an additional $30 million for the Rural Jobs and Investment Tax Credit Program and extend the program for an additional five years.
Wednesday, the House Children and Youth Committee will consider:
- HB 2492 (Davidson, D-Cumberland), which would require any licensed child care provider to notify both families and employees no later than 30 days before that facility may close; and
- HB 2527 (Fleming, D-Dauphin), which would increase family eligibility for the Child Care Works and Pre-K Counts programs up to 400% of the federal poverty level.
On Thursday and Friday, the House Health Committee will hold public hearings on HB 2309 (Malagari, D-Montgomery), which would regulate the sale of Delta-9 THC beverages.
In Other News
