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

House

Alternative Ratemaking: House Bill 1782 (Delozier-R-Cumberland) relating to alternative ratemaking in utilities regulated by the PUC to encourage conservation was referred into and out of the House Appropriations Committee and was passed by the House.  A House Fiscal Note and summary is available.  The bill now goes to the Senate for action.

Killing A Regulation By Doing Nothing: House Bill 1237 (Keefer-R-York) authorizes the General Assembly to kill an economically significant final regulation from any agency by doing nothing was not changed after 30 tries to amended the bill to exempt critical regulations, like those dealing with environmental protection.  The House passed the bill and it now goes to the Senate for action.  Click Here for more.

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 was amended in minor ways on the House Floor. The House passed the bill and it now goes to the Senate for action.  Click Here for more.

Cap On Number Of Regulations: 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.  It also 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.  None of the attempts to amend the bill succeeded. The House passed the bill and it now goes to the Senate for action.  Click Here for more.

Waiving Penalties: House Bill 1960 (Ellis-R-Butler) which requires each agency to appoint a Regulatory Compliance Officer with the authority to waive fines and penalties if a permit holder “attempts” to comply was amended twice in minor ways on the House Floor.  The House passed the bill and it now goes to the Senate for action.  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 committee review and several votes each by the Senate and House.  The bill was amended in minor ways on the House Floor.  The House passed the bill and it now goes to the Senate for action.  Click Here for more.

Conventional Drilling: House Bill 2154 (Causer-R-Forest), the Conventional Oil and Gas Act to regulate conventional drilling operations and weaken environmental protection standards on fracking based on the original 1984 Oil and Gas Act was reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, amended on the House Floor related to coordination of oil and gas drilling and underground coal mining.  Other amendments failed to set a minimum royalty and a natural gas severance tax. The bill was referred into and out of the House Appropriations Committee and is on the House Calendar for final action.  Click Here for more.

Local Clean Energy Financing: Senate Bill 234 (Blake-D-Lackawanna), Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing Program, that authorizes local governments to create energy improvement districts to help fund energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation projects for commercial, agricultural and industrial buildings to reduce their operating costs (Senate Fiscal Note and summary) was reported out of the House Commerce Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Drinking Water Week: House Resolution 839 (Carroll-D-Luzerne) designating May 6-12 Drinking Water Week in Pennsylvania was adopted by the House.

Bike To Work: House Resolution 857 (Dean-D-Montgomery) designating May Bike Month and the week of May 14-18 Bike to Work Week was adopted by the House (sponsor summary).

5/7/2018