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

Senate

Killing Regulations By Doing Nothing: Senate Bill 520 (DiSanto-R-Dauphin) contains the single provision authorizing the General Assembly to kill economically significant regulations by doing nothing was passed by the Senate in a party line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and now goes to the House for action. Read more here.

IRRC-Super Agency to Kill Regulations: 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 passed by the Senate in a party line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and now goes to the House for action. Read more here.

Don’t Tell Public Why Regulations Are Being Changed:  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 by among other changes not telling the public why regulations are being change was passed by the Senate in a party line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and now goes to the House 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 passed by the Senate in a party line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and now goes to the House for action. Read more here.

Setting Up Public Water Companies To Be Bought:  Senate Bill 597 (Stefano-R-Fayette) would impose conflicting and expensive requirements on small water and wastewater systems for no benefit to their customers and if they can’t comply they would come under the regulation of the Public Utility Commission was amended and reported out of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.  Read more here.

House

Roll Back Environmental Protections From Conventional Drilling, Legalize Road Dumping Of Drilling Wastewater:  House Bill 1144 (Causer-R-Cameron) setting standards for conventional oil and gas drilling because the bill would result in “dramatic reductions to health and environmental protections that are unwarranted and unsafe and legalize road dumping of drilling wastewater was passed by the House in a party line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and now goes to the Senate for action. Read more here.

Office of the Repealer of Regulations: House Bill 939 (Klunk-R-York) creating a new bureaucracy-- the Independent Office of the Repealer-- to review existing regulations from all state agencies and make recommendations to the General Assembly and Governor for the repeal or revision was passed by the House in a party line vote-- Republicans supporting-- and now goes to the Senate for action. Read more here.

Open Space Maintenance: House Bill 221 (Radar-R-Monroe) using a portion of funds set aside to buy open space to pay for maintenance costs was referred into and out of the House Appropriations Committee (House Fiscal Note & Summary) and passed by the House. The bill now goes to the Senate for action.

Approving Land Development Lots: House Bill 141 (Maloney-R-Bucks) further providing for approving land development and nonbuilding lots was referred into and out of the House Appropriations Committee (House Fiscal Note & Summary) and passed by the House. The bill now goes to the Senate for action.

Electric Truck Weight Limit Increase: House Bill 722 (Rothman-R-Cumberland) increasing the allowable weight for electric-powered trucks was referred to the House Appropriations Committee. 

Lyme Disease Insurance Coverage: House Bill 1033 (Rapp-R-Warren) further providing for insurance coverage for Lyme disease treatment was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

Land Bank Cleanup Liability Protection:  House Bill 610 (A.Davis-D- Allegheny) providing for environmental liability protection for land banks under Act 3 was reported out of the House Urban Affairs Committee and Tabled.

Ending Portions Of COVID Disaster Emergency: House Resolution 106 (Benninghoff-R- Mifflin) ending some waivers of some of the hundreds of regulations, requirements during Pandemic emergency, but keeping others was reported out of the House State Government Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

5/30/2021