The Senate and House committee schedules and floor calenders are listed here--

Session Schedule

With only three voting days left until the session ends and all bills die, there is little likelihood that any bill that has not passed at least one chamber (Senate or House) will have a shot at becoming law. Here's the schedule as of now—

House

October 6, 7, 8

November 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 24, and 25

Senate

October 6, 7, 8

November 20-21 (tribute to retiring members, certain nominations)

You can watch theSenate Floor SessionandHouse Floor Sessionlive online.

Calendars/Committees

The Senate and House committee schedules and floor calendars are summarized here on environmental issues--

Calendars

The following bills of interest are on the House and Senator voting Calendars--

Senate (October 6):House Bill 44(Rubley-R-Chester) banning the sale of thermostats containing mercury; Senate Bill 1291(Rhoades-R-Schuylkill) providing additional authority for blight reclamation projects.

House (October 6):House Bill 2043(Haluska-D-Cambria) making changes to the provisions requiring the registration of snowmobiles and ATVs;House Resolution 883(Harper-R-Montgomery) directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to review where grants were made under the Growing Greener II program;House Resolution 845(Petrone-D-Allegheny) directing the Joint State Government Committee to study the impacts of regional significant developments, expanding the work of the task force expanding theKilbuckLandslide in Allegheny County.

Special Session (October 6):Special Session House Bill 13(Bennington-D-Allegheny) further providing for alternative energy portfolio standards; Special Session House Bill 17(McIlvaine-Smith-D-Montgomery) providing a sales tax exclusion for hybrid vehicles;Special Session House Resolution 6(Thomas-D-Delaware) recognizing November 11-17 as "National Geography Awareness Week;"Special Session House Resolution 107(Cohen-D-Philadelphia) resolution calling for the holding of a conference on the use of alternative energy sources in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

Bills Introduced

The following bills of interest were introduced this week--

Electronics Recycling:House Bill 2790(Hutchinson-R-Venango) establishing a program for recycling computer equipment and electronics.

Energy Advocate:House Bill 2791(George-D-Clearfield) creating the Commonwealth Energy Advocate tasked with monitoring the activities of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions and other federal agencies to advocate on behalf of retail electric customers.

Coal Bed Methane:House Bill 2792(George-D-Clearfield) establishing the Coal Bed Methane Gas Drilling Rights Act to spell out the rights of surface property rights owners.

Biodiesel Incentives:House Bill 2793(Sonney-R-Erie) further providing for biomass-based diesel production incentives.

Farm Tax Credit Increase:House Bill 2801(Stern-R-Blair) would increase the Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) tax credit cap from $10 to $35 million to finance farm conservation measures.

NewsClip:$10 Million REAP Farm Conservation Tax Credits Gone In Hours

Well Testing:Senate Bill 1593(Waugh-R-York) amending the Solid Waste Management Act to provide for testing of water wells by the Department of Environmental Protection near proposed application sites for sewage sludge.

9/26/2008