September 24, 2015

Weekly Wrap:

The biggest news out of the state legislature this week is final passage of a stopgap budget. Last week, the Senate passed S.B. 1000 (Browne, R-Lehigh), and on Thursday, it finally passed the House of Representatives. The measure represents a spending plan for the Commonwealth to cover the months of July, August, September and October, and the amount of funding provided for each program and department is about one-third of the amount appropriated in H.B. 1192. H.B. 1192, you’ll remember, is the full blown budget bill that passed the state legislature in late-June, but was vetoed in its entirety by Gov. Wolf.

Part and parcel with the General Appropriations bill, the House passed S.B. 1001 (Browne, R-Lehigh) and H.B. 224 (Christiana, D-Beaver). S.B. 1001 amends the commonwealth’s Fiscal Code to provide for implementation of the stopgap budget. H.B. 224 amends the Public School Code to provide temporary funding for basic and special education, as well as funding for libraries, community colleges and vocational education grants. H.B. 224 also establishes the Public School Web Accountability and Transparency Act or SchoolWATCH, which would require the Department of Education to post annual financial information about school entities, including charter and cyber charter schools, on its website.

All three bills are now headed to the Governor’s desk, where they are likely to be vetoed.

For more, check out: http://www.centredaily.com/2015/09/24/4936470_pennsylvania-house-readies-vote.html?sp=/99/116/129/&rh=1

A Look Ahead:

Both the House and Senate will return to Harrisburg next week for voting session, but it’s hard to say what will be on the docket. Though the governor is promising a veto of the budget package passed this week, good old “checks and balances” gives the legislature one final avenue of redress: the veto can be overridden by a two thirds vote in each chamber.

Veto override or not, there’s bound to be other activity in both the House and Senate. For possible floor votes, check out:

The Week Ahead: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2015/2015092422.PDF

The Senate Calendar: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/SC/SC/0/RC/CAL.PDF

The committees look busy next week, too. On Monday, the Senate Urban Affairs Committee will meet to consider S.B. 942 (Argall, R-Berks), which would expedite the timeline for property owners to remedy code violations; H.B. 792 (Killion, R-Delaware), which would use proceeds from the Realty Transfer Tax to fund the Housing Trust Fund; and H.B. 1340 (White, M-R, Philadelphia), which would update the Uniform Planned Community and Uniform Condominium Acts. Also on Monday, the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee will hold a public hearing on S.B. 352 (Vogel, R-Beaver), which would update the Race Horse Industry Reform Act.

For more on S.B. 942, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=0942

For more on H.B. 792, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0792

For more on H.B. 1340, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1340

For more on S.B. 352, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=0352

So far Tuesday’s schedule includes a public hearing on H.B. 1436 (Godshall, R-Montgomery), which would clarify how public utilities calculate their federal tax expenditures.

Read H.B. 1436 here: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1436

Wednesday looks a little busier so far. The House State Government Committee will hold a voting meeting on H.B. 1348 (Cutler, R-Lancaster) which would increase penalties for violations of the Lobbyist Disclosure Act. The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee will hold a public hearing on mental health commitment processes, and the House Aging and Older Adult Services will meet to hear a presentation by Tom Snedden on amendments to the law governing PACE and PACENET. Snedden is the director of those programs within the Department of Aging. Finally on Wednesday, the Senate Republican Policy Committee and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a rare joint hearing on S.B. 282 (Vulakovich, R-Allegheny), which would provide for a Waterfront Development Tax Credit to increase economic development around the Commonwealth’s waterways.

To read H.B. 1348, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1348

To read S.B. 282, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=0282

While not a voting session day, Thursday brings another joint hearing: The House Local Government and Urban Affairs Committees will hold a public hearing on municipal pensions, including H.B. 32 (Grell, Res. 04/30/15) and H.B. 974 (Petri, R-Bucks).

To read H.B. 32, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0032

To read H.B. 974, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0974

For a full list of committee meetings, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/session.cfm

In Other News:

Ever wonder who’s who in the state’s budget negotiations? Find out here: http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/09/who_wields_the_powers_influenc.html