Weekly Wrap
The House of Representatives and Senate were in session for three days this week.
Monday, the House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities committee held an informational meeting with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
The House Aging and Adult Older Services Committee reported out: HB 372 (Schmitt, R-Blair), which would require the Department of Aging to annually publish Area Agencies on Aging’s compliance report; and HB 923 (Rivera, D-Lancaster), which would extend the PACE/PACENET Social Security cost-of-living adjustment moratorium until December 31, 2027.
One bill of note was reported from the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee: SB 349 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would establish decommissioning and bonding requirements for project developers who seek to install or operate commercial solar electric generation facilities.
HB 118 (Young, D-Philadelphia) passed finally on the House floor and will go to the Senate for consideration. The bill would increase the criminal penalty fines for a violation of the Child Labor Act.
On Tuesday, the House Labor and Industry Committee reported out HB 630 (Shusterman, D-Chester), which would: (1) prohibit employers from paying workers less because of their gender, race, or ethnicity; (2) protect employees from retaliation in any wage discrimination matters; and (3) curtail the practice by prospective employers of using salary history in pay-setting decisions for new employment. The committee also considered HB 926 (Krueger, D-Delaware), which would establish the Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act.
The Senate State Government Committee reported out SB 472 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would limit the maximum period an Acting Secretary of a Department may serve to 90 days unless they are awaiting Senate confirmation. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out SB 347 (Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia), which would ban the implementation of safe injection sites.
Then two bills were reported from the Senate Education Committee:
- SB 315 (Culver, R-Northumberland), which would allow career and technical schools to know their equipment grant allocations prior to the school year, rather than receiving a reimbursement based on calculations made near the end of the school year, after they have made purchases; and
- SB 470 (Brooks, R-Mercer) which would create a Secondary Education Fire Training Pilot Program to provide high school students with instruction through a community colleges or state university.
Four bills that would incorporate provisions of the Federal Affordable Care Act into state law passed finally and head to the Senate:
- HB 404 (Pashinski, D-Luzerne), which would provide health insurance coverage to dependents up to age 26;
- HB 535 (Frankel, D-Allegheny), which would prohibit annual and lifetime limits for health insurance;
- HB 618 (Haddock, D-Luzerne), which would prohibit the denial of health insurance coverage for preexisting conditions; and
- HB 755 (Warren, D-Bucks), which would require health insurance policies to cover preventive health care services without cost-sharing.
Finishing up the week, on Wednesday, the House Finance Committee held an informational meeting on the Property Tax Rent Rebate Program. Also, the House Housing and Community Development Committee held an informational meeting with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. Furthermore, the House Liquor Control Committee and the Senate Law and Justice Committee held a joint public hearing on the Stop and Go Task Force report and recommendations.
The Senate Finance Committee reported out three tax-related bills:
- SB 207 (Rothman, R-Cumberland), which would immediately cut the corporate net income tax rate to 4% rather than gradually decrease the rate from 9.99% over a nine-year period;
- SB 211 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would allow Pennsylvanians to donate all or a portion of their annual state individual income tax return to the Office of the State Fire Commissioner, for use in supporting grant programs; and
- SB 473 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would expand the sales and use tax vendor discount to help offset a portion of the additional expense incurred by businesses when they collect state sales tax.
SB 65 (Baker, R-Luzerne) was reported from the Senate Transportation Committee. The bill would extend the stopping distance requirement for a school bus with flashing red lights and develop a tiered penalty system for subsequent offenses.
The Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee reported out a number of bills addressing issues that affect firefighters:
- SB 90 (Mastriano, R-Franklin), which would provide flexibility Firefighter I certification training and testing;
- SB 91 (Mastriano, R-Franklin), which would allow Pennsylvania residents to receive “line of duty” death benefits even if they worked as a first responder out of state;
- SB 138 (Mastriano, R-Franklin), which would permit counties, school districts, councils of governments and municipalities to include HazMat responders in their tax exemptions for first responders;
- SB 457 (Muth, D-Montgomery), which would increase the loan limits for the Fire and EMS Loan Program and require that any protective equipment purchased with loans do not contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); and
- SB 466 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would count fire suppression training toward the required number of hours of instruction needed to obtain a Firefighter I certification.
Lastly, SB 202 (Gebhard, R-Lebanon) passed finally on the Senate floor and will go to the House for consideration. The bill would require business entities who transmit virtual currency to be licensed as a money transmitter.
The Week Ahead
Just the Senate comes back to Harrisburg next week for session.
On Monday, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a public hearing on energy affordability for consumers.
Tuesday, the Senate Institutional Sustainability and Innovation will hold a public hearing on life sciences innovation.
The Senate Labor and Industry Committee will consider SB 101 (Bartolotta, R-Washington), which would require the Department of Labor and Industry and the Center for Workforce Information & Analysis to share workforce data on wages, new hires, and unemployment compensation claimants with local workforce development boards.
On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee will hold a public hearing highlighting the importance of career and technical education.
Thursday, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a joint public hearing with the House Democratic Policy Committee meeting on supporting emergency services and fire responders.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
On Tuesday, two Special Elections took place to fill a vacant seat in each chamber.
Dan Goughnour (D) easily won, meaning the Democrats will maintain majority control of the House of Representatives by a single seat. The Allegheny County seat was previously held by Matt Gergely (D, HD-35), who passed away in January.
A major upset occurred in the race to replace former Senator Ryan Aument (R, SD-36), who resigned to serve as State Director for U.S. Senator Dave McCormick. James Andrew Malone (D) flipped the Lancaster County seat, which voted for President Trump by 15 points in November and has only 30% of registered voters listed as Democrats. A Democrat hasn’t served the Senatorial District since it moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster County in 1979. The Republican’s majority in the Senate is now 27-23.
