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

House (April 14): House Bill 188 (Quinn-R-Montgomery) providing for an eminent domain bill of rights for projects like pipelines; House Bill 247 (Oberlander-R-Clarion) would amend Act 13 to authorize an accounting mechanism to allow for the drilling of longer unconventional gas well laterals; 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 881 (Fee-R-Lancaster) would authorize the use of Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Fund monies for farm succession planning grants; House Bill 1106 (Puskaric-R- Allegheny) requires DEP approval of any permit regulating air quality, waste, erosion and sedimentation and dam safety and encroachments within 30 days without regard to public review of permits, creates a new bureaucracy in the form of a “referee” to decide disputes between DEP and applicants over application completeness (Part of House Republican EnergizePA natural gas subsidy package) Click Here for more; House Bill 1874 (Grove-R-York)-- was amended to authorize any regulated entity at any time to request a review by the little-known, and even less frequently used Joint Committee On Documents to determine if any “published or unpublished document”-- including permits, produced or issued by DEP or other agencies- Read more here.;  Senate Bill 703 (Scarnati-R- Jefferson) which also expands the authority Joint Committee on Documents to determine whether “published or unpublished” documents of agencies should be promulgated as a regulation- Read more here; Senate Bill 790 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson) reducing environmental protections from impacts of conventional oil and gas drilling was reported from the House Appropriations Committee (House Fiscal Note & Summary). <> Click Here for full House Bill Calendar.

Senate (May 4): Senate Bill 258 (Dinniman-D-Chester, Killion-R-Delaware), a bipartisan initiative to improve emergency response to pipeline incidents; Senate Bill 284 (Killion-R- Delaware, Dinniman-D-Chester) require pipeline companies to provide current emergency response plans to PUC;  Senate Bill 565 (Farnese-D-Philadelphia) further providing for parking restrictions next to bike lanes (sponsor summary); Senate Bill 679 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) establishing an unfunded stream maintenance program (Senate Fiscal Note & Summary;  Senate Bill 766 (Leach-D- Montgomery) increases the matching grants available for household hazardous waste collection events rom $100,000 to $250,000 per county per fiscal year (sponsor summary); House Bill 342 (Cruz-D-Philadelphia) allows the City of Philadelphia to impose a $500 per tire fine for illegal dumping of waste tires and require business to maintain records of waste tire disposal (House Fiscal Note & Summary). <> Click Here for full Senate Bill Calendar. 

Committee Meetings  This Week

House:   <>  Click Here for full House Committee Schedule.

Senate:   <>  Click Here for full Senate Committee Schedule.

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--

Weakening Safe Drinking Water Standards: House Bill 2385 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) would substantially weaken safe drinking water standards in Pennsylvania by limiting requirements to those adopted by the federal government.  The bill, for example, would prevent the state from taking action on contaminants like PFOS where the federal government has failed to act. This is one in a series of bills Rep. Zimmerman has introduced on the same theme.

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

Senate recessed to the call of the President Pro Tempore

May 4, 5, 6, 18,19, 20

June 1,2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30

House [Change]

House is on a 12-hour call

April  13-non-voting, 14, [15, 16- canceled]

May 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18 (non-voting)

June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30

September 15, 16, 17, 29, 30

October 1, 5, 6, 7, 19, 20, 21

November 10

4/13/2020