Senate Bill 497 PN 691 (Robinson): Creates the Max Manufacturing (“MM”) Initiative Act which establishes the MM Equipment and Integrated Systems Grant Program and the MM Endeavor Loan Program for advanced manufacturing.
Senator Robinson offered Amendment A01136, which would stipulate that grants awarded shall not exceed $2 million. The amendment was adopted with Sen. Muth voting against. The bill went over as amended.
Senate Bill 527 PN 844 (Farry): Creates a new criminal offense in Title 18 for the unlawful taking of mail. Sens Haywood, Kearney, Muth, Saval, Street, and L. Williams voted against the bill.
Senate Bill 709 PN 841 (Boscola): Increases the fine for killing or unlawfully takin a bald or golden eagle from $200 to $2,000. Sens. Cappelletti and Saval voted against the bill.
Senate Bill 746 PN 915 (Vogel): Increases dog license fees, creates rescue network licensing, requires kennels to update their classifications, addresses animal cruelty penalties within kennels, increases penalties for violators and clarifies dangerous dog determinations. Sens. Brooks, Coleman, DiSanto, Hutchinson, Laughlin, Mastriano, and Phillips-Hill voted against the bill.
Senate Bill 770 PN 828 (Coleman): Designates a portion of State Route 143 in Lehigh County as “Heroes Highway.”
Senate Bill 198 PN 81 (Bartolotta): The legislation amends the Environmental Hearing Board Act of 1988 to provide clarity regarding permit appeals.
Senator Bartolotta offered amendment A00915, which would restructures the definition of “Record of decision” resulting in a similar, but clarified, definition for the term and makes changes to the standard of review section in the bill by changing ‘moving party’ to ‘party challenging the decision’, as well as, changing the standard of review requirement from the challenger must prove the department was ‘arbitrary and capricious’ to the requirement that they must demonstrate that the department ‘abused its discretion’ when making its determination on the application. The bill went over as amended.