The following bills of interest saw action this week in the House and Senate--

House

Note: This time of year all bill reported from House Standing Committees get referred to House Rules Committee.

Related Budget Bills: The House passed and sent to the Governor budget bills related to independent agencies: Office of the Attorney General, Office of Consumer Advocate, PA Gaming Board, Small Business Advocate, Public Utility Commission, the State Employee and School Employee Pension Funds-- Senate Bills 1472 1473, 1474, 1475, 1476, 1477 and 1479.

General Fund Budget: Senate Bill 1466 (Corman-R-Centre) providing for the General Fund budget was amended on the House Floor and referred back to the House Appropriations Committee.

Open Space: House Bill 2223 (Gingrich-R-Lebanon) further providing for the preservation of open space by local governments was referred into and out of the House Appropriations Committee and was passed by the House.  A summary and House Fiscal Note are available.  The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Drilling On Certain State Lands: Senate Bill 367 (D.White-R-Indiana) providing for mineral resource development on other state lands and providing for allocation of revenue was removed from the Table and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Open Space II: House Bill 2167 (Quigley-R-Montgomery) further providing for the preservation of open space by local governments was amended on the House Floor and referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

Historic Tax Credit: Senate Bill 1150 (Smucker-R-Lancaster) providing for an historic preservation tax credit was amended on the House Floor and referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

Stream Clearance: House Bill 2359 (Causer-R-Cameron) further providing for stream clearance of flood debris was removed from the Table and was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

Energy Assistance: House Bill 1991 (Cutler-R-Lancaster) further providing for verification of energy assistance eligibility was amended and reported out of the House Health Committee and was referred to the House Rules Committee.

Government Accountability: House Bill 726 (Saylor-R-York) an act providing for the accountability of state agency program performance was amended and reported from the House State Government Committee and referred to the House Rules Committee.

Storage Tank Cleanup: Senate Bill 1398 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) extending the Storage Tank Cleanup Program was reported from the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and Tabled.

Low RVP Gasoline: Senate Bill 1386 (Vogel-R-Beaver) providing relief from Pittsburgh low-RVP gasoline requirement was amended and reported from the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and Tabled.

Senate

Mine Reclamation: House Bill 608 (Brooks-R- Crawford) providing for the use of bioenergy crops in mine reclamation was reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.  A summary and Senate Fiscal Note are available.

Flood Recovery: House Bill 1913 (Culver-R- Northumberland) providing for flood damage local property tax relief (A summary and Senate Fiscal Note are available);  House Bill 1916 (Millard-R- Columbia) providing for an itemized list of public improvement project for flood protection and flood damage repair (amended) (A summary and Senate Fiscal Note are available.) were reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee and are on the Senate Calendar for action.

Mandated Recycling: House Bill 1934 (Keller-R-Snyder) amending Act 101 to exclude the populations of prisons and other state facilities in calculating mandated recycling communities was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

6/11/2012