Representative Dave Reed

62nd Legislative District

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Media Contact: Stephen Miskin

717-705-7173 (Office) 717-756-3936 (Cell)

smiskin@pahousegop.com / Twitter: @SAM1963

Twitter: @RepReedPA / RepDaveReed.net / Facebook.com/RepReed

 

 

TO:                  Capitol Correspondents, News Editors, Assignment Editors

 

FROM:            Stephen Miskin

                        Press Secretary to the Majority Leader

 

SUBJ:              House Action for the Week of May 22, 2017

 

DATE:            May 19, 2017

 

 

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. 

 

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, May 22, 2017

Committee Meetings/Hearings

INSURANCE, 11 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

  • HB 1388 (Rep. Rich Irvin, R-Centre/Huntingdon/Mifflin): Reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) until December 31, 2019.
  • HR 337 (Rep. Tina Pickett, R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna): Urges the Congress of the United States to support and enact legislation that would allow states to regulate air ambulance billing and pricing practices.

STATE GOVERNMENT, Noon, Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

  • Informational meeting with the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, Dr. John Lott, to discuss the issue of gun free zones.

GAMING OVERSIGHT, Call of Chair, Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

  • HB 965 (Rep. Kurt Masser, R-Columbia/Montour/Northumberland): Requires the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to begin assessing slot machine licensees for payments of loan amounts to the State Gaming Fund.
  • HB 1162 (Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Philadelphia): Redirects unclaimed gambling winnings to the State Lottery Fund.
  • HB 1281 (Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-Bucks): Requires slot machine license fees and table games operation certificate fees be paid no later than 10 days after the award of the license or certificate, implements an increased fee schedule for table game certificates issued after June 30, 2017, and requires casinos to begin repayment of loans to the General Fund.
  • HB 1301 (Rep. Patrick Harkins, D-Erie): Directs how local share assessments are conducted and distributed within their respective municipalities, increases license renewal periods and allows for establishment of private testing and certification facilities.
  • HB 1342 (Rep. James Santora, R-Delaware): Requires all Category 1 and Category 2 casinos to pay a 2 percent local share assessment to the host county and an annual fee of $10 million to the host municipality.

 

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

  • HB 111 (Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster): Joint resolution amending the Pennsylvania Constitution to replace the partisan judicial election process with a merit selection system for justices to the Supreme Court and judges to the Superior and Commonwealth Courts and establishes the Appellate Court Nominating Commission.
  • HB 149 (Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill): Prohibits the use of devices to record video or audio or take photographs in a courtroom or hearing room without the permission of the presiding officer or as permitted by the rules of court.
  • HB 174 (Rep. Matt Baker, R-Bradford/Potter/Tioga): Requires health insurers to cover treatment plans for Lyme disease or related tick-borne illnesses as prescribed by a patient’s health care practitioner, regardless if the treatment plan includes short-term or long-term antibiotic treatment.
  • HB 561 (Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Allegheny/Washington): Eliminates the sunset provision in the Crimes Code regarding issuance of administrative subpoenas in investigations involving child sexual exploitation or abuse.
  • HB 1008 (Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Armstrong/Butler/Indiana): Allows a former mayor who has resigned the office without completing a full term in order to hold a new federal, state or local office to preside at weddings, and eliminates the three-day waiting period for issuance of a marriage license.
  • HB 1033 (Rep. Brian Ellis, R-Butler): Creates a Wine Enhanced Permit and a Spirits Enhanced Permit to allow a permit holder to sell unlimited quantities of wine and/or spirits for consumption off the premises.
  • HB 1213 (Rep. Warren Kampf, R-Chester/Montgomery): Places additional restrictions on when taxing districts have the right to appeal an assessment.

 

Votes on Third Consideration

  • HB 331 (Rep. Stephen Bloom, R-Cumberland): Amends the Tax Reform Code to permit tax deferrals for certain like-kind exchanges.
  • HB 333 (Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Westmoreland): Amends the Tax Reform Code to permit an expense deduction for the cost of certain business property.
  • HB 524 (Rep. Will Tallman, R-Adams/Cumberland): Brings the state statute regarding military recruiter access to school students into alignment with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
  • HB 599 (Rep. George Dunbar, R-Westmoreland): Establishes the Results First Project and requires the Independent Fiscal Office to implement and maintain a multidimensional data analyzing system.
  • HB 679 (Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-Allegheny/Washington): Requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education to establish a central online clearinghouse which includes an online database of online courses for students in grades 6-12 and to make the clearinghouse accessible to school entities, nonpublic schools, home education programs and the general public.
  • HB 790 (Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne): Repeals the Noxious Weed Control Law and establishes the Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Act.
  • HB 857 (Rep. David Zimmerman, R-Lancaster): Defines an “online school,” amends the definition of a “private academic school” to include online schools and permits the licensure of online schools.
  • HB 1305 (Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Crawford/Forest/Warren): Requires professional educators providing secondary transition services to special education students to complete training developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
  • SB 133 (Sen. Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland): Amends the REAL ID Nonparticipation Act to provide for issuance of voluntary travel IDs and changes the name of the act to the REAL ID Act.

 

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Committee Meetings/Hearings

FINANCE, 9 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

  • HB 966 (Rep. Kurt Masser, R-Columbia/Montour/Northumberland): Amends the Local Tax Enabling Act to update the calculation of the maximum Earned Income Tax (EIT) rate that may be used when a school district or municipality eliminates its occupation tax.
  • HB 1285 (Rep. David Maloney, R-Berks): Amends the Pennsylvania Constitution to allow local taxing authorities to exclude from taxation up to 100 percent of the assessed value of the homestead property receiving the exclusion.
  • HB 1390 (Rep. Sid Kavulich, D-Lackawanna): Extends the personal income tax refund check-off for contributions for wild resource conservation.
  • HB 1406 (Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks/Lancaster): Extends the personal income tax refund check-off for the Governor Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund.

VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, 9:15 a.m., Room B-31, Main Capitol

  • HB 699 (Rep. Martin Causer, R-Cameron/McKean/Potter): Requires an increase in the reimbursement rate under Medicaid for the provision of emergency medical services.
  • HB 984 (Rep. Zachary Mako, R-Lehigh/Northampton): Extends the personal income tax refund check-off for the Military Family Relief Program.
  • HR 222 (Rep. Frank Ryan, R-Lebanon): Urges the President of the United States and the United States Congress to enact the Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2017.

HEALTH, 9:30 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

  • Public hearing on anti-obesity medications.

JUDICIARY (Subcommittee on Family Law), 9:30 a.m., Room 140, Main Capitol

  • Public hearing on:
  • HB 983 (Rep. John Lawrence, R-Chester/Lancaster): Makes an abusive spouse ineligible to receive alimony pendente lite (APL) from the person that he or she was convicted of abusing.
  • HB 1250 (Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland): Prohibits the court from basing an alimony pendente lite (APL) award solely on presumptive guidelines and requires that any APL award be based upon a finding that the petitioning spouse’s income is insufficient to provide for his or her needs and to simultaneously maintain the litigation without unfair disadvantage.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH, 10 a.m., Room 39, East Wing

  • HB 200 (Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne): Adds postpartum depression as a qualifying at-risk condition for early intervention services under the Early Intervention Services System Act.

STATE GOVERNMENT, 10 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

  • HB 1009 (Rep. Justin Walsh, R-Westmoreland): Authorizes the release of Project 70 restrictions on land located in West Newton Borough in Westmoreland County.
  • HB 1095 (Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon): Requires identification of lawful presence in the United Sates as a prerequisite to the receipt of public benefits.
  • HB 1287 (Rep. Lynda Culver, R-Northumberland/Snyder): Authorizes the conveyance of land in Delaware Township, Northumberland County.

COMMERCE, Call of Chair, Room 205, Ryan Office Building

  • HB 593 (Rep. Curtis Thomas, D-Philadelphia): Modernizes and streamlines Pennsylvania’s Second Stage Loan Program.

 

Session

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

 

Votes on Second Consideration

  • HB 125 (Rep. Matt Baker, R-Bradford/Potter/Tiogoa): Requires the use of a certain credentialing application form for health care providers seeking to become credentialed by a health insurer and grants provisional credentialing to eligible applicants if a health insurer fails to issue a credentialing determination within 30 days after receiving the completed form.
  • HB 296 (Rep. Curt Sonney, R-Erie): Excludes from the definition of “income,” the principal and any interest accrued from a savings bond in determination of eligibility for PACE and PACENET.
  • HB 603 (Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Bedford/Somerset): Allows for a vehicle that is operated by an engine fueled primarily by compressed or liquefied natural gas to exceed the gross vehicle weight limits and any axle weight limits, not to exceed a maximum of 2,000 pounds.
  • HB 673 (Rep. Neal Goodman, D-Schuylkill): Eliminates veterans’ benefits from the definition of “income” when determining an individual’s eligibility for the PACE and PACENET programs.
  • HB 824 (Rep. Stan Saylor, R-York): Establishes a “National Guard Youth Challenge Program.”
  • HB 877 (Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne): Establishes a uniform distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits over a 25-day distribution period.
  • HB 922 (Rep. Will Tallman, R-Adams/Cumberland): Removes future employees of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission from the State Employees Retirement System.
  • HB 1013 (Rep. Stephen Barrar, R-Chester/Delaware): Requires reimbursement for emergency medical services provided when no transport of a patient occurs.
  • HB 1049 (Rep. Marcia Hahn, R-Northampton): Creates a tiered penalty system for driving on a suspended license as a result of driving under the influence (DUI) related offenses.
  • HB 1176 (Rep. Dan Miller, D-Allegheny): Directs the Pennsylvania State Police to develop a concussion protocol to be used by all police departments to protect a law enforcement officer who suffers or who may have suffered a head impact or head injury while on the job.
  • HB 1280 (Rep. Matt Baker, R-Bradford/Potter/Tioga): Grants stage four metastatic cancer patients access to the medication and treatments prescribed by their doctors rather than having to first try a series of insurance-mandated medications.

 

Votes on Third Consideration

  • HB 111 (Cutler)
  • HB 149 (Knowles)
  • HB 174 (Baker)
  • HB 561 (Saccone)
  • HB 1008 (Pyle)
  • HB 1033 (Ellis)
  • HB 1213 (Kampf)
  • HR 287 (Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence): Condemns the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, and President Bashar al-Assad for Syria’s ongoing and historical use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people; and urges the Congress of the United States to consider and approve an authorization for the use of military force to allow for additional military action in Syria for the purpose of deterring further use of chemical weapons in Syria and the world.

 

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Committee Meetings/Hearings

EDUCATION (HOUSE AND SENATE), 9 a.m., Hearing Room #1, North Office Building

  • Joint House and Senate public hearing on education savings accounts.

HUMAN SERVICES, 9 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

  • HB 825 (Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon): Requires the Department of Human Services to develop and administer an Internet-based psychiatric and detoxification bed registry to be used when patients need emergency mental health or addiction treatment.
  • HB 1233 (Rep. Tom Murt, R-Montgomery/Philadelphia): Establishes a new standard for court ordered assisted outpatient treatment for persons with serious mental illness while leaving in place the “clear and present danger” standard for involuntary hospitalization.

 

Session

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

 

Votes on Third Consideration

  • HB 125 (Baker)
  • HB 296 (Sonney)
  • HB 603 (Metzgar)
  • HB 673 (Goodman)
  • HB 824 (Saylor)
  • HB 922 (Tallman)
  • HB 1013 (Barrar)
  • HB 1049 (Hahn)
  • HB 1176 (Miller, D.)
  • HB 1280 (Baker)

 

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Committee Meetings/Hearings

JUDICIARY, 10 a.m., Room 140, Main Capitol

  • Public hearing on the proposed consolidation of the Department of Corrections and the Board of Probation and Parole.

 

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