Finance 2023-2024
The Senate Finance Committee met on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 and reported out the following bills:
Senate Bill 148 (Brooks) – Provides for a volunteer firefighter tax credit. Reported out unanimously 11-0.
Senate Bill 416 (Phillips-Hill) – Amends the Tax Reform Code in corporate net income tax, further providing for imposition of tax; and abrogating a regulation (relates to residents working partially remotely for out-of-state entities). Reported out by a 7-4 vote.
Senate Bill 479 (Pittman) – Amends Title 71 to amend the definition of “enforcement officer” to include commissioned police officers under the PA DOC’s Bureau of Investigations and Intelligence. Reported out unanimously 11-0.
Senate Bill 659 (Aument) – Amends the Tax Reform Code, in personal income tax, further providing for definitions, providing for elective tax imposed at pass-through entity level and further providing for taxability of partners and for income of a Pennsylvania S corporation.
Amendment #A03612 to SB 659 was considered and adopted by a vote of 10-1.
The amendment’s summarized points include:
- Includes separate withholding provisions for partnerships, PA S corporations with only resident shareholders and PA S corporation with only nonresident shareholders or both PA resident and nonresident shareholders. These separate provisions are required due to Federal income tax rules.
- Eliminates estimated tax payments, as quarterly withholding is no longer required on nonresident owners for PA PIT purposes.
- Changes the date that the election may be made.
- Corrects certain incorrect citations.
Senate Bill 659 as amended was reported out by a vote of 9-2.
Senate Bill 1051 (Hutchinson) – Amends the Tax Reform Code in procedure and administration, further providing for review by the Board of Finance and Revenue and providing for a settlement conference process. Reported out by a vote of 7-4.
Senate Bill 1056 (Argall) – Amends The Fiscal Code in Treasury Department, further providing for investments by extending the Prudent Person Investment Standard. Reported out by a vote of 10-1.
The Senate Finance Committee met on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 and unanimously reported out the following:
SB 219 (Costa) – Amends First and Second Class County Property Tax Relief Act to further provide for the longtime owner occupant tax exemption program. (11-0)
SR 110 (Coleman) – Directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) to conduct a performance audit of Neighborhood Improvement Zone programs. (11-0)
The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 and moved the following bills from committee:
HB 1100 (SAMUELSON) – Expansion of income limits and increase of maximum rebate amount allowed for the PT/RR program. Also contains a COLA adjustment mechanism. The bill was reported out as amended unanimously (11-0).
- Amendment #A01478 to HB 1100 – removed provisions related to processing of claims annually prior to June 30, and removed certain additional certification responsibilities for the Lottery Fund by the Secretary of the Budget. The amendment was also adopted unanimously.
HB 1138 (WAXMAN) – Exempts mobile telephone plans from state Sales Tax as well as Gross Receipts Tax. The bill was reported out unanimously (11-0).
The Senate Finance Committee met on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 and reported the following bills from committee:
Senate Bill 654 (Bartolotta) – Amends the Tax Reform Code to align the PIT with the IRC for purposes of calculating cost and percent of the depletion of mines, oil and gas wells, and other natural deposits. This bill was reported out of Committee 7-4.
Senate Bill 742 (Hutchinson) – Amends the Tax Reform Code to clarify how bank shares goodwill is treated for merging banks. This bill was reported out of Committee 8-3.
Senate Bill 757 (Stefano) – Fixes a technical issue with language included in the Fiscal Code for FY 2022-23 that prohibits money for capital improvements for Chartered Schools for Deaf and Blind Children from being distributed to those schools. This bill was reported out unanimously.
Senate Bill 760 (Bartolotta) – Amends the Fiscal Code to extend the waivers for local match requirement under the PennDOT and CFA Multimodal Transportation Fund Programs to Dec 31, 2024. (Aannually done as part of the Fiscal Code.) This bill was reported out unanimously.
The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 and reported the following bills from committee:
Senate Bill 24 (DiSanto): Authorizes Pa Treasury to return single owner property valued up to $5,000 to its owner.
The bill was reported out unanimously.
Senate Bill 345 (Aument): Accelerates the reduction of the Commonwealth’s Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) rate. It includes an immediate drop to 7.99 and then a point reduction every January 1st until the rate reaches 4.99% in 2026.
The bill was reported out 8-3, with Senators Fontana, Haywood, & Muth voting against the bill.
Senate Bill 346 (Rothman): Increases the net operating losses (NOLs) from 40% to 80% over four years.
The bill was reported out unanimously.
Senate Bill 629 (Bartolotta): Amends the Tax Reform Code to exempt from the Sales and Use Tax the removal of waste grease from various facilities.
The bill was reported out unanimously.
The Senate Finance Committee met on Monday, May 1, 2023 to vote on SB 671. The bill was voted out of committee 7-4 on a party line vote.
SB 671 (Farry) – The bill amends the Local Tax Enabling Act and repeals the Sterling Act of 1932. The bill places Philadelphia’s taxing authority in the Local Tax Enabling Act, places new limits on who and when wage earners are subject to the City’s wage tax, and requires Philadelphia to “reimburse” resident school districts and municipalities under a regulatory framework created by DCED and PDE for wage taxes that are credited to resident school districts and municipalities.
The bill was voted out of committee 7-4 on a party line vote.
Senator Nick Miller
Committee Chair