The state House and Senate have concluded their final voting days for the 2011-2012 legislative session. Although the legislative session technically ends with sine die adjournment on Nov. 30, both chambers left Harrisburg on October 17 indicating they will schedule no more voting days this year. In the days leading up to their de facto sine die, they undertook a number of bills of interest to counties.

 

Action was completed on legislation at the top of counties' fall priorities list, a key piece to complete the funding side of the justice reinvestment package. House Bill 135 has been unanimously approved by the Senate and the House, and is on its way to the Governor's desk to be signed into law. Further details on this bill can be found in the following article.

 

Also on its way to the Governor's desk is HB 1857, which makes several technical corrections to the County Consolidated Assessment Law (CCAL). In late 2010, the General Assembly approved legislation consolidating the real property assessment statutes for all counties of the 2A through 8th class (1st and 2nd class remain separate statutes) into a single statute, which became Act 93 of 2010. This action brought much-needed uniformity to the assessment system, although since that time several technical corrections and oversights have been identified. House Bill 1857, legislation introduced by Rep. Justin Simmons (R-Lehigh) which permits home rule counties to establish a more fiscally conservative standard for incurring new debt than what is provided under the Local Government Unit Debt Act, was amended in Senate Appropriations to add the assessment technical corrections.

 

Prior to final passage, the Senate further approved an amendment to address statutorily required property tax millage rates in the School District of Philadelphia. House Bill 1857 has received final approval of both the House and Senate and now goes to the Governor's desk. CCAP thanks Rep. Simmons for working with counties to achieve timely passage of the CCAL amendments.

 

Legislation to incorporate specific Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA) language into the Pennsylvania Election Code also received the unanimous approval of the House (it was unanimously approved by the Senate in June) and will be sent to the Governor's desk to be signed into law. Senate Bill 1255, introduced by Sen. Bob Robbins (R-Mercer), offers accommodations for Pennsylvania's military personnel and civilians overseas to participate in elections while abroad. All covered voters will be permitted to use federal postcard applications to register to vote and apply for an absentee ballot simultaneously. Further, the act will allow a uniformed-service voter to use the federal write-in absentee ballot to register to vote at the same time they cast their absentee ballot. Additional provisions supporting veterans contained in HB 2428 and SB 1531 are awaiting signature into law after winning the unanimous approval of both chambers. Senate Bill 1531, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne), will create a Veterans' Trust Fund, to be funded by proceeds from sales of special "Honor Our Veterans" license plates and a voluntary $3 check-off from driver's license and vehicle registration renewals. The funds may be used for grants to veterans' service organizations and other statewide charitable organizations to provide assistance to Pennsylvania veterans in need of shelter and other necessities, and can be used by county veterans affairs offices or the state association of county veterans affairs directors to fund new, innovative and expanded activities.

 

Veterans will be able to have their designation included on PennDOT-issued driver's licenses and identification cards under HB 2428, introduced by Rep. Jeff Pyle (R-Armstrong). Although the designation does not substitute as an identification card for benefits, the license designation can assist police in making a proper evaluation when presented, and in a more benign way to help veterans confirm their eligibility for community benefits such as store and restaurant discounts. Funding for the license designations comes from the Veterans' Trust Fund under SB 1531. CCAP had adopted planks in its legislative platform in August supporting the provisions contained in both SB 1531 and HB 2428.

While the House and Senate have several session days scheduled between Election Day and the official sine die on Nov. 30, those days will be used only for farewell speeches for retiring legislators and for leadership elections. The de facto sine die adjournment on October 17 means that any bill not sent to the Governor's desk by this point will have to be reintroduced when the new legislative session starts in January and begin the process anew.

 

One of the bills that stalled in the final days of the session was SB 1546, which would have transferred the responsibilities of the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) to the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). The transfer was originally proposed as part of the Governor's 2012-2013 budget, but SB 1546 did not receive the concurrence vote necessary in the House to get the bill to the Governor's desk.

 

CCAP has also been working closely with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and the associations of county emergency management professionals on HB 1020, to tighten provisions regarding recovery of 911 personnel costs, and to change the provisions relating to carry-over costs. Both are issues brought up in the recent report by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) on county administration of 911 systems. The bill further provided direction and incentive for regionalization of technology and voluntary consolidation while still honoring county discretion in the administration of the system. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House on October 15, but the late House action meant there was not enough time for action in the Senate.

 

Also falling short of passage in the final days was SB 1309 (Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would have limited property assessment appeals by taxing districts to a list of carefully limited circumstances. A threshold requirement would also have allowed a taxing district appeal where doing so would generate revenue equal to or greater than $10,000 per year in the aggregate. The bill had been approved in the Senate in June, but died on the House calendar at adjournment.