Here are some upcoming activities by Senate and House Committees….

Senate Committees: the Agriculture and Rural Affairs has scheduled a “Building a Vision for Rural Pennsylvania” listening session in Philadelphia.

Senate/House Bills Moving

The House took action on these environmental bills this week…

Historic Preservation Grants: House Bill 221 (Tangretti-D-Westmoreland) providing for Historic Preservation Incentive Grants was reported from the House Commerce Committee with a request that it be re-referred to the House Tourism and Recreation Development Committee.

Federation of Sportsmen: House Resolution 71 (Gergely-D-Allegheny) congratulating the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmens’ Clubs on their 75th anniversary was adopted by the House.

Bills Introduced

Several more environmental bills were introduced this week, here’s the rundown…

PUC Environmental Funds: House Bill 338 (Barrar-R-Chester) providing for an annual audit of economic, environmental or other funds created by the Public Utility Commission.

Local Health Response: House Bill 355 (Santoni-D-Berks) Amends the Local Health Administration Law requiring county health departments to plan for and respond to public health emergencies.

State Energy Office: House Bill 366 (George-D-Clearfield) establishing a State Energy Office within the Department of Environmental Protection.

HAZMAT Teams: House Bill 370 (Fairchild-R-Union) requiring a review of equipment and training standards for Hazardous Materials Response Teams responding to biological and chemical terrorist incidents.

Mine Employment Credit: House Bill 374 (Haluska-D-Cambria) allowing mine inspectors to take state retirement credit for time spent working in mines prior to state service.

Impact Fees: House Bill 397 (Petri-R-Allegheny) authorizing the collection of development impact fees under the Municipalities Planning Code.

Coal Bed Methane Permits: House Bill 414 (Stairs-R-Westmoreland) establishing a program to require permits for extraction of coal bed methane gas.

Phasing Out MTBE: House Bill 436 (Dermondy-D-Allegheny) requiring the phaseout of MTBE in gasoline. (text not yet online)

Environmental Advocate: House Bill 454 (Frankel-D-Allegheny) establishing the Office of Environmental Advocate within DEP. (text not yet online)

Storage Tanks: House Bill 463 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) making changes to Underground Storage Tank Pollution Prevention Program. (text not yet online)

Energy Assistance: Senate Bill 76 (Tomlinson-R-Bucks) establishing the Home Energy Assistance Act to provide matching public funds to hardship funds contributed by stockholders, employees and ratepayers of home energy providers.

Tax Checkoff Provisions: Senate Bill 90 (Tomlinson-R-Bucks) technical change to provisions for special tax checkoffs like the Wild Resource Conservation Fund. (text not yet online)

Emergency Services Grant Program: Senate Bill 96 (D.White-R-Indiana) providing for an extention of the Volunteer Emergency Service Partnership Grants by vote of the General Assembly. (text not yet online)

Wild Resource Checkoff: Senate Bill 98 (Musto-D-Luzerne) would eliminate the December 2007 sunset for the Wild Resource Conservation Fund tax checkoff program and extend it to 2012. (text not yet online)

2/16/2007