These bills of interest saw action in the House and Senate this week—

Senate

Waste Tire Recycling: Senate Bill 1050 (Baker-R-Luzerne) providing funding for waste tire removal and recycling was passed by the Senate and sent to the House for consideration.

"We need to fund the clean up of large scrap tire piles, which pose a threat to our health, safety and environment," Sen. Baker said. "These piles are mosquito breeding grounds that could lead to the spread of West Nile Virus. They are also prone to fires that are very difficult to extinguish and produce toxic air emissions and harmful groundwater runoff."

Sen. Baker noted the legislation is needed because Pennsylvania hasn't finished the job that it began over a decade ago. Funding for tire cleanups expired in 2001 despite there being at least 39 piles throughout the Commonwealth with at lease 10,000 tires each, some with hundreds of thousands.

"This bill is about priorities, and we have to finish what we started," Sen. Baker added. Additionally, the bill does not divert funds from county recycling programs.

NewsClip: Senate Passes Bill to Cleanup Tire Pile

Deep Mine Safety: Senate Bill 949 (Kasunic-D-Somerset) update to the Bituminous Coal Mine Safety Act was amended to restore the bill to the Senate-passed version and reported from the Senate Rules Committee by a vote of 12-5 (Senators Kasunic (D-Somerset), Fumo (D-Philadelphia), O’Pake (D-Berks), Mellow (D-Lackawanna) and Hughes (D-Philadelphia) voting in opposition).

Great Lakes Compact: House Bill 1705 (Harkins-D-Erie) adopting the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

Brownfields: Senate Bill 1062 (Wonderling-R-Montgomery) providing for the reimbursement of developers for reuse of brownfield sites was amended and reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.

Water Infrastructure II : Senate Bill 1341 (Musto-D-Luzerne) authorizing a $400 million bond issue voter referendum for water, wastewater and stormwater projects was reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Historic Preservation: House Bill 221 (Tangretti-D-Westmoreland) establishing an Historic Preservation Incentive Program was amended and reported from the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee and is on the Senate Calendar for action.

Non-Structural Flood Control: Senate Bill 1408 (Wozniak-D-Cambria) and Senate Bill 1409 (Wozniak) authorizing the use of nonstructural alternatives to address flooding problems were referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

House

Funding Dam Repairs: House Bill 2549 (Siptroth-D-Monroe) authorizing funding for unsafe high hazard dam repairs was reported from House Rules Committee and referred to and reported from the House Appropriations Committee.

Nonstructural Alternatives to Flooding: House Bill 2539 (Seip-D-Schuylkill) and House Bill 2546 (Conklin-D-Centre) authorizing nonstructural alternatives to control flooding were reported from the House Rules Committee, then referred to and then from the House Appropriations Committee.

Planning Code: House Bill 1525 (Steil-R-Bucks) amending the Municipalities Planning Code relating to comprehensive plans and compliance by counties was reported from the House Appropriations Committee.

Elk Fencing: House Bill 2575 (Hanna-D-Centre) that authorizes elk deterrent fences and reimbursement for certain damages and was referred to and from the House Appropriations Committee.

Funding Wildlife Commissions: House Bill 1676 (Levdansky-D-Allegheny) earmarking a portion of the Sales Tax to fund the Game and Fish and Boat Commissions was reported from the House Finance Committee and referred to House Rules Committee.

Mercury Thermostats: House Bill 44 (Rubley-R-Chester) prohibiting the sale of mercury thermostats was amended and reported from the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, then referred to the House Rules Committee.

Oil Speculation: House Resolution 788 (Longietti-D-Mercer) urging Congress to investigate the role of speculators related to rising oil prices was reported from the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and is on the House Calendar for action.

Conservation Districts: Senate Bill 1020 (Wonderling-R-Montgomery) updating the 1945 Conservation District Law was reported from the House Appropriations Committee and is on the House Calendar for action.

Floodplain Mapping: House Resolution 465 (Hanna-D-Centre) urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite floodplain mapping updates was adopted by the House.

"Some of the maps being used are 20 years old," Rep. Hanna said. "These maps have to be updated to help municipalities develop a strategy to deal with flooding emergencies. The maps should also be revised more often because they're used to determine whether or not people have to buy flood insurance, and flood patterns change over the years.”

NewsClips: Agnes Flood Records Will Fall, Experts Say

FEMA Expands Area Flood Zones

6/20/2008