Weekly Wrap
It was one of the busiest weeks of the year in Harrisburg as both chambers were in session. At one point, visitors were denied entry, due to the Capitol reaching maximum capacity.
On Monday, the House Aging and Adult Older Services Committee held an informational meeting on the Older Adult Protective Services Act. “OAPSA” has been a subject of debate since 2015, when lifetime hiring bans in the Act were found unconstitutional. Additionally, the issue of how to address “financial exploitation” of the elderly has become an issue at the forefront of the debate.
The House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee reported out HB 1233 (Siegel, D-Lehigh), which would create a stewardship program for lithium-ion batteries.
The House Transportation Committee reported out:
- HB 1364 (Neilson, D-Philadelphia), which would increase the amount of existing sales tax revenue transferred to the Public Transportation Trust Fund from 4.4% to 6.15%, and is in line with the Governor’s plan to fund transit state-wide; and
- HR 68 (Struzzi, R-Indiana), which would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study and issue a report on the current status, management and implementation of mass or public transit in rural communities.
On the House floor, two bills of note passed finally and will go to the Senate for consideration. The first, HB 193 (Brennan, D-Bucks), would require at least one Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in each State building. The second, HB 630 (Shusterman, D-Chester), 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.
SB 466 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would allow for an individual to use fire suppression training credit hours toward their credit hours for Firefighter I certification, passed on the Senate floor and now goes to the House.
Tuesday, the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee held a public hearing on the ratepayer impact of Act 129 plans. Act 129, passed in 2008, requires electric distribution companies to reduce electricity consumption with the goal of passing savings on to ratepayers.
The House Commerce Committee reported out:
- HB 997 (Solomon, D-Philadelphia), which would mandate a company or organization handling personal information take reasonable steps to secure that data from hacking and compensate consumers in the event of a data breach;
- HB 1067 (Ciresi, D-Montgomery), which would require retailers selling gift cards to post clear signage warning consumers about gift card scams and what to do if they suspect they might be a victim of a potential scam; and
- HB 1263 (Mullins, D-Lackawanna), which would establish “Keystone Saves” – a voluntary employee retirement savings program for private sector employees.
The House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee reported out the following bills:
- HB 463 (Matzie, D-Beaver), which would ban speculative ticketing;
- HB 921 (Davidson, D-Dauphin), which would establish the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program;
- HB 967 (Isaacson, D-Philadelphia), which would cap the fees ticket resellers charge when individuals buy and sell tickets; and
- HB 1216 (Fiedler, D-Philadelphia), which would require the disclosure of all mandatory fees and charges included in the advertised and displayed price of any good or service.
HB 846 (Dawkins, D-Philadelphia) was reported from the House Labor and Industry Committee. The bill would amend the Prevailing Wage Act to prohibit split rates and provide for customer fabrication of public works projects.
The House State Government Committee reported out: HB 771 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would require voters to show identification prior to voting; and HB 1396 (McClinton, D-Philadelphia), which would provide omnibus amendments to the Election Code.
SB 377 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would require any state government purchase of computer hardware to meet National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, was reported from the Senate Communications and Technology Committee.
Four bills were reported from the Senate Education Committee:
- SB 10 (Ward, R-Blair), which would establish the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success scholarship program (PASS) to allow students residing in low-achieving school districts to be eligible to receive a scholarship to a nonpublic school;
- SB 114 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would enhance the availability of training courses for the Nurse Aid Training Program and allow student and graduate nurses to immediately take the Certified Nurse Aide exam upon completion of relevant coursework;
- SB 310 (Martin, R-Lancaster), which would require high school seniors to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or opt out on a form provided to parents; and
- SB 700 (Robinson, R-Allegheny), which would require schools to adopt evidence-based reading instruction curriculum, approve a professional development training program, implement universal screenings and intervention plans.
The following bills passed finally in the House and will go to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 81 (Venkat, D-Allegheny), which would prohibit charging consumers additional fees to receive paper billing statements or to pay by mail;
- HB 789 (Ciresi, D-Montgomery), which would expand the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (C-PACE) to include electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects;
- HB 820 (Sappey, D-Chester), which would establish a state earned income tax credit; and
- HB 926 (Krueger, D-Delaware), which would require health facilities to establish a violence prevention committee to establish, review, administer, and provide guidance about a program to prevent workplace violence.
SB 349 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would establish decommissioning and bonding requirements for project developers that seek to install or operate commercial solar electric generation facilities, passed on the Senate floor and heads to the House.
Wednesday was filled with informational and public meetings:
- The House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on the Commonwealth’s Generative AI Pilot Program with the Office of Administration;
- The House Energy Committee held an informational meeting on geothermal energy development;
- The House Judiciary Committee held an informational meeting on the Mental Health Procedures Act; and
- The Senate Institutional Sustainability and Innovation Committee held a public hearing on hospital and health system sustainability.
The House Education Committee reported out HB 1326 (Friel, D-Chester), which would modernize administrative requirements and data collection related to pupil transportation.
HB 500 (Inglis, D-Allegheny), which would make changes to the Pennsylvania Economic Development for a Growing Economy (PA EDGE) Tax Credit Program, was reported from the House Finance Committee. The bill is part of the Governor’s comprehensive energy plan, known as the “Lightning Plan”.
In the healthcare space, the House Health Committee reported out HB 1269 (Labs, R-Bucks), which would establish the Brain Injury Advisory Board within the Department of Health. Then, the House Insurance Committee reported out: HB 1088 (Steele, D-Allegheny), which would require insurance coverage for blood pressure monitors for home use as a pregnancy-related service on a per pregnancy basis; and HB 1140 (Krueger, D-Delaware), which would require insurance coverage for contraceptives.
Two bills of note were reported from the House Local Government Committee: HB 1048 (Cerrato, D-Montgomery), which would provide for the maintenance of private lateral lines and municipal water and sewer systems; and HB 1289 (Malagari, D-Montgomery), which would provide a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to municipal police officers and firefighters.
SB 731 (Farry, R-Bucks), which would exclude the Social Security COLA adjustment when determining PACE/PACENET eligibility until December 31, 2027, was reported from the Senate Aging and Youth Committee.
The Senate Community, Economic, and Recreational Development Committee reported out SB 666 (Laughlin, R-Erie), which would eliminate the minimum number of slot machines required on the gaming floors of casinos.
Three bills of note were reported from the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee:
- SB 102 (Bartolotta, R-Washington), which would prohibit the distribution of impact fees generated from natural gas development to any municipality that unreasonably limits or prohibits future development of natural gas;
- SB 704 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would direct state agencies to identify suitable sites for natural gas electric generation projects; and
- SB 712 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would provide consistency in determining what a reasonable effort is when plugging abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells.
HB 1200 (Krajewski, D-Philadelphia), which would legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis, passed in the House and will go to the Senate for the consideration. Adults 21 years of age or older would be able to purchase cannabis from state-owned stores. There would be an 18% tax (12% excise tax and 6% sales and use tax).
The House also finally passed another bill part of the Governor’s Lightning Plan, HB 504 (Schweyer, D-Lehigh), which would allow for the creation of subscriber-based community energy projects.
On the Senate floor, SB 115 (Argall, R-Schuylkill) passed finally and will go to the House for consideration. The bill would provide for a skills competency exam in lieu of current high school diploma or GED requirements for individuals seeking employment as direct care staff in personal care homes or assisted living residences.
Thursday, the House Education Committee held an informational meeting on the governance of cyber charter schools. Lastly, the Senate Communications and Technology Committee held a public hearing on powering artificial intelligence’s future in the economy.
The Week Ahead
The House and Senate are back in Harrisburg for session next week.
On Monday, the House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee will hold an informational meeting on PJM and energy markets. The Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee will hold a joint public hearing on PJM reliability resource initiative planning and generation market updates.
The House Education Committee will hold a public hearing on truancy and chronic absenteeism in schools.
The House Intergovernmental Affairs and Operations Committee will consider HB 276 (Delloso, D-Delaware), which would establish the Employee Misclassification Working Group and permit the Department of Revenue to share tax information with the Department of Labor and Industry to enhance enforcement.
Tuesday, the House Local Government Committee will consider SB 311 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which 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.
Wednesday, the House Energy Committee will hold an informational meeting on electric transmission.
The House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee and the House Health Committee will hold a joint informational meeting on the Registered Nurse Aid program.
The House Health Committee will consider HB 704 (Mullins, D-Lackawanna), which would establish the Pennsylvania Neurodegenerative Disease Research Program.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
- Senator James Malone (D) was officially sworn in to represent SD-36 (Lancaster County); the seat previously held by former Sen. Ryan Aument (R).
- Governor Shapiro announced the first round of awards for the PA SITES (Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites) program.
- The Performance-Based Funding Council unanimously adopted a report and recommendations on creating a performance-based funding model for new funding for Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University.
