Here are the Senate and House Calendars for the next voting session day and Committees scheduling action on bills of interest as well as a list of new environmental bills introduced--

Bill Calendars

NEW: Click Here for expected action on bills by the full House.

House (June 17): House Bill 247 (Oberlander-R-Clarion) to allow cross unit unconventional drilling and authorizes voluntary pooling; House Bill 827 (Fritz-R-Wayne) requiring the Delaware River Basin Commission to reimburse property owners for drilling rights if the Commission adopts a ban on fracking was reported from the House Appropriations Committee (House Fiscal Note and summary); House Bill 1055 (Klunk-R-York) establish the Office of the Repealer unaccountable to anyone, General Assembly must vote to approve economically significant regulations, repeal 2 regulations for every new one adopted, reauthorize repeal of any regulation by resolution (House Fiscal Note and summary). <> Click Here for full House Bill Calendar.

Senate (June 17): Senate Bill 575 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would establish a taxpayer funded procurement program for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment reductions needed to comply with the Chesapeake Bay Watershed pollution reduction goals in all or part of 43 counties in the state.  As written, it would guarantee only large companies with access to lots of resources could take part in the complicated bidding process established in the bill Click Here for more.; Senate Bill 619 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) makes fundamental changes to the definition of water pollution under the state Clean Streams Law to require an individual or company who causes pollution to surface or groundwater to determine if it should be reported to DEP and whether it is pollution in the first place Click Here for more.; Senate Bill 742 (Ward-R-Westmoreland) exempting vehicles from emissions testing for 8 years after manufacturing; Senate Bill 743 (Ward-R-Westmoreland) replace annual emission inspections with inspections every 2 years for vehicles more than 8 years old; Senate Bill 744 (Langerholc-R- Bedford) exempt Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, and Westmoreland Counties from the vehicle emissions testing; Senate Bill 745 (Stefano-R-Fayette) replace the tailpipe test in Pittsburgh and the 2-speed idle test via a dynamometer/treadmill in the Philadelphia region with a gas cap test and a visual inspection for model year 1994-95 vehicles; Senate Bill 746 (Vogel-R-Beaver) extend the transition date for existing emissions inspection stations that are required by the Department of Transportation to obtain new emissions testing equipment by November 1, 2019 to July 1, 2021 (sponsor summary of package); House Bill 751 (Roae-R-Crawford) further providing for the valuation of wastewater and water systems for ratemaking purposes, revising the definition of service line (House Fiscal Note and summary); House Bill 808 (Mehaffie-R-Dauphin) authorizing the Fish and Boat Commission to adopt their own fees for 3 years (House Fiscal Note and summary). <> Click Here for full Senate Bill Calendar.

Committee Meetings  This Week

House: the Appropriations Committee meets to consider House Bill 1516 (Causer-R- Cameron) establishing an Agriculture Rapid Response Disaster Readiness Account (sponsor summary) and House Bill 1517 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) establishing the Conservation Excellence Farm Conservation Grant Program, are bipartisan proposals included in Gov. Wolf’s PA Farm Bill; the Commerce Committee meets to consider House Bill 2014 (Toohil-R- Luzerne) creating an Abandoned Manufacturing Sites Registry to encourage brownfield reuse,  House Bill 1105 (Nelson-R- Westmoreland) amending Act 2 Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act to require DEP to issue a consolidated permit for remediation projects - both part of Energize PA initiative (sponsor summary); the Environmental Resources and Energy and Local Government Committees hold a joint hearing to hear testimony from local government associations on MS4 Stormwater Pollution Reduction compliance. Click Here for more on the agenda.  <>  Click Here for full House Committee Schedule.

NEW: Click Here for a summary of expected House Committee actions.

Senate: the Appropriations Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 634 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) which would establish the Farm Conservation Excellence Grant Program.  <>  Click Here for full Senate Committee Schedule.

Other: the Joint Legislative Budget & Finance Committee to meet to release an independent performance evaluations of  DEP’s Chapter 102 and 105 Permit Programs required by Senate Resolution 226 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne). Click Here for more on the agenda.

Bills Pending In Key Committees

Check the PA Environmental Council Bill Tracker for the status and updates on pending state legislation and regulations that affect environmental and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania.

Bills Introduced

The following bills of interest were introduced last week-- 

Senate

Pipeline Safety & Communication Board: House Bill 1568 (Comitta-D-Chester) would establish the Pipeline Safety and Communications Board would provide for the collection and dissemination of information and appropriate public safety measures relative to the planning, siting, construction, operation, maintenance, management, inspection, and safety of emergency response procedures for pipelines. In addition, the board would be responsible for coordinating communications relating to pipeline activities with federal, state, and local government agencies; regulatory authorities; pipeline companies; and the public (sponsor summary).

Vehicle Emission Inspection Program Changes: Senate Bill 742 (Ward-R-Westmoreland) exempting vehicles from emissions testing for 8 years after manufacturing; Senate Bill 743 (Ward-R-Westmoreland) replace annual emission inspections with inspections every 2 years for vehicles more than 8 years old; Senate Bill 744 (Langerholc-R-Bedford) exempt Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, and Westmoreland Counties from the vehicle emissions testing [technical amendment]; Senate Bill 745 (Stefano-R-Fayette) replace the tailpipe test in Pittsburgh and the 2-speed idle test via a dynamometer/treadmill in the Philadelphia region with a gas cap test and a visual inspection for model year 1994-95 vehicles; Senate Bill 746 (Vogel-R-Beaver) extend the transition date for existing emissions inspection stations that are required by the Department of Transportation to obtain new emissions testing equipment by November 1, 2019 to July 1, 2021 [This bill does not direct PennDOT to do an unlawful act.] (sponsor summary of package) were also reported out of the Senate Transportation Committee by a largely party-line vote, Republicans supporting and are now on the Senate Calendar for action.  Click Here for more.

Community Solar: Senate Bill 705 (Scavello-R-Monroe) authorize community solar projects allows neighbors, businesses, farms, and other community members to directly participate in and receive the benefits from a solar project connected to their local electric distribution company’s grid (sponsor summary).  Click Here for more.

Damage Caused By Coal Mining: Senate Bill 763 (Bartolotta-R-Washington) would make compiling a report on subsidence damage to homes and businesses, water supplies and streams caused by underground coal mining optional under the Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act (sponsor summary).  Click here for more.

Household Hazardous Waste: Senate Bill 766 (Leach-D-Montgomery) increasing the cap for Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event Grants from $100,000 to $250,000 (sponsor summary)

ARIPPA Anniversary: Senate Resolution 155 (Hutchinson-R-Venango) recognizing the Appalachian Region Independent Power Producers Association 30th anniversary (sponsor summary) was adopted by the Senate.

House

Water Bottle Filling Stations: House Bill 1608 (Warren-D-Bucks) require newly-constructed state buildings, as well as existing state buildings undergoing renovations to their water and pipe infrastructure, to install water bottle filling stations (sponsor summary).

Non-Recyclable Container Ban: House Bill 1610 (Rabb-D-Philadelphia) ban the use of non-recyclable and non-compostable food and beverage containers in state-owned buildings  (sponsor summary).

Plastic Pollution Task Force: House Bill 1611 (Rabb-D-Philadelphia) establish a Plastic Pollution Task Force in DEP to study a variety of issues, such as reducing the amount of plastic entering the waste stream, reducing and removing existing plastic pollution, and restoring ecosystems that have been damaged by plastic pollution (sponsor summary).

Increasing Municipal Waste Fee: House Bill 1629 (Fiedler-D-Philadelphia) increasing the municipal waste disposal fee from $4 to $8 per ton to support the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund (sponsor summary).

Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling: House Bill 1635 (Causer-R-Cameron) to regulate  conventional oil and gas drilling like they were in 1984 when the first oil and gas act was passed. It has the same text and the same fatal flaws as the House-passed version of House Bill 2154 last session. Click Here for more.

Nutrient Procurement Program: House Bill 1642 (Everett-R-Lycoming) House companion to Senate Bill 575 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) that would establish a taxpayer funded procurement program for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment reductions needed to comply with the Chesapeake Bay Watershed pollution reduction goals in all or part of 43 counties in the state.  Click Here for more.

ARIPPA Anniversary:  House Resolution 398 (Goodman-D-Schuylkill) recognizing the Appalachian Region Independent Power Producers Association 30th anniversary (sponsor summary) was adopted by the House.

House and Senate Co-Sponsorship Memos

House: Click Here for all new co-sponsorship memos

Senate: Click Here for all new co-sponsorship memos

Session Schedule

Here is the latest voting session schedule for the Senate and House--

Senate

June 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

September 23, 24, 25

October 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30

November 18, 19, 20

December 16, 17, 18

House

June 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

September 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25

October 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30

November 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20

December 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18 

6/17/2019