News From 2nd & State – Government Contracts, Procurement & PPP

Weekly Wrap

The House of Representatives were in session for three days this
week. The chamber got back to capacity, as the three vacancies were
officially filled when the members elected in the April 5 special
elections were sworn in. The new members are:

• HD-19: Rep. Aerion Abney (D-Allegheny);




• HD-24: Rep. Martell Covington (D-Allegheny); and




• HD-116: Rep. Robert Schnee (R-Luzerne).

On Monday, the House Professional Licensure Committee held an
informational meeting to discuss 
H.B. 1956 (Culver, R-Northumberland), which would create a
license for certified anesthesiologist assistants.

The House Education Committee reported out three bills dealing
with students’ mental health:

• 
  H.B. 2022 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would allow a public
  school to utilize a behavioral health representative to provide
  social and mental health support assistance to students;




• 
  H.B. 2023 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would require the
  Department of Education to develop a model curriculum to assist
  school entities in providing behavioral health education; and




• 
  H.B. 2024 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would commission a
  study to determine the extent to which schools are currently
  providing mental health instruction in their curriculum.

Tuesday, the House Finance Committee held an informational
meeting on 
H.B. 2438 (Mercuri, R-Allegheny), which would streamline,
centralize, and modernize the process for releasing taxpayers who
have satisfied their tax liens. Additionally, the House
Appropriations Committee and House Education Committee held a joint
public hearing to receive a report from the Pennsylvania State
System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The respective Senate
Committees held a similar hearing on Wednesday.

The House Human Services Committee reported out 
H.B. 1644 (Struzzi, R-Indiana) which would establish the
Medicaid Care Transition Program at the Department of Human
Services (DHS), which would establish policies and procedures
requiring responsible entities to establish care transition units
to work directly with hospitals to identify appropriate post-acute
placements for individuals awaiting transfer. The Committee also
reported out 
H.B. 2530 (Silvis, R-Westmoreland), which would end the
practice of prudent pay in the Office of Developmental Programs at
DHS.

Four bills were reported from the House Health Committee:

• 
  H.B. 398 (Owlett, R-Tioga), which would require the
  non-custodial parent of children for whom Medical Assistance is
  sought to enroll their children in their own health insurance
  plan;




• 
  H.B. 2441 (Klunk, R-York), which would amend the Vital
  Statistics Law so that legislative committees are able to receive
  information for research purposes;  




• 
  S.B. 317 (Browne, R-Lehigh), which would allow a health
  care practitioner to issue a prescription for, or to personally
  furnish, antibiotics to treat sexually transmitted infections,
  without having examined the individual; and




• 
  S.B. 818 (Ward, R-Blair), which would allow ambulatory
  surgical facilities to perform certain surgical procedures.

The House Transportation Committee reported out: 
H.B. 2526 (Hennessey, R-Bucks), which would allocate $500
million of American Rescue Plan funds to assist in the repair of
locally owned bridges; and 
H.B. 2550 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would establish a
grant program for eligible local governments to install adaptive
signal control technology and other traffic signal systems that
utilize sensors to monitor traffic flow, vehicle delays and queues.
Furthermore, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee
reported out 
H.B. 2104 (Rapp, R-Warren), which would provide for the
decommissioning, recycling, and reclamation of solar panels and
wind turbines.

On the floor, the House passed the following bills that will now
be considered by the Senate:

• 
  H.B. 385 (Dunbar, R-Westmoreland), which would exclude
  from taxable income the amount of loan forgiveness granted for
  paycheck protection loans under the federal CARES Act;




• 
  H.B. 1960 (Kail, R-Beaver), which would reduce the
  corporate net income tax rate and provide a trigger mechanism to
  increase the net operating loss deduction cap;




• 
  H.B. 2238 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would limit the
  Philadelphia District Attorney to two terms in office; and




• 
  H.B. 2277 (Topper, R-Bedford), which would repeal the
  requirement for businesses to remit prepayments for their sales tax
  collections.

Wednesday, the House Urban Affairs Committee held a public
hearing to discuss 
H.B. 1896 (Polinchock, R-Bucks), which would allow
plaintiffs in a foreclosure proceeding to opt for a Private Selling
Officer to conduct the sale of the asset.

The House State Government Committee reported out three bills of
note:

• 
  H.B. 1671 (Miller, R-Lancaster), which would require more
  robust and transparency management of fee reporting standards for
  the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and Public School
  Employees Retirement System (PSERS);




• 
  H.B. 2010 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would require fiduciary
  law training for any trustee, board member or other appointed or
  elected official at a state, county or local pension system;
  and




• 
  H.B. 2485 (Grove, R-York), which would prohibit the
  Treasury Department from dispersing funds for any contract which is
  not submitted to the public contracts e-library database.

The House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee reported
out: 
H.B. 2157 (Farry, R-Bucks), which would provide for the
regulation of fireworks; and 
H.B. 2520 (Causer, R-McKean), which would extend the
expiration of existing temporary regulations for the horse racing
industry by three years and give the State Horse Racing Commission
the authority to issue temporary regulations to comply with federal
law.

Lastly for committees, the House Commerce Committee reported
out: 
H.B. 2265 (James, R-Venango), which would strengthen the
oversight of certified economic development organizations;
and 
H.B. 2396 (Greiner, R-Lancaster), which would provide an
extension to the Rural Jobs and Investment Tax Credit.

Then, the House sent the Senate the following bills of note for
their consideration:

• 
  H.B. 978 (Miller, R-Lancaster), which would except
  personal and agency financial account informational from the
  Right-to-Know Law;




• 
  H.B. 2097 (Hamm, R-Dauphin), which would address staffing
  exceptions for basic life support ambulances;




• 
  H.B. 2159 (Ortitay, R-Allegheny), which would establish a
  new emergency procurement process;




• 
  H.B. 2169  (Owlett, R-Tioga), which would provide
  scholarships to students at low-achieving schools to attend school
  elsewhere; and




• 
  H.B. 2275 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would give the
  Attorney General jurisdiction to prosecute firearm-related crimes
  in the City of Philadelphia.

The House also adopted House Concurrent Regulatory Review
Resolution that would disapprove of Reg. #6-349: Charter Schools
and Cyber Charter Schools. The concurrent resolution will now go to
the Senate for consideration.

The Week Ahead

There’s no session days scheduled for nearly a month, as
both chambers aren’t back in Harrisburg until the week of May
23.

A full list of committee meetings can be found here:

House

Senate

In Other News

• Department of Education Secretary Dr. Noe Ortega will 
  resign his position on April 29, and the Governor’s
  Deputy Chief of Staff Eric Hagarty will serve as Acting
  Secretary.




• Governor Wolf 
  announced $10 million to support 12 projects at 10
  airports through the Aviation Transportation Assistance
  Program.




• Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman 
  reminded Pennsylvanians they can apply for, complete and
  return mail ballots in-person in one visit to their county board of
  elections office until May 10, 2022.

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