The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee will meet on April 17 to consider several pieces of environmental legislation—

· 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.

The Committee is chaired by Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango) and Sen. Ray Musto (D-Luzerne).

4/13/2007