House Action for the Week of September 15, 2014

Debt Reduction and Philadelphia Schools on House Agenda Next Week

The House returns to session on Monday, Sept. 15. Live web streams of House session and the majority of committee meetings are available at PAHouseGOP.com.  Important information and events may also be viewed by visiting Facebook.com/PAHouseGOP. 

Lowering Taxpayers’ Burden By Reducing Debt

Last year, in stark contrast to the continuous stalemate in Washington, D.C., the Pennsylvania House and Senate unanimously passed House Bill 493 (Rep. Matt Gabler, R-Clearfield/Elk), now Act 77 of 2013, which immediately reduced the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) debt by $600 million to $3.45 billion, a 15 percent reduction.  The new law also put in place new accountability controls to curtail the mounting levels of public debt for economic development projects.

Continuing these efforts, the House Finance Committee on Monday will consider two bills to further reduce Commonwealth debt. House Bill 2419 (Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny), would set annual limits for the state capital budget.  The new legislation would impose caps on the amount of money borrowed in any given year by the Commonwealth.

House Bill 2420, a companion bill, (Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre) would reduce the RACP debt ceiling by an additional $500 million over 10 years to bring the RACP limit down to $2.95 billion.

These changes would decrease the state’s debt load in real dollars – real dollars better spent on funding the core functions of government and lessening our debt burden. The goal is to reduce the annual payments made to pay the state’s debt obligation – to make certain the new debt Pennsylvania incurs is lower than the debt to be retired.  Capital debt service in this year’s budget exceeded $1 billion to repay the vast amount of money borrowed under the previous administration.

The whole House is expected to take up this legislation on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Schools

House Bill 1177 (Rep. Lucas, R-Erie), originally drafted to clarify language in the Municipal Code regarding mergers and consolidations of municipalities, has been amended to include language to improve the quality of education for the kids in Philadelphia.

Dr. William Hite, superintendent of the Philadelphia School District, has requested the legislation. The bill includes language enabling Philadelphia City Council to impose a cigarette tax within the city to help fund its schools.

HB 1177 also includes an important charter reform proposal allowing for a charter appeal process in Philadelphia. Under current law, charter school applicants may not appeal denial decisions by the School Reform Commission (SRC) to the state charter school appeal board; this lack of due process is unique to Philadelphia.  HB 1177 would ensure charter school applicants in Philadelphia are treated in the same manner as applicants throughout the Commonwealths’ 499 other school districts. By allowing direct appeals of SRC decisions to the state appeals board, charter school applicants would be afforded due process and fair and equitable treatment.

The Weekly Schedule

Identified by bill number, the sponsors and summaries for bills scheduled to be considered in committee or on the House floor are posted below.  More information regarding these bills can be found at PAHouseGOP.com by clicking on the “Research Bills” tab.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Committee Meetings/Hearings

FINANCE, 10 a.m., Room 205, Ryan Office Building

• HB 2419 (Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny): Amends the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act to establish an annual spending limit on all types of projects and allows unused allocations to be carried forward to the next fiscal year.
• HB 2420 (Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre/Mifflin): Amends the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Project provision in the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act to further reduce the Commonwealth’s debt.

URBAN AFFAIRS, 10 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

• HB 2460 (Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin): Amends the Tax Reform Code to remove language that prevents a city that has been subject to receivership under the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act from applying for the City Revitalization and Improvement Zone Program.
• SB 1135 (Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Montgomery/Philadelphia): Amends the Public Housing Authorities Law to require that local housing authorities give preference to veterans and to families of active duty military when leasing public housing.

EDUCATION, 10:30 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

• Informational meeting on HB 2373 (Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery): Consolidates and makes improvements to the Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit programs.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, Noon, Room 39, East Wing

• HB 1565 (Rep. Marcia Hahn, R-Northampton): Amends the Clean Streams Law to clarify that riparian buffer and riparian forest buffers shall not be required but may be used as a choice among best management practices or design standards to minimize pollution from erosion and sedimentation.

• HR 925 (Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Forest/Mckean/Warren): Directs the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study and report on the scale and impact of wind turbines in the Commonwealth.
• SB 1155 (Sen. Joseph Scarnati, R-Cameron/Clearfield/Clinton): Creates an Aggregate Advisory Board to advise the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regarding the Pennsylvania aggregate mining industry.

EDUCATION, 12:15 p.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

• SB 1281 (Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre/Huntingdon/Juniata/Mifflin): Provides public schools with additional options to make up snow days in order to meet the Commonwealth’s requirement that school be kept open 180 days.

Session

On Monday, the House will convene at 1 p.m. for legislative business. The members will vote the uncontested calendar and Rule 35 resolutions.

Votes on Second Consideration

• SB 990 (Sen. Patrick Browne, R-Lehigh/Monroe/Northampton): Enables acupuncturists to treat patients seeking routine wellness treatments without the requirement of a physician’s diagnosis.
• SB 1197 (Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Bucks/Montgomery): Makes various changes to the way juvenile offenders are treated by the juvenile justice system.

Votes on Third Consideration

• HB 2302 (Rep. Ted Harhai, D-Fayette/Westmoreland): Creates a grant program for municipalities to establish code enforcement programs and places limitations on municipal ordinances which penalize residents for emergency assistance calls.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Committee Meetings/Hearings

STATE GOVERNMENT, 8 a.m., Room 205, Ryan Office Building

• Public hearing on HB 2408 (Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver): Requires agencies to make meeting agendas available to the public prior to all public meetings and precludes an agency from taking official action on a matter at any given meeting without listing the matter on the meeting’s agenda.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, 9 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

• Public hearing on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s coal regulations.

LABOR AND INDUSTRY, 9 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

• SB 1023 (Sen. Charles McIlhinney, R-Bucks): Amends the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act to make changes to the process used by the Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council to adopt new code standards.

GAME AND FISHERIES/TRANSPORTATION, 10 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

• Joint informational meeting to receive an annual report from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission/use of additional funds from the Oil Company Franchise Tax.

JUDICIARY, 10 a.m., Room 205, Ryan Office Building

• HB 2411 (Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Cumberland/Franklin): Increases the grading of offenses relating to endangering the welfare of children to reflect the degree of risk and the age of the child victim.
• HB 2464 (Rep. Joseph Hackett, R-Delaware): Amends the Pennsylvania Crime Victims Act to increase a victim’s right to be present during trial proceedings.
• HB 2465 (Rep. Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin): Requires the court to impose a mandatory three-year probation period consecutive to any term of total confinement for a person convicted of a Tier III sex offense under Pennsylvania’s Adam Walsh Act.
• HR 976 (Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, R-Berks): Urges the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to examine the issue of incarceration of parents for failure to pay fines and costs for their children’s truancy violations.

Session

On Tuesday the House will meet at 11 a.m. for legislative business.

Votes on Second Consideration

• HB 1736 (Rep. Joe Emrick, R-Northampton): Highway designation: World War II Homefront Heroes Highway.

• HB 2102 (Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Berks/Schuylkill): Provides an individual over age 75 the option of being excused from jury duty.

• HB 2134 (Rep. Kurt Masser, R-Columbia/Montour/Northumberland): Amends the Crime Victims Act to raise the costs assessed on offenders which are used to fund victim services.
• HB 2377 (Rep. R. Lee James, R-Butler/Venango): Authorizes an exemption from the payment of specific taxes and fees by certain out-of-state businesses and employees when there is a declared disaster emergency.
• HB 2384 (Rep. Dom Costa, D-Allegheny): Requires each county establish an internal unit dedicated to the collection of restitution, fines, fees and other court-imposed obligations unless the county chooses to outsource collections.
• HB 2385 (Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland): Requires that any money posted as bail shall first be applied to the payment of any outstanding restitution, fees, fines or costs owed by the defendant in any criminal or delinquency case.
• SB 1267 (Sen. Patricia Vance, R-Cumberland/York): Reauthorizes the Health Care Cost Containment Council and extends its expiration date to June 30, 2017.

Votes on Third Consideration

• HR 241 (Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks): Directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a review of Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver Programs.
• HR 778 (Rep. Curtis Thomas, D-Philadelphia): Directs the Joint State Government Commission to study the Commonwealth’s cyber security efforts and protocols.
• SB 990 (Browne)
• SB 1197 (Greenleaf)

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Committee Meetings/Hearings

HEALTH, 9 a.m., Room 205, Ryan Office Building

• HR 936 (Rep. Donna Oberlander, R-Armstrong/Clarion): Requests that the Joint State Government Commission provide an assessment of diabetes programs and diabetes-related planning within Commonwealth state agencies.
• HR 948 (Rep. Daniel Miller, D-Allegheny): Requests the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee conduct a review and recommend a plan to provide home-based and community-based support to adults with autism.
• HR 983 (Rep. Matt Baker, R-Bradford/Tioga): Directs the Joint State Government Commission to study health care workforce issues.
• HB 2471 (Rep. Matt Baker, R-Bradford/Tioga): Prohibits insurance policies from placing oral anti-cancer medications on a specialty tier or charging a co-insurance payment for the medication.

AGING AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES, 9:30 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

• HR 929 (Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Berks/Schuylkill): Directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study of the Commonwealth’s existing network of elder abuse task forces and assess the feasibility of expanding the network statewide.

Session

On Wednesday the House will meet at 11 a.m. for legislative business.

Votes on Third Consideration

• HB 1736 (Emrick)
• HB 2102 (Tobash)
• HB 2134 (Masser)
• HB 2377 (James)
• HB 2384 (D. Costa)
• HB 2385 (Delozier)
• HR 942 (Rep. Tommy Sankey, R-Clearfield): Urges the United States president and the federal government to work to secure the release of United States Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi from custody in a Mexican prison.
• SB 1267 (Vance)

Votes on Concurrence

• HB 993 (Rep. Thomas Murt, R-Montgomery/Philadelphia): Changes the name of the Department of Public Welfare to the Department of Human Services and requires the department to establish a toll-free fraud tip line.
• HB 1177 (Rep. Gregory Lucas, R-Crawford/Erie): Allows for a study by the Local Government Commission to analyze consolidation or merger of municipalities. It also authorizes an optional local cigarette tax for the City of Philadelphia and charter school reforms.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Committee Meetings/Hearings

LABOR AND INDUSTRY, 9:30 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

• Public hearing on HB 1890 (Rep. Erin Molchany, D-Allegheny): Amends the Equal Pay Law to limit factors that may be used as a basis for pay disparity between genders and provides for protection from retaliation and disclosure of wage rates.

CONSUMER AFFAIRS, 1 p.m., Delaware County Courthouse, 201 W. Front St., Media, PA

• Public hearing on HB 2458 (Rep. Nicholas Micozzie, R-Delaware): Amends the Cemetery and Funeral Merchandise Trust Fund Law by requiring sellers of funeral services and merchandise that are to be delivered at a future date to deposit 100 percent of the purchase price into a trust fund account and provides for return of all funds, including interest earned, if the purchaser cancels the contract prior to performance.