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

Senate

Taking Away DEP’s Authority To Reduce Carbon Pollution Emissions: Senate Bill 119 (Pittman-R-Indiana) taking away DEP’s statutory authority to adopt regulations to reduce carbon pollution from any source, including power plants consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was reported out of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and is now on the Senate Calendar for action. Read more here.

Killing Regs By Doing Nothing/Office of the Repealer/Repeal 2 Regs For Every New Reg  Because They Have Too Many Words/Compliance Officers: Senate Bill 32 (Phillips-Hill- R-York) is a catalog of really bad ideas for “reforming” the regulatory process because it would allow the General Assembly to kill final regulations by doing nothing; create an Office of the Repealer to recommend existing regulations to repeal; require the repeal of two regulations for every new regulation adopted presumably for no other reason than they have too many words; require agencies to have a Compliance Officer to help shield law breakers from enforcement actions and more was reported out of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and was then referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Read more here.

Killing Regulations By Doing Nothing-Again:  Senate Bill 520 (DiSanto-R-Dauphin) contains the single provision authorizing the General Assembly to kill economically significant regulations by doing nothing was reported out of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and was then referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Read more here.

End Public Participation/Rulemaking During An Emergency:  Senate Bill 533 (Yaw-R- Lycoming) would prohibit any public participation in state agency rulemaking and policy making processes during a declared state emergency and prohibits agencies from adopting regulations.  This is aimed directly at killing DEP’s proposed regulation reducing carbon pollution from power plants consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative under the guise of being focused on responding to an emergency was reported out of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and was then referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Read more here.

IRRC-Super Regulation Veto Agency:  Senate Bill 126 (Brooks-R-Crawford) would require the automatic review of all “economically significant regulations” with an $1 million or impact adopted after the legislation is enacted and after the regulation has been in place for three years was reported out of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and was then referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Read more here.

Don’t Tell The Public Why A Regulation Is Being Proposed: Senate Bill 426 (Gordner-R- Columbia) would make an already lengthy and convoluted process for the review of regulations by the General Assembly longer and more convoluted.  But the real kicker in this bill is that it prohibits agencies from publishing statements with regulations explaining the purpose of the regulation, why the regulation changes are being made and what those changes are was reported out of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.  Read more here.

Mandate Private Contractor Review of DEP Permits: Senate Bill 28 (Phillips-Hill-R-York) requires all state agencies to establish a program to review permit applications by private contractors for applications that have been “delayed,” eliminating agency review of permit applications on behalf of the public and adding more state bureaucracy and cost on taxpayers was reported out of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee by a party-line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and was then referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Read more here.

Fertilizer Application On Turf: Senate Bill 251 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) which sets standards for the application of fertilizer to turf, provides for the certification of professional fertilizer applicators and for labeling and an education program was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

5/3/2021