The House and Senate return to voting session on June 15.

Session Schedule

Here's the House and Senate session schedule through June 2009--

House

June 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 20

Senate

June 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30

Calendars

House (June 15): House Bill 42 (Freeman-D-Lehigh) providing for Historic Preservation Grants;House Bill 687 (Dermody-D-Allegheny) expanding the guaranteed energy savings contract provisions to include technology upgrades designed to reduce water and wastewater consumption or operating expenses; House Resolution 17 (Harper-R-Montgomery) directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to review the Growing Greener Program and the Community Conservation Partnerships Program.

Senate (June 15): Senate Bill 298 (Yaw-R-Bradford) allowing the split off of preserved farmland for drilling purposes; Senate Bill 698 (Waugh-R-York) creating the PA Farms to Fuels Incentive Act;Senate Bill 547 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery) providing penalties for repeat violations of landfill regulations; Senate Bill 886 (Musto-D-Luzerne) extending the $2/ton Recycling Fee through 2020 and authorizing $1.25 million from the Recycling Fund to cleanup waste tire piles; Senate Bill 901 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson) exempting certain small refineries for one year from biodiesel mandate; House Bill 262 (Haluska-D-Cambria) establishing prescribed burning practices, House Bill 263 (Freeman-D-Lehigh) further authorizing agreements to protect the Appalachian Trail.

Committees

The following Committees have meetings this week--

House: the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee meets to consider House Bill 80 (Vitali-D-Delaware) creating a carbon sequestration network and expanding the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards, House Bill 708 (Ross-R-Chester) establishing an electronics waste recycling program; the Rules Committee meets to consider House Bill 984 (Kessler-D-Berks) would limit the roll-back taxes when a landowner leases land enrolled in the program for a wind power generation system, House Bill 1394 (Houghton-D-Chester) would clarify the status of land leased for exploration of oil and gas, coal bed methane extraction and commercial wind energy production.

Senate: the Appropriations Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 783 (MJ White-R-Venango) requiring additional reporting on the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund; the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 235 (Wozniak-D-Cambria) authorizing the use of non-structural flood control alternatives, Senate Bill 880 (Wonderling-R-Montgomery) reimbursing developers for certain brownfields redevelopment costs, and two bills yet to be introduced--Senate Bill 962 and Senate Bill 963--to give DCNR additional funding options to keep State Park open; the Local Government Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 569 (Pileggi-R-Delaware) extending any agency approval or permit for one year for approvals issued after December 31, 2008 and ending before July 2, 2011.

Other: the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee hearing on Schuylkill River Trail Initiative in Philadelphia.

Bills Introduced

These bills of interest were introduced this week--

Senate

Sludge Testing: Senate Bill 945 (Waugh-R-York) requiring additional testing of sewage sludge before application.

House

Weatherization/Energy Assistance: House Bill 1637 (Cutler-R-Lancaster) establishing an Office of Program Compliance and Weatherization Assistance at DCED and House Bill 1638 (Cutler) establishing identification requirements for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Sewage Facilities: House Resolution 345 (Gillespie-R-York) directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to review the state's sewage facilities management program.

6/12/2009