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

House

Microgrids: House Bill 1412 (Barrar-R-Delaware) proposing a regulatory framework to encourage energy storage and microgrids to improve electric grid resiliency during disaster emergencies and other circumstances was amended and reported out of the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Alternative Fuel Vehicles: House Bill 1446 (Quinn-R-Bucks) encouraging infrastructure for electric and natural gas fueled vehicles was amended and reported from the House Transportation Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Taking Permit Reviews Away From DEP, State Agencies Giving It To Third Parties: House Bill 1959 (Rothman-R-Cumberland) Establishes the Pennsylvania Permit Act which requires agencies to create and develop a navigable online permit tracking system and takes authority to issue certain permits away from state agencies like DEP and creates a new bureaucracy of third-party reviewers.  The bill was reported out of the House State Government Committee and was Tabled.  Click Here for more.

New Office of The Repealer: House Bill 209 (Phillips-Hill-R-York): Establishes the Independent Office of the Repealer, a new bureaucracy to undertake an ongoing review of existing regulations; receive and process recommendations; and make recommendations to the General Assembly, the governor, and executive agencies for repeal.  An amendment to the bill places a cap on all regulations and requires agencies to delete two regulations for every new regulations agencies seek to adopt.  It is modeled after policies adopted by the Trump Administration. The bill was reported out of the House State Government Committee and was Tabled.  Click Here for more.

Repeal Any Regulation By Resolution: House Bill 1792 (Benninghoff-R-Mifflin) Gives the General Assembly the ability to repeal any state regulation in effect by a concurrent resolution by requiring a single vote in the Senate and House.  The process is modeled after a federal procedure used by the Trump Administration to repeal regulations (sponsor summary). Currently, the General Assembly can repeal any regulation by passing a new law which involves a more extensive review and several votes by the Senate and House. The bill was amended and reported out of the House State Government Committee and Tabled.  Click Here for more.

Limit Term: Senate Bill 935 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson) which would limit the term of the Executive Director of the Fish and Boat Commission to eight years was reported out of the House Game and Fisheries Committee by a nearly party line vote (Republicans supporting) and was Tabled.  Click Here for more.

Borough-Owned Electric Companies: House Bill 2030 (Bernstine-R-Beaver) requiring borough-owned electric companies located in two counties (Ellwood City) to calculate their rates the same way as municipal authorities rather than using electric bills as a taxation tool was reported from the House State Government Committee and Tabled.

NewsClip:

Op-Ed: Lawmaker’s Bill On Local Electric Companies Raises Moral, Legal Questions

One-Stop Permit Website: House Bill 1284 (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a one-stop-shop online permitting portal for business (sponsor summary) was amended and reported from the House Commerce Committee and Tabled.

3/19/2018