The Senate unanimously approved House Bill 1486, which amends the Storm Water Management Act by creating exemptions for agricultural high tunnels (structures used to grow crops). The legislation details what is considered a high tunnel and outlines the criteria necessary to qualify for the exemption.
The bill also requires municipalities with storm water management plans that include high tunnels to amend their plan to comply with the new law.
This bill became Act 15 of 2018.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 114 which would all municipal sewer authorities to terminate service to commercial customers who have not paid their bill for at least six months.
This bill was referred to the House Local Government committee on April 2, 2018.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 263 which would amend the Pennsylvania election code by removing a requirement that permanently disabled voters must submit a written statement every four years to assert their continuing disability. The written statement must be completed for disabled people to vote absentee.
The bill was referred to the House State Government committee on April 2nd.
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The Senate approved Senate Bill 748 by a vote of 47-1. The bill would create the “Public Safety Facilities Act” and requires one year written notification of the closure of any state police, department of correction or other public safety facility. Such notification would need to be provided to:
- The Governor;
- The Secretary of Corrections or the Commissioner of the State Police;
- The chairperson of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole;
- The chairperson of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency;
- The Secretary of Administration;
- The Secretary of General Services;
- The Secretary of Community of Economic Development;
- The Secretary of Labor and Industry;
- The Secretary of Human Services;
- All federal, state, and local elected officials of each political subdivision where the public safety facility is located;
- Representatives of each labor union that has affected employees; and
- All other department, agency, board, commission or organizations deemed necessary by the closing entity or Governor’s office.
The closing authority would analyze information on the impact of the closure and provide a report with recommendations to the governor and legislature. The bill requires at least one public hearing to be held. In addition, the closing authority would coordinate with stakeholders with a plan to mitigate the impact of the closure.
The bill was referred to the House State Government committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 762, which would require the state Auditor General to conduct an audit of the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system. The Auditor General would submit a report to the governor and specified legislative leaders. The report would be an assessment on accuracy and security of the system and would include suggestions for improvements. The audit would be due at the end of 2018.
The bill was referred to the House State Government Committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 776, which would provide for a two-year extension to the Dyslexia and Early Literacy Intervention program and add five additional school districts as participants in the program.
The bill was referred to the House Education committee on April 2, 2018