Here's a quick summary of items on the House and Senate Calendars and in Committee set for action.

In the House: A flood of more than 368 amendments now await the budget debate on the House floor starting April 11. Although an important step, very few of the amendments offered will actually make it into the final budget.

Also on the House Calendar is House Bill 136 (Fleagle-R-Franklin) authorizing local governments to help fund watershed associations, House Resolution 174 (Baldwin-R-Lancaster) designating National Bike Month, House Resolution 184 (Rubley-R-Chester) designating PA Hiking Week, House Resolution 209 (Marsico-D-Dauphin) designating Arbor Day, and potentially House Resolution 234 (Adolph-R-Delaware) designating May as Watershed Awareness Month.

The State Government Committee is set to consider House Bill 965 (Hickernell-R-Lancaster) to expand the Downtown Enhancement Program to include residential uses, the Finance Committee will consider House Bill 504 (Killion-R-Chester) establishing an historic preservation tax credit (part of Gov. Rendell’s original “Quality of Life – Growing Greener II Initiatives) and the Game and Fisheries Committee will consider House Bill 887 (Pickett-R-Tioga) setting Game Commission license fees and hold an informational meeting on deer management.

In the Senate: Senate Bill 291 (Conti-R-Bucks) authorizing watershed-wide zoning by municipalities is on the Senate Calendar for action.

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee plans to meet to consider Senate Bill 410 (M.White-R-Venango, Must-D-Luzerne) establishing the PA Center for Environmental Education in law, Senate Bill 197 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery) providing DEP with additional authority to enforce landfill requirements and consider past violations in permit decisions and potentially House Bill 2- Growing Greener II bond issue vehicle (depending on discussions).

House-Senate: The Joint Legislative Air & Water Pollution and Conservation Committee holds an Environmental Issues Forum on Keeping PA Beautiful.

4/8/2005