Weekly Wrap
The House of Representatives and Senate returned to Harrisburg again this week for three session days.
Monday, the House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee held an informational meeting on “Natural Gas 101: From Generation to Distribution”.
The House Energy Committee held a public hearing on HB 502 (Steele, D-Allegheny), which would establish the Reliable Energy Siting and Electric Transition (RESET) Board; a cohesive central authority able to consider and approve applications for large reliable energy generating facilities. The committee held a second public hearing on the bill on Wednesday.
The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee held a public hearing on SB 657 (Coleman, R-Lehigh), which would remove regulatory barriers and provide individuals with an intellectual and developmental disability greater access to residential and vocational settings.
Two bills were reported from the Senate Labor and Industry Committee:
- SB 72 (Kane, D-Delaware), which would increase penalties on contractors and increase the purview of the Attorney General and District Attorneys to investigate and prosecute worker misclassification; and
- SB 581 (Miller, D-Lehigh), which would allow an employer to pay employees exclusively by direct deposit or a payroll card.
On the House floor, the following bills of note passed finally and will go to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 846 (Dawkins, D-Philadelphia), which would amend the Prevailing Wage Act to prohibit split rates and to cover heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) duct cleaning and offsite custom fabrication; and
- HB 1018 (Burns, D-Cambria), which would require the use of American-made steel products in projects that receive public funding or tax incentives from a public agency.
Tuesday, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee and House Commerce Committee held a joint informational meeting on Financial Exploitation of Older Adults.
The House Communications and Technology Committee reported out
- HB 129 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would require a service company to clearly and conspicuously provide the consumer with the option to opt into, rather than opt out of, said service; and
- HB 1299 (Ciresi, D-Montgomery), which would require companies to provide a notification before each automatic renewal, to be transparent about renewal terms, and to allow subscribers to cancel their subscription services exclusively online if they initially subscribed over the Internet.
The House Health Committee reported out: HB 1442 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would require autopsies to include an inquiry to determine whether the death was a direct result of a seizure or epilepsy; and HB 1527 (Davidson, D-Dauphin), which would extend the Rare Disease Advisory Council sunset.
HB 1590 (Williams, D-Chester), which would implement the new federal Medicaid flexibility that waives the “four walls” requirement for outpatient behavioral health clinics, was reported from the House Human Services Committee. The committee also reported out HR 253 (Pugh, R-Luzerne), which would direct the Joint State Government Commission to establish a task force and advisory committee on increasing access to drug and alcohol treatment for substance use disorders.
The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee reported out SB 88 (Farry, R-Bucks), which would allow patients to receive supplemental screenings and diagnostic examinations without cost-sharing if they are at average risk or higher for breast cancer.
The Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee reported out SB 416 (Robinson, R-Allegheny), which would allow non-profit organizations to accept online payments for their fundraising efforts. SB 840 (Laughlin, R-Erie) was also reported out and then reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee the following day. The bill would decrease the number of slot machines a casino is required to have.
The Senate Finance Committee reported out SB 527 (Farry, R-Bucks), which would ensure remote work, outside the City of Philadelphia, is not charged under the Sterling Act.
The following bills passed finally in the House and head to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 1088 (Steele, D-Allegheny), which would require health insurance policies to cover blood pressure monitors for each pregnancy;
- HB 1326 (Friel, D-Chester), which would allow school districts to utilize technology to compute distances for reporting purposes; and
- HB 1460 (Borowski, D-Delaware), which would impose oversight responsibilities on the Office of Attorney General for mergers and acquisitions involving health care systems to determine if a covered transaction is against the public interest.
SB 95 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would provide for price disclosure of prescription medications, finally passed in the Senate and will make its way to the House for consideration.
Wednesday, the House Commerce Committee reported out: HB 1512 (Mullins, D-Lackawanna), which would provide consumers the ability to repair their own electronics or have them repaired by independent repair technicians; and HB 1553 (Sanchez, D-Montgomery), which would provide overdraft protections for bank and credit union customers.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee reported out:
- HB 27 (Khan, D-Philadelphia), which would require hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities to mitigate exposure to surgical smoke generated during procedures;
- HB 640 (Williams, D-Delaware), which would expand the information required in the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs’ annual report;
- SB 461 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would improve testing and insurance coverage for Lyme disease testing; and
- SB 715 (Ward, R-Blair), which would extend the sunset provision of the Rare Disease Advisory Council Act to 2028.
The Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee reported out:
- SB 62 (Farry, R-Bucks), which would establish a Redevelopment Authority Loan Pilot Program for county redevelopment authorities to acquire blighted residential or commercial properties, and to redevelop or rehabilitate them.
- SB 345 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would increase the maximum allowable fee that can be collected by counties for their demolition funding program by $1; and
- SB 815 (Picozzi, R-Philadelphia), which would exclude the state’s portion of the realty transfer tax for first-time buyers.
Two reports were released by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee:
- A Study Pursuant to Act 2023-34: 911/988 Efficiency
- A Study Pursuant to HR 165: Home and Community-Based Services
On the House floor two bills of note passed finally and will go to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 276 (Delloso, D-Delaware), which would establish the Employee Misclassification Working Group and allow the Department of Revenue to provide state tax information upon request to certain offices within the Department of Labor and Industry; and
- HB 1549 (Dawkins, D-Philadelphia), which would increase the minimum wage throughout the state, with different amounts based on county class.
SB 311 (Yaw, R-Lycoming) passed finally in the Senate and heads to the House. The bill would prohibit a municipality from adopting a policy that restricts or prohibits connection or reconnection of a utility service based upon the type of source of energy to be delivered to an individual or entity within the municipality.
On Thursday, the House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee held a public hearing on plugging and abandonment of oil and gas wells.
The Week Ahead
Just the House is in session next week. Monday and Tuesday are voting session days and Wednesday will be non-voting.
Monday, the House Health Committee will consider:
- HB 1234 (Mayes, D-Allegheny), which would expand Medical Assistance programs to cover blood pressure monitors for home use as a pregnancy-related service on a per pregnancy basis; and
- SB 411 (Vogel, R-Beaver), which would require comprehensive stroke centers, thrombectomy-capable stroke centers, primary stroke centers, and acute stroke-ready hospitals to submit stroke care data to the Department of Health bi-annually.
The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee will consider SB 89 (Mastriano, R-Adams), which would add EMS providers as required reporters to the Overdose Information Network system.
On Tuesday, the House Insurance Committee will consider HB 1445 (Warren, D-Bucks), which would prohibit an insurer from denying what would otherwise be a service covered by the policy simply because the health care service was received in a school setting.
The House Professional Licensure Committee will consider SB 115 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would require the Department of Human Services to establish skills competency exams in lieu of the current high school diploma or GED requirements for individuals seeking employment as direct care staff in personal care homes or assisted living residences.
The House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee will consider HB 1599 (Rabb, D-Philadelphia), which would require any electric utility that is a member of PJM to disclose to the PUC any recorded vote they make within that organization and a brief description explaining how that vote is in the public interest.
Finally, the House Finance Committee will consider HB 1610 (Fiedler, D-Philadelphia), which would require multi-state corporations to use combined reporting to determine their tax responsibilities; paying the corporate net income tax based on the share of their U.S. income that is equal to the share of their U.S. sales in Pennsylvania.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
- Former State Senator Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny) was confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
- The PUC released the 2025 Summer Readiness Overviews, submitted by the electric distribution companies and PJM.
