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

House

Eastern Hellbender: Senate Bill 9 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) designating the Eastern Hellbender as the state amphibian and clean water ambassador was referred into and out of the House Appropriations Committee (House Fiscal Note and summary) and passed by the House 191 to 6 without amendment.  The bill now goes to the Governor for his action.

Fish & Boat Commission Fees: House Bill 808 (Mehaffie-R-Dauphin) authorizing the Fish and Boat Commission to set its own fees for 3 years was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee (House Fiscal Note and summary) and was passed by the House 151-39.  The bill now goes to the Senate for action.

Non-Building Waivers: House Bill 103 (Maloney-R-Berks) requiring municipalities to accept a Non-Building Waiver from sewage requirements from DEP (House Fiscal Note and summary) was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee and passed by the House.  The bill now goes to the Senate for action.

Repeal Any Regulation At Any Time: House Bill 430 (Benninghoff-R-Mifflin) authorizes the General Assembly to repeal any regulation at any time by concurrent resolution, with review by the Governor (sponsor summary).  The bill was reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on a party-line vote, Republicans supporting, and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Erosion & Sedimentation Permits: House Bill 414 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) requiring an erosion and sedimentation permit application submitted to DEP or conservation districts  “shall be approved within 20 days of receipt”  if it was submitted by a state licensed engineer.  If an application is denied, the agency shall notify the applicant why it was denied (sponsor summary). 

[Note: Almost all erosion and sedimentation control permits are submitted by engineers presently.  DEP studies of erosion and encroachment permits outside of oil and gas program found 80 percent of the applications were not complete and 30 percent had technical deficiencies in 2016. 

[A DEP review of erosion and sedimentation permits related to oil and gas operations found 60 percent of the applications were incomplete or had technical deficiencies in 2017. 

[Since these reports, DEP has worked with the consulting community to improve the applications they submit and has taken steps toward converting to electronic permit submissions to cut down on the number of incomplete and deficient applications received by DEP from engineers.]

The bill was amended the provision related to an annual report and reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee by nearly a party-line vote, Republicans supporting, and Tabled.

Notice Of Violations To Municipalities: House Bill 476 (Mako-R-Northampton) amends the Solid Waste Management Act to require DEP to forward notices of noncompliance issued by the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) for violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and a notice of noncompliance for violation of the SWMA to the municipality where the violation occurred (sponsor summary).  The bill was amended to provide an opt out for municipalities and reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Require Third Party Permit Reviews: House Bill 509 (Rothman-R-Cumberland) requires all state agencies to establish a new bureaucracy in the form of third party permit review programs that delegate decision-making authority to persons other than the public agency with the legal authority to make those decisions with no conflict of interest or other protections for the public or applicants.  (The sponsor summary inadequately describes the content of this bill.)  The bill was reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on a party-line vote, Republicans supporting, and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Waiving Penalties/Providing Defenses To Violators: House Bill 762 (O’Neal-R- Washington) requires all state agencies to establish a new bureaucracy in the form of a Regulatory Compliance Officer with no oversight of any kind giving him the ability to issue an opinion on what any person’s obligations are under the laws administered by that state agencies which can be used as a “complete defense” against any enforcement proceeding.  The Officer can also review any fine or penalty issued by the agency before it is imposed and set guidelines for waiving that penalty if the person being penalized “has taken or will take [steps] to remedy the violation.”  (The sponsor summary inadequately describes the scope and content of this bill.)  The bill was reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on a party-line vote, Republicans supporting, and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Kill Regulations By Doing Nothing: House Bill 806 (Keefer-R-York) would authorize the General Assembly to kill an economically significant final regulation by doing nothing.  It would require all final regulations with an estimated economic impact of $1 million or more to be submitted to the General Assembly for a vote by concurrent resolution.  If the House and/or Senate fail to take action to approve the final regulation, the regulation is deemed not approved and the regulation shall not take effect. (The sponsor summary inadequately describes the content of this bill.)  The bill was reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on a party-line vote, Republicans supporting, and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Farm Succession: House Bill 881 (Fee-R-Lancaster) providing for farmer succession planning grants (sponsor summary) was reported out of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and Tabled.

Office Of The Repealer/ Vote To Approve Regulations: House Bill 1055 (Klunk-R-York) establish the Office of the Repealer, General Assembly must vote to approve economically significant regulations, reauthorize repeal of any regulation by resolution (sponsor summary) was reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee by a party-line vote, Republicans supporting, and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Earth Week: House Resolution 176 (McCarter-D-Montgomery) designating April 21-27 as Earth Week in Pennsylvania (sponsor summary).

4/22/2019