Weekly Wrap
The House of Representatives was in session for three days this week.
On Monday, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee held an informational meeting on the PA Carekit Program, which provides tools, information, and resources to unpaid caregivers. The House Local Government Committee held a public hearing to discuss HB 1291 (Freeman, D-Northampton), which would allow public notices to be published in digital newspapers if a print version is unavailable.
Two bills were reported from the House Housing and Community Development Committee:
- HB 1492 (Siegel, D-Lehigh), which would prohibit landlords from considering drug distribution convictions older than seven years and to require individualized assessments that consider the unique circumstances of such convictions; and
- HB 1874 (Powell, D-Allegheny), which would allow redevelopment authorities to receive future financial support for its continued operations after a Transit Revitalization Investment District (TRID) is terminated.
HB 1667 (Takac, D-Centre) passed finally in the House and will go to the Senate for consideration. The bill would permit the distribution of $30 million via the Rural Jobs and Investment Tax Credit Program and extend the program for an additional five years.
Tuesday, the House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee reported out HB 505 (Donahue, D-Lackawanna), which would modernize energy efficiency in the Commonwealth by providing more money for consumers when they shop for new appliances, increasing the flexibility of utilities to encourage larger efficiency investments by industrial customers, and catalyze investments that increase energy efficiency while preventing power outages during extreme weather events. The Committee also reported out HB 1496 (Abney, D-Allegheny), which would prohibit price gouging during local disaster emergencies.
The House Education Committee reported out HB 1701 (Fiedler, D-Philadelphia). The bill would charge the Department of Education with: (1) maintaining a public-school facility inventory; (2) ensuring school entities regularly complete a building condition assessment and a district-wide facilities study; (3) assisting school entities with assessing their infrastructure needs and leveraging federal, state, and local resources; and (4) coordinating school facility planning and improvement across agencies.
Two pieces of legislation were reported from the House Health Committee:
- HB 880 (Frankel, D-Allegheny), which would amend the Clean Indoor Air Act to eliminate loopholes that expose workers to smoke, expand the definition of smoking to include e-cigarettes, and give localities the ability to enact smoke-free ordinances that are more protective than state law; and
- HR 271 (Benham, D-Allegheny), which would direct the Joint State Government Commission to assemble an advisory committee and conduct a study on indoor air quality for children and senior citizens.
The House Labor and Industry Committee reported out HB 145 (Krajewski, D-Philadelphia), which would allow employees to collect unemployment compensation benefits if their unemployment is due to a stoppage of work that is a result of a labor dispute.
The House State Government Committee reported out HB 1322 (Mullins, D-Lackawanna). The bill would require a trustee, board member or appointed or elected official who stands in a fiduciary relationship to a state, county or local pension system, or to a fund of the Commonwealth, to obtain two hours of initial training and one hour of annual training in fiduciary law. The bill would also provide for payment of legal fees in certain circumstances for fiduciaries who incur expenses in defending themselves in legal actions related to their fiduciary duties.
There were no committee meetings on Wednesday, but the following bills of note passed finally and will go to the Senate for consideration:
- HB 78 (Neilson, D-Philadelphia), which would establish the Consumer Data Privacy Act to provide for consumers’ rights and duties of controllers and processors;
- HB 997 (Solomon, D-Philadelphia), which would amend the Breach of Personal Information Notification Act to allow consumers the ability to take civil action and recover damages sustained as a result of a data breach;
- HB 1331 (Harris, D-Philadelphia), which would provide for the Capital Budget Project Itemization Act; and
- HB 1608 (Neilson, D-Philadelphia), which would authorize PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission to utilize Design Build Best Value (DBBV) as an alternative procurement process for highway and bridge design and construction.
Thursday, the House Tourism, Recreation, and Economic Development Committee held a public hearing on HB 1286 (Young, D-Philadelphia), which would require human trafficking training for employees of hotels, motels, and all other public lodging establishments.
The Week Ahead
The halls of the Capitol will be bustling next week as both chambers come to Harrisburg for three session days.
On Monday, the House Energy Committee will hold a public hearing on HB 1260 (Siegel, D-Lehigh), which would: (1) require all new warehouses and distribution centers be constructed so that they are solar-ready; and (2) provide a tax credit for existing warehouses and distribution centers to make any retrofits necessary to be solar-ready.
The Senate Communications and Technology Committee and Senate Education Committee will hold a joint public hearing on artificial intelligence in education and workforce development.
The House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee will consider HB 1894 (Madden, D-Monroe), which would enhance educational efforts for long-term care options.
Tuesday, the House Insurance Committee will consider two bills: HB 1123 (Gallagher, D-Philadelphia), which would reduce the age when colorectal cancer screenings are covered to 45 from 50, update guidelines to the most recent edition, and update the tests covered by insurance; and HB 1828 (Venkat, D-Allegheny), which would require private insurance coverage of vaccines without cost-sharing that are FDA-approved and recommended by physician groups.
The House Communications and Technology Committee will consider: HB 1063 (Malagari, D-Montgomery), which would prevent scalpers from using software to purchase items over the internet in bulk for the purpose of resale and not personal use; and SB 377 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would require contractually procured “end point devices” and related services to meet the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines or industry best practices for computer security.
The House Labor and Industry Committee will consider two bills that would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. The first, HB 1825 (Madden, D-Monroe), would ensure employers have written policies and procedures for preventing harassment, discrimination, and retaliation against employee. The second, HB 1826 (Madden, D-Monroe), would provide protections for employees working in agriculture and domestic service and for workplaces with less than four employees.
The House Health Committee will consider HR 244 (Burgos, D-Philadelphia), which would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a performance audit of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Policy and Control Program.
Wednesday, the House Human Services Committee will hold an informational meeting on performance-based contracting for residential and supports coordination services for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism.
The House Finance Committee will hold a public hearing on HB 1556 (Fiedler, D-Philadelphia), which would establish an Advanced Clean Manufacturing Tax Credit for facilities that produce clean steel, clean aluminum, clean cement, clean glass, electric grid modernization equipment, energy-efficient heat pumps, energy-efficient turbines or hydrogen electrolyzers.
The House Professional Licensure Committee will consider two bills of note:
- HB 980 (Venkat, D-Allegheny), which would add a pharmacy technician and a second acute care institutional pharmacist to the State Board of Pharmacy; and
- HB 1881 (Venkat, D-Allegheny), which would guarantee that pharmacists’ practice authority to provide vaccines can also come from recommendations of Pennsylvania’s health authorities.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
- Governor Shapiro signed an Executive Order to protect vaccine access, update regulations where necessary, and provide clear, evidence-based guidance.
- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board released their annual report.
- The PennDOT Office of Public-Private Partnerships (P3) announced that it is accepting unsolicited proposals for transportation projects from the private sector through October 31.
