Weekly Wrap
As budget negotiations continue, both chambers were in session Monday-Thursday this week.
On Monday, the House Commerce Committee reported out HB 2013 (Scott, D-Montgomery), which would permit electric vehicle manufacturers to use a direct-to-consumer sales model.
The House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee reported out HB 2553 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would update the Covered Device Recycling Act to address electronic waste.
This year’s Highway-Railroad and Highway Bridge Capital Budget Act bill, HB 2644 (Neilson, D-Philadelphia), was reported from the House Transportation Committee.
On the House floor, several bills of note passed finally and will head to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 2224 (Fiedler, D-Philadelphia), which would provide for a formula-based cap on a public utility’s Return on Equity utilized during rate cases and removes the gross receipts tax on electricity;
- HB 2544 (Takac, D-Centre), which would make changes to the requirements and applicability of compensation agreements for school administrators; and
- HB 2632 (Rivera, D-Lancaster), which would replace the Educational Tax Credit program with the Education Options Tax Credit Program.
In the Senate, two bills of note passed finally and will go to the House for consideration: SB 1183 (Culver, R-Northumberland), which would increase the threshold for certain charitable organization financial reports; and SB 1352 (Brooks, R-Crawford), which would allow the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to issue two-year licenses to certain accredited providers.
Tuesday, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a public hearing on “lowering your electric bill costs”.
The House Communications and Technology Committee reported out HB 634 (Cepeda-Freytiz, D-Berks), which would require schools to consider implementing a panic alarm system during the annual review of their safety and security practices.
The House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee reported out the following bills of note:
- HB 1213 (McNeill, D-Lehigh), which would require municipal authorities and public utilities to provide notice to customers if they determine that a property’s water usage increased by 200% above average for one month;
- HB 2184 (Otten, D-Chester), which would require consideration of the public interest in PUC proceedings; and
- HB 2626 (Davidson, D-Dauphin), which would ban dynamic pricing via electronic price tags in retail settings.
The Senate Education Committee reported out HB 1505 (Hanbidge, D-Montgomery), which would add intermediate units as an eligible provider for the Pre-K Counts Program.
The House finally passed two bills of note which will make their way to the Senate: HB 75 & HB 76 (Arvind, D-Allegheny), which would allow physician assistants to practice under the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine and State Board of Medicine, regardless of which Board has licensed the physician assistant.
The House adopted HR 363 (Shusterman, D-Chester), which directs the Joint State Government Commission to study Pennsylvania’s early childhood education system.
SB 730 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would establish a Pennsylvania Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) program passed finally in the Senate and will go to the House for consideration. SB 1377 (Ward, R-Blair) also passed finally and was then reported from the House Transportation Committee. The bill would allow the use of Design Build Best Value procurement by the Turnpike as an alternative procurement process for highway and bridge design and construction.
On Wednesday, the House Children and Youth Committee reported out two bills of note: HB 2492 (Davidson, D-Cumberland), which would require licensed child care providers to notify families and employees at least 30 days before a facility closure, and HB 2527 (Fleming, D-Dauphin), which would increase family eligibility for state-funded early learning programs up to 400% of the federal poverty level.
The House Insurance Committee reported out several bills of note:
- HB 2226 (Kinkead, D-Allegheny), which would provide for fair co-pay assistance credits for prescriptions;
- HB 2649 (Kosierowski, D-Lackawanna), which would require insurance to cover standard fertility preservation services for cancer patients who must undergo medically necessary treatment that may result in infertility;
- HB 2652 (Kinkead, D-Allegheny), which would provide for prescription drug cost credits in health insurance; and
- HB 2653 (Sappey, D-Chester), which would require insurers to accept any qualified behavioral health care provider into the insurer’s network if the provider is willing to accept the insurer’s contract terms.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee reported out SR 216 (Dush, R-Cameron), which would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct an audit of the medical assistance programs. The Committee also reported out the following bills of note:
- HB 69 (Cutler, R-Lancaster), which would expand the Cancer Drug Repository Program to a Prescription Drug Repository Program;
- HB 928 (Kosierowski, D-Chester), which would require epinephrine pens in day care facilities; and
- HB 1851 (Curry, D-Delaware), which allow a midwife to certify fetal death.
HB 78 (Neilson, D-Philadelphia), which would create the Consumer Data Privacy Act, was reported from the Senate Communications and Technology Committee.
The Senate Institutional Sustainability and Innovation Committee reported out HB 1460 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would give the Attorney General oversight of mergers and acquisitions involving health care systems to determine if a covered transaction is against the public interest.
Several bills of note passed finally on the House floor and will head to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 2162 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would create a temporary license for a manufacturer or virtual manufacturer of a drug or medical device;
- HB 2388 (Davidson, D-Cumberland), which would allow cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest nickel;
- HB 2437 (Davidson, D-Cumberland), which would expand the use of county and municipal bridge repair funds;
- HB 2496 (Friel, D-Chester), which would allow municipalities to enact a temporary pause on the submission of application for data center developments;
- HB 2621 (Shusterman, D-Chester), which would establish the Pennsylvania Maternal and Infant Outcome Measures Survey Program; and
- HB 2650 (Webster, D-Montgomery), which would create the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Certification and Standards for data centers.
On the Senate floor, two bills of note passed finally and will go to the House for consideration: SB 482 (Laughlin, R-Erie), which would direct the Department of Human Services to provide eligible individuals with information on the Living Independently for the Elderly (LIFE) Program; and SB 1206 (Pennycuick, R-Montgomery), which would allow drug and medical device manufacturers preapproval for a state license while awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Thursday, HB 2198 (Vitali, D-Delaware) passed finally in the House and will go to the Senate for consideration. The bill would eliminate the Computer Data Center Equipment Incentive Program and prohibit data centers from being eligible for tax benefits in a KOZ, KOEZ, and KOIZ unless certified prior to February 3, 2026.
HB 1667 (Takac, D-Centre), an omnibus Tax Reform Code bill, passed on the Senate floor and will go back to the House for a concurrence vote. 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;
- Provide a sales and use tax exclusion for tablets, personal digital assistants, and school supplies;
- Eliminate the Computer Data Center Equipment Incentive Program;
- Prohibit data centers from being eligible for tax benefits in a KOZ, KOEZ, and KOIZ unless certified prior to February 3, 2026; and
- Transfer educational tax credit language from the School Code and increases the amount of available funding by $25 million.
The Week Ahead
Both chambers are in session next week, as a budget deal is hopefully reached.
Tuesday, the House Commerce Committee will consider SB 225 (Dush, R-Jefferson), which would require an agency that acquires property on which a business is conducted to compensate the owner for the loss of goodwill if the property is acquired through eminent domain.
The House Tourism Committee will consider two bills relating to short- and long-term rentals: HB 2082 (Daley, D-Montgomery), which would authorize counties to require hotel and short-term rental operators, as well as booking agents, to remit the name of the hotel, the accommodation fee, the discount room rate, and the amount of tax collected on each occupancy/rental transaction to counties on a monthly basis, and HB 2083 (Daley, D-Montgomery), which would authorize counties to collect the same occupancy/rental transaction information.
The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee will consider two bills of note: HB 2535 (Sappey, D-Chester), which would establish emergency preparedness measures for data centers; and SB 1261 (Mastriano, R-Adams), which would make changes to the Fire and EMS Loan program and to the Fire Company and EMS Grant programs.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
- The Independent Fiscal Office released their official revenue estimate for FY 2026-27
