Providing for an Economic Recovery, Protecting Families and Reforming Government for the Benefit of Pennsylvanians

The state House returns to session on Monday, June 14, to vote on legislation to advance our goals of providing for an economic recovery, protecting families and providing government reform for Pennsylvania taxpayers.

Providing for an Economic Recovery

This week the Pennsylvania House of Representatives will vote on a number of bills of importance that continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic that reflect the need to jumpstart Pennsylvania’s economy by removing barriers to getting Pennsylvanians back to work, providing for a better regulatory framework, and getting government out of the way of small business job creators.

Protecting Families

June is Elder Abuse Awareness Month and the House this week will vote on a package of bills that provide greater protections against elder abuse. The chamber will also vote on legislation to provide greater education to determine early signs of dementia.

Reforming Government for the Benefit of Pennsylvanians

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives will start the process of advancing the Pennsylvania Voting Rights Protection Act, which provides better elections through modernization, security and accessibility. Legislation is also slated to advance that would clarify the powers of the secretary of Health under the Disease Control and Prevention Law, ban the use of vaccine passports, and change how Pennsylvania’s elect their lieutenant governor.

The Weekly Schedule

Bill numbers will be used to identify the legislation being considered either in committee or on the House floor. The bills, sponsors and summaries are posted below.

Monday, June 14, 2021

Committee Meetings/Hearings

VETERANS AFFAIRS & EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, 11 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

HB 860 (Rep. Todd Polinchock, R-Bucks): Act regulating certain smoke alarms; providing for dwelling unit owner and tenant responsibilities; and prescribing penalties.
HB 1445 (Rep. Martin Causer, R-Potter/Cameron/McKean): Amends the Fiscal Code to provide additional funding to augment our Commonwealth’s Emergency Medical Services Operating Fund (EMSOF).
HB 1577 (Rep. Zack Mako, R-Northampton): Amends the Price Gouging Act to update and modernize the act.
HB 1598 (Rep. Karen Boback, R-Luzerne/Lackawanna/Wyoming): Amends the Flood Plain Management Act to provide for updates and modernization.

APPROPRIATIONS, Call of the Chair, Room 140, Main Capitol

Agenda to be announced

HEALTH, Call of the Chair, Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

SB 618 (Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York): Amends Title 35 (Health and Safety) to prohibit the use of vaccine passports and further clarify the authority of the secretary of Health under the Disease Control and Prevention Law.

Session

On Monday, the House will meet at noon for legislative business.

Votes on Second Consideration

HB 931 (Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne): Amends the Professional Nursing Law to officially recognize Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) under Pennsylvania statute.
HB 975 (Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, R-Allegheny/Westmoreland): Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) to extend the protections of the institutional sexual assault statute to cover elders and other care-dependent persons who are assaulted by those who have the responsibility of providing care.
HB 1040 (Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford/Franklin/Fulton): Act designating the bridge, identified as Bridge Key 4133, carrying Pennsylvania Route 913 over Raystown Branch Juniata River in Liberty Township, Bedford County, as the Sergeant Charles Warsing Memorial Bridge.
HB 1048 (Rep. Frank Farry, R-Bucks): Act designating a bridge, identified as Bridge Key 68033, carrying State Route 2047 over CSX and SEPTA Railroads in Middletown Township, Bucks County, as the PFC John Elton Candy Memorial Bridge.
HB 1182 (Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-Snyder/Northumberland): Amends the Barbers’ License Law to provide schools that offer barber programs the ability to offer up to 50% of the program through online and/or other remote instruction.
HB 1183 (Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-Snyder/Northumberland): Amends the Cosmetology Law to provide schools that offer barber programs the ability to offer up to 50% of the program through online and/or other remote instruction.
HB 1428 (Rep. Kurt Masser, R-Columbia/Montour/Northumberland): Amends the Health Care Facilities Act to allow residents or representatives of a resident to place electronic monitoring devices in rooms with appropriate notices and consent of the facility and other residents.
HB 1429 (Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-Snyder/Northumberland): Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) to give the attorney general’s office concurrent jurisdiction to investigate individuals who use their position of trust to financially exploit older adults and care-dependent people.
HB 1431 (Rep. Kate Klunk, R-York): Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) to establish abuse of social media by employees who post pictures of care-dependent individuals without permission and categorize the crime as a misdemeanor.
SB 120 (Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, R-Bucks): Amends Title 75 (Vehicles) to provide for the movement of dozers.

Votes on Third Consideration

HB 409 (Galloway)
HB 508 (Cox)
HB 922 (Davanzo)
HB 993 (Roae)
HB 1387 (Nelson)
HB 1420 (Thomas)

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Committee Meetings/Hearings

STATE GOVERNMENT, 8 a.m., Room 515, Irvis Office Building

HB 822 (Rep. Martina White, R-Philadelphia): Joint Resolution proposing integrated amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, further providing for action by lieutenant governor as governor and for vacancy in office of lieutenant governor; and providing for an initiative to recall certain elected statewide and local officers.
HB 1181 (Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Allegheny): Act authorizing the Department of General Services, with the approval of the Department of Corrections and the governor, to grant and convey to Alexander Delmont Bard and Melissa Marie Bard, certain lands and improvements situate in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County.
HB 1300 (Rep. Seth Grove, R-York): Amends the Pennsylvania Election Code to provide for the Voting Rights Protection Act.
HB 1452 (Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Allegheny): Amends the Pennsylvania Election Code to provide for modernized petition processes.

LABOR & INDUSTRY, 9:30 a.m., Room 205, Ryan Office Building

HB 262 (Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon): Act providing for the right of an employee or prospective employee to refuse to participate in an invasive medical test or vaccination required by an employer.

AGING & OLDER ADULT SERVICES, 10 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

Informational meeting on bills regarding the PACE/PACENET cost-of-living moratorium extension and PACENET expansion and any other business that may come before the committee.

COMMERCE, 10 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

HB 520 (Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh): Amends the Charitable Gift Annuity Exemption Act to provide protections for annuitants who are donors to a charity that provides for Charitable Gift Annuities.
HB 1377 (Rep. Karen Boback, R-Luzerne/Wyoming/Lackawanna): Amends the Keystone Opportunity Zone, Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone and Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone Act to prohibit qualified businesses from essentially “zone-hopping” from one KOZ to another and receiving multiple tax breaks from that new KOZ.
HB 1588 (Rep. Rob Mercuri, R-Allegheny): Amends Title 7 (Banks and Banking) to allow for remote mortgage origination to continue and allow PA’s mortgage brokers to continue working as they are now, whether remotely or in a licensed location.

TRANSPORTATION, 10 a.m., Room B-31, Main Capitol

HB 1585 (Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne): Act designating a bridge, identified as Bridge Key 23851, on Pennsylvania Route 309 over the Nescopeck Creek in Butler Township, Luzerne County, as the SP4 Walter J. Leib Memorial Bridge.
HB 1586 (Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne): Act designating the bridge, identified as Bridge Key 23789, carrying Pennsylvania Route 93 over Nescopeck Creek, Sugarloaf Township, Luzerne County, as the Corporal Harry A. Wagner Memorial Bridge.
SB 89 (Sen. Joe Pittman, R-Armstrong/Indiana): Amends Title 74 (Transportation) to repeal provisions relating to Balanced Multimodal Transportation Policy Commission.
SB 532 (Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Fayette/Somerset/Westmoreland): Act designating the bridges, identified as Bridge Key 31419 and Bridge Key 31420, on that portion of U.S. Route 219 over State Route 601 in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County, as the Corporal Anthony G. Orlandi Memorial Bridge.

APPROPRIATIONS, Call of the Chair, Room 140, Main Capitol

Agenda to be announced

CONSUMER AFFAIRS, Call of the Chair, Room 205, Ryan Office Building

HB 1258 (Rep. KC Tomlinson, R-Bucks): Act providing for the registration of interior designers; imposing powers and duties on the Bureau of Consumer Protection; establishing the Registered Interior Design Account; imposing penalties; and for abrogation of regulations.
SB 442 (Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York): Act providing for an inventory of state-owned assets for the development of fixed broadband services in unserved areas, establishing the Broadband Services Restricted Account and providing for underserved areas of this Commonwealth.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES & ENERGY, Call of the Chair, Room G-50, Irvis Office Building

HB 591 (Rep. Dave Zimmerman, R-Lancaster): Amends the Clean Streams Law to allow construction sites that result in a land disturbance of more than one but less than five acres, to apply for a waiver of an otherwise required National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit.
HB 1302 (Rep. Zack Mako, R-Northampton): Amends the Solid Waste Management Act (SWMA) to require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to forward notices of noncompliance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and a notice of noncompliance for violation of the SWMA to the municipality where the violation occurred.

JUDICIARY, Call of the Chair, Room 523, Irvis Office Building

HB 1003 (Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Somerset): Amends "An act to validate conveyances and other instruments which have been defectively acknowledged," to invalidate conveyances and other legal instruments which have acknowledgements containing technical errors. The proposed legislation will validate acknowledgements for deeds and mortgages which are dated after 2013 and prior to 2018.
HB 1255 (Rep. Andrew Lewis, R-Dauphin): Amends Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) to establish a statutory limitation on the time in which civil actions against real estate appraisers can be filed following the date the appraisal was performed.
HB 1587 (Rep. Amen Brown, D-Philadelphia): Amends Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) to make any previously convicted felon who is found to be in possession of an illegal firearm subject to progressively stronger sentences and a minimum term of incarceration.
HB 1590 (Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery): Amends Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) to make sentencing guidelines presumptive for certain offenses and requiring courts to state, on the record, a substantial and compelling reason that an injustice would occur by imposing a sentence below the standard range of the sentencing guidelines.
HR 111 (Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery): Resolution directing the Commission on Sentencing to conduct a thorough and comprehensive study on the investigation, prosecution and sentencing of violations of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act of 1995 in this Commonwealth.

LIQUOR CONTROL, Call of the Chair, Room 60, East Wing

HB 1497 (Rep. Mike Jones, R-York): Amends the Liquor Code to extend to bars and restaurants the ability to use an amplified sound device, provided the sound does not exceed 75 decibels beyond their property line, under certain circumstances.

Session

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

Votes on Second Consideration

HB 155 (Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga/Bradford/Potter): Act designating a bridge, identified as Bridge Key 32773, on that portion of U.S. Route 6 over the Tioga River, Mansfield Borough, Tioga County, as the Mansfield Veterans Memorial Bridge.
HB 293 (Rep. Donna Oberlander, R-Clarion/Armstrong/Forest): Amends the Human Services Code to allow U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved (FDA) anti-obesity drugs to be considered a compensable service under the state Medicaid program.
HB 636 (Rep. Nick Pisciottano, D-Allegheny): Act designating the interchange located on I-279 at Camp Horne Road in Ohio Township, Allegheny County, as the Scott F. Hirsh Memorial Interchange.
HB 1006 (Rep. Carl Metzgar, R-Somerset/Bedford): Amends the Tax Reform Code to allow Pennsylvania farmers to defer income received from disaster-related crop insurance payments for one year, mirroring existing federal law.
HB 1082 (Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, R-Allegheny/Westmoreland): Act establishing an education program to assist in the early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
HB 1349 (Rep. Tina Pickett, R-Bradford/Susquehanna/Sullivan): Amends the Insurance Department Act to further provide for the powers and duties of the department.
HB 1539 (Rep. Mike Peifer, R-Wayne/Pike): Amends the Tuition Account Programs and College Savings Bond Act to establish the Keystone Scholars Grant Program and the Keystone Scholars Grant Program Account; and making a related repeal.
SB 156 (Sen. Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery/Bucks/Lehigh): Amends the Tobacco Settlement Act to allow individuals with disabilities to increase earnings under a new category of the medical assistance for workers with disabilities (MAWD) program, called Workers with Job Success (WJS). The goal is to allow workers with disabilities to work to their potential without the risk of losing health benefits.
SB 434 (Sen. Elder Vogel, R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence): Amends Title 3 (Agriculture) to update “sell by” and “best by” date labeling for pasteurized milk.

Votes on Third Consideration

HB 931 (Toohil)
HB 975 (Lewis DelRosso)
HB 1040 (Topper)
HB 1048 (Farry)
HB 1182 (Schlegel Culver)
HB 1183 (Schlegel Culver)
HB 1428 (Masser)
HB 1429 (Schlegel Culver)
HB 1431 (Klunk)
SB 120 (Tomlinson)
SB 445 (Mensch)

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Committee Meetings/Hearings

FINANCE, 9:30 a.m., Room 205, Ryan Office Building

Agenda to be announced

INSURANCE, 10 a.m., Room 60, East Wing

HB 947 (Rep. Dave Zimmerman, R-Lancaster): Amends the Insurance Company Law to ensure employers with 50-99 employees have access to aggregate claims data for their companies.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 10 a.m., Room 523, Irvis Office Building

HB 1170 (Rep. Christina Sappey, D-Chester): Amends "An act authorizing political subdivisions, municipality authorities and transportation authorities to enter into contracts for the purchase of goods and the sale of real and personal property where no bids are received," to authorize political subdivisions and authorities to enter into contracts for services when two consecutive advertisements fail to induce bids.
HB 1294 (Rep. Kurt Masser, R-Northumberland/Columbia/Montour): Amends the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act to provide funding for financially distressed municipalities to hire a Code Enforcement Officer and to hire either a Main Street or Elm Street Program coordinator.
HB 1325 (Rep. Wendi Thomas, R-Bucks): Amends Titles 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) and 11 (Cities) to permit newly elected municipal officials to attend conferences, institutes, schools, and conventions prior to officially taking office.
HB 1350 (Rep. Lee James, R-Venango): Amends Title 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) to provide updates consistent with other revisions.
HB 1351 (Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill): Amends the Second Class Township Code to provide updates consistent with other revisions.
HB 1367 (Rep. Robert Freeman, D-Northampton): Amends Title 11 (Cities) to provide updates consistent with other revisions.
HB 1591 (Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill): Amends the County Code to provide updates consistent with other revisions.

APPROPRIATIONS, Call of the Chair, Room 140, Main Capitol

Agenda to be announced

Session

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

Votes on Second Consideration:

TBA

Votes on Third Consideration:

HB 155 (Owlett)
HB 293 (Oberlander)
HB 1006 (Metzgar)
HB 1082 (Lewis DelRosso)
HB 1349 (Pickett)
HB 1539 (Peifer)
SB 156 (Mensch)
SB 434 (Vogel)

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