The Senate and House return to session April 16, and here’s what’s on the agenda…

House

Committees: the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee meets to consider House Bill 43 (Rubley-R-Chester) establishing a uniform covenant for brownfields remediation and House Bill 297 (Yewcic-D-Cambria) creating a right of first refusal for mineral rights sales; the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Federal & State Relations meets to consider House Resolution 122 (George-D-Clearfield) urging Congress to make more funds available for Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs.

Senate

Committees: the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee meets to consider 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; Senate Bill 105 (Musto-D-Luzerne) authorizing the Environmental Quality Board to retain independent legal advice; Senate Bill 176 ( Pippy-R-Allegheny) authorizing the use of public funds to pay for the repair of lateral sewer lines; Senate Bill 354 (MJWhite-R-Venango) prohibiting the Environmental Quality Board from accepting rulemaking petitions to regulate substances not authorized by current state or federal law; and Senate Resolution 79 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery) designating April 22, 2007 as Earth Day Pennsylvania.

Other Committees: the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee holds an Environmental Issues Forum featuring Julia Marano, Keep PA Beautiful.

Bills Introduced

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

Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards: Senate Bill 715 (Musto-D-Luzerne) changes to the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act proposed in Gov. Rendell’s Energy Independence Plan.

Landowner Liability: Senate Bill 735 (Wonderling-R-Montgomery) limiting liability of landowners making land available for public recreation purposes.

Acceptable Data: Senate Bill 752 (Erickson-R-Delaware) amending the Regulatory Review Act to require the documentation of scientifically acceptable data as background to support regulations.

Mercury Emission Reductions: Senate Bill 762 (MJWhite-R-Venango) requiring power plants to reduce mercury emissions by 80 percent by 2010 and 90 percent by 2015 and authorizes a limited form of emissions trading to meet the 90 percent reduction.

Disaster Recovery: Senate Bill 757 (Kasunic-D-Somerset) establishing a program to provide grants to persons for property damaged or destroyed by disasters.

Earth Day: Senate Resolution 79 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery) designating April 22, 2007 as Earth Day Pennsylvania.

Arbor Day: House Resolution 189 (Marsico-R-Dauphin) recognizing April 27 as Arbor Day.

Game Commission: House Resolution 193 (Haluska-D-Cambria) directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the fiscal impact of future increased value of assets of the Game Commission in relation to the cost of licenses issued by the Commission.

Coal Miner Stamp: House Resolution 197 (McCall-D-Carbon) memorializing the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to issue a commemorative stamp honoring coal miners.

4/13/2007