Legislation moved this week involving land trusts, downtown relocation, the recycling fee, eminent domain and more. Here are the details…

Horse Boarding Farms: House Bill 619 (Hershey-R-Chester), which expands the state Farmland Preservation Program to land used for boarding, training or riding horses, was signed into law as Act 61.

In the Senate

Low-Income Energy Assistance: House Bill 1539 (Nickol-R-York), which would provide more funding for low-income heating assistance this winter, became the vehicle for the repeal of the legislative, judicial and executive pay raise this week and as a result bounced back and forth between the House and Senate over that issue. The bill is now in the House for action.

Land Trust Reimbursements: Senate Bill 940 (Waugh-R-York) which would set aside up to $200,000 per year from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Fund to reimburse Land Trusts for expenses incurred in acquiring agricultural conservation easements was passed by the Senate.

Eminent Domain: Senate Bill 881 (Piccola-R-Dauphin) and Senate Bill 897 (Brightbill-R-Lebanon) making changes to the Eminent Domain Code in response to Kelo were reported from the Senate State Government Committee and referred to Senate Appropriations Committee.

In the House

Animal Composting: House Bill 1413 (Caltagirone-D-Berks) establishing a tax credit for qualified animal recycling facilities and limited tax exemptions was passed by the House.

Eminent Domain: House Bill 2019 (Grell-R-Cumberland) and House Bill 2054 (Grell-R-Cumberland) amending the Eminent Domain Code to deal with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision on eminent domain was passed by the House.

NewsClips: Eminent Domain Bill Wins Approval

America Recycles Day: House Resolution 494 (Rubley-R-Chester) designating November 15 as America Recycles Day was passed by the House.

Radon Awareness Month: House Resolution 495 (Rubley-R-Chester) designating January 2006 Radon Awareness Month.

PA GIS Day: House Resolution 499 (Fairchild-R-Mifflin) designating November 15 as Pennsylvania GIS Day.

Lehigh Wet Weather Study: House Resolution 368 (Reichley-R-Berks) urging the Corps of Engineers to look into wet weather problems in the Little Lehigh Creek Watershed in Berks and Lehigh Counties was passed by the House.

Recycling Fee Extension: House Bill 1902 (Rubley-R-Chester) extending the $2 per ton recycling fee and requiring that Section 904 Recycling Performance Grants be spent on efforts to promote recycling and waste reduction was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

California Car Standards: House Bill 2141 (Geist-R-Blair), which would prohibit the Department of Environmental Protection from adopting the current California vehicle emission standards, was referred into and reported from House Appropriations.

Penalties for Littering: House Bill 659 (Crahalla-R-Montgomery) increasing penalties for scattering rubbish was referred to House Appropriations Committee.

Bills Introduced

Appliance Rebate: House Bill 2152 (McIlhinney-R-Bucks) establishing an energy-efficient appliance rebate program.

11/4/2005