Here are the Senate and House Calendars and Committee meetings showing bills of interest as well as a list of new environmental bills introduced--

Session Schedule

The House and Senate return to session on June 21--

House Session Schedule-

Senate Session Schedule-

Calendars

House (June 21): House Bill 80 (Vitali-D-Delaware) expanding the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards and authorizing a carbon sequestration network; House Bill 687 (Dermody-D-Allegheny) expanding guaranteed energy savings contracts to include technologies to reduce water and wastewater consumption;  House Bill 2234 (Houghton-D-Chester) prohibiting deed restrictions related to solar energy systems on residential property.

Senate (June 21): Senate Bill 900 (Argall-R-Schuylkill) providing for neighborhood blight reclamation and revitalization;  Senate Bill 1250 (Pileggi-R-Delaware) requiring the sharing of air pollution fines with local governments; Senate Bill 1379 (Musto-D-Luzerne) requiring the recycling of textbooks; House Bill 621 (Curry-D-Montgomery) designating the eastern box turtle as PA's official state reptile.

 Committees

House: the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee meets to consider  House Bill 1489 (George-D-Clearfield) imposing a severance tax on natural gas production; the Urban Affairs Committee meets to consider  House Bill 712 (J. Taylor-R-Philadelphia) authorizing the creation of land banks for converting vacant or tax-delinquent properties.

Senate: the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee meets to consider  Senate Bill 728 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery) setting standards for high performance green buildings, Senate Bill 1394 (Eichelberger-R-Blair) requiring permits fees for non-coal mining operations to be set by regulation,  House Bill 444 (M.Smith-D-Chester) setting standards for high performance green buildings,  House Bill 786 (George-D-Clearfield) establishing a State Energy Office within the Department of Environmental Protection; the  Appropriations Committee meets to consider  House Bill 1609 (Freeman-D-Lehigh) further providing for traditional neighborhood development in the Municipalities Planning Code.

Other: Environmental Issues Forum-- presentation by Penn State University's Center for Green Roof Research.

Bills Introduced

The following bills of interest were introduced this week--

Low Sulfur/Biofuels: House Bill 2578 (George-D-Clearfield) mandating low sulfur and bio-heating oil.
 

Natural Gas Severance Tax:  House Bill 2579 (Mirabito-D-Lycoming) would create a 30-cent-per-volume severance tax. The distribution to programs would be: FY 2010-2011 through FY 2015-2016 and continuing thereafter-- 80 percent shall go to the General Fund, 12 percent to the Local Government Services Account, 4 percent to the Environmental Stewardship Fund, 2 percent to the Conservation District Fund, 0.5 percent to the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, 0.5 percent to the Game Commission, 0.5 percent to the Fish and Boat Commission, 0.25 percent to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and 0.25 percent to the LIHEAP weatherization assistance program. 

Brownfields Tax Credit:  House Bill 2583 (Dermondy-D-Allegheny) providing for a brownfield job creation tax credit.

6/21/2010