United States: News From 2nd & State - (December 20, 2021)

Weekly Wrap

As 2021 is winding down, the House of Representatives and the Senate were in session for the final week of the year. Both chambers will be back in Harrisburg on January 4 for one session day and then the House will be in session the week of January 10 and the Senate the week of January 18.

Monday began with a House Health Committee public hearing on COVID-19 treatment options. Then the House Education Committee reported out H.B. 1728 (Struzzi, R-Indiana), which would use $15 million in American Rescue Plan dollars towards a newly established Adult Education and Workforce Recovery Grant Program.

Two bills amending the state Constitution were reported from the House Judiciary Committee. First, H.B. 1880 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would impose a two term limit for justices of the state Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court. Second, H.B. 2141 (Kauffman, R-Franklin), which would remove judicial retention elections and require a justice or judge to stand for reelection.

The House Commerce Committee reported out H.B. 1760 (Heffley, R-Carbon), which would expand the Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing program to include commercial multifamily rental properties and mixed-use properties. S.B. 731 (Mensch, R-Montgomery) was also reported out. The bill would allow charities to use de-risking annuity contracts to satisfy the financial requirements of a "qualified charitable gift annuity" and "qualified charity".

On the House floor, H.B. 2058  (Mako, R-Northampton) unanimously passed and will go to the Senate for consideration. The bill would make the due date to file final local Earned Income and Net Profit Tax returns consistent with that of the state Personal Income Tax and Federal income tax returns.

The Senate sent two bills of note to the House for consideration: S.B. 706 (Robinson, R-Allegheny), which would establish the Max Manufacturing Initiative Fund to support or facilitate the following: (1) industrial processes, mining, manufacturing, production agriculture, information technology and bio-technology; (2) acquisition, installation, upgrading, or retrofitting of existing machinery and facilities; and (3) service as a medical, industrial or technology facility; and S.B. 937 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children as a condition for entry into K-12 schools.

On Tuesday, the House Finance Committee reported out: H.B. 1921 (Struzzi, R-Indiana), which would allow family members to receive an overpayment of personal income tax for an individual who passes away; and H.B. 2137 (Wentling, R-Mercer), which would exclude student loan principal or interest canceled under the Public Student Loan Forgiveness Program or discharged during the exclusionary period under the Internal Revenue Code.

The House Transportation Committee reported out H.B. 1785 (Benninghoff, R-Centre), which would remove the requirement that a new airport cannot be located within two miles of the boundaries of an existing airport and allow PennDOT to disapprove new airport licenses that impact aviation safety.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee had a full agenda and reported out the following bills:

• S.B. 200 (Bartolotta, R-Washington), which would include postpartum depression as an at risk category for early intervention tracking;
• S.B. 358 (Schwank, D-Berks), which would categorize maternal deaths and severe maternal morbidity complications as reportable events;
• S.B. 522 (Baker, R-Luzerne), which would ensure all pregnant women and children receive blood tests to detect lead poisoning;
• S.B. 848 (Mensch, R-Montgomery), which would establish a Chief Nursing Offer within the Commonwealth;
• S.B. 967 (Schwank, D-Berks), which would create a Women, Infants, and Children State Advisory Board;
• S.B. 970 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would update health care notification requirements for children at risk of sexual abuse, exploitation, and victimization in sex-trafficking; and
• H.B. 118 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would require a health care facility that possesses fetal remains to provide for the final disposition of those remains to be buried.

The House sent the following two bills of note to the Senate for consideration: H.B. 1842 (Zimmerman, R-Lancaster), which would amend the Clean Streams Law to require that spills and discharges be reported only when they violate state water quality criteria or established reportable quantities under federal law; and H.B. 2044 (Nelson, R-Westmoreland), which would prohibit a County Board of Election and the state from accepting private donations or contributions for the administration of elections.

Furthermore, the Senate finally passed the following two bills and which will now be considered by the House: S.B. 428 (Gordner, R-Columbia), which would move the date of the Presidential primary election from the fourth Tuesday of April to the third Tuesday of March; and S.B. 562 (Scavello, R-Monroe), which would establish the airport land development zone program to encourage and promote the creation of new jobs and to accelerate economic activity.

Wednesday, the House and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee held a joint public hearing on the fireworks law. Additionally, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a public hearing on H.B. 2104 (Rapp, R-Warren), which would provide for the decommissioning, recycling, and reclamation of solar panels and wind turbines.

The Senate Community, Economic, and Recreational Development Committee reported out S.B. 977 (Boscola, D-Northampton), which would establish the Economic Recovery Grant Program, using $75 million in American Rescue Plan dollars. Grants would fund projects that applied for Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP), Business in our Sites or Industrial Sites Reuse Program from 2019-2021 and were not funded or fully funded.

The first draft of the new Congressional map was reported out of the House State Government Committee when H.B. 2146 (Grove, R-York) passed along party lines.

The following bills passed in the House and will now be considered by the Senate:

• H.B. 2033 (Lawrence, R-Bucks), which would extend the Department of Health's COVID-19 testing reporting requirements until December 31, 2022, establish a COVID-19 at-home testing program, and require the Department to issue a request for proposal to obtain additional space for COVID-19 testing equipment and to process tests;
• H.B. 2075 (Knowles, R-Schuylkill), which would suspend the enforcement of the Pennsylvania Heavy-Duty Diesel Emissions Control Program;
• H.R. 149 (Rigby, R-Cambria), which would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the economic impacts of the Department of Environmental Protection's proposed biosolids permit revisions; and
• S.B. 106 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would make the following changes to the state Constitution: (1) allow a nominee for Governor to select their nominee for Lieutenant Governor; (2) limit the effectiveness of an executive order or proclamation to 21 days; (3) provide that the General Assembly's disapproval of a regulation would not be required to be presented to the Governor; (4) give the General Assembly the ability to audit elections; and (5) require voter ID for elections.

Then the Senate sent two bills of note to the House for consideration: S.B. 635 (Yudichak, I-Luzerne), would expand the C-PACE program to include multifamily commercial buildings, indoor air improvements, and resiliency improvements; and S.B. 924 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would institute a moratorium on the scheduled closing of the Polk and White Haven State Centers.

The House adopted SCR 1 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would disapprove of the Environmental Quality Board's regulation that would establish a CO2 Budget Trading Program and enter the state into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Once signed in both chambers the concurrent resolution will go to the Governor for his signature. It's highly likely that a veto will follow, which would kick SCR 1 back to the Senate for a veto override vote, and if successful, to the House for a veto override vote. If both chambers successfully vote to override the Governor's veto then the regulation would be barred. An unsuccessful vote would allow the regulation to be put in the PA Bulletin and therefore become effective.

Throughout the week, the following bills passed finally and will go to the Governor for his signature before coming law:

• H.B. 291 (Labs, R-Bucks), which would extend the Social security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) moratorium for the PACE and PACENET program for an additional two years, until December 31, 2023;
• H.B. 1260 (Thomas, R-Bucks), which would expand the income eligibility limits for the PACENET program, eliminate the PACENET premium "clawback", and permit the Department of Aging to require PACE and PACENET enrollees to enroll in Medicare Part D;
• H.B. 1332 (Lewis, R-Dauphin), which would require schools to publically post every textbook used, a course syllabus or a written summary of each instructional course, and the state academic standards for each instructional course offered.
• H.B. 2071  (Causer, R-McKean), which would establish the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority to administer and manage federal broadband deployment funding to address the development and expansion of broadband services to unserved and underserved regions;
• S.B. 729 (Ward, R-Blair), which would permit virtual instruction for certified nurse aid training programs; and
• S.B. 869  (Tomlinson, R-Bucks), which would provide for virtual board and commission meetings, quorums, continuing education, and supervision under the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.

Thursday, the House Human Services Committee held a public hearing on H.B. 1644 (Struzzi, R-Indiana). The Committee also held an informational meeting on community participation supports during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission approved preliminary plans for the state House and Senate.

In Other News

• The Governor announced that Department of Health Acting Secretary Alison Beam will resign her position at the end of the year and that he intends to name Department of Health Executive Deputy Secretary Keara Klinepeter to serve as Acting Secretary.
• The Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs announced that the licensure program for drug and alcohol recovery houses is open and accepting applications.
• The Governor announced that the Commonwealth will receive a $17 million federal grant to buoy the travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation sectors.
• The State Transportation Commission voted to approve $33 million for projects through the Rail Transportation Assistance Program (RTAP) and the Rail Freight Assistance Program (RFAP).
• The Wolf Administration requested additional support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Pennsylvania's health care system in its continued battle against COVID-19.
• The PUC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking addressing potential barriers to enhancing water and wastewater services.

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