CCAP members identified a total of ten priority legislative and regulatory issues for 2012. Following a formal announcement in February, staff launched efforts to have legislative proposals introduced and moving through the legislative process. This end-of-year status report is presented in priority order, as established by CCAP members.    

While there was no activity directly in response to the Governor's Transportation Funding Advisory Commission (TFAC) August 2011 report, the Association continues its work with the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition, a broad-based coalition that seeks creation of dedicated funding sources.

Act 13 of 2012, signed into law in February, authorized an impact fee that ensures, in impacted counties, county residents do not unfairly shoulder the responsibility for the costs associated with increased utilization of county services. In all counties, funds are made available for transportation, environmental, housing, and other related issues. The first distribution of impact fee funds occurred in late 2012, and the Association has developed FAQs to assist counties in implementation.

Counties continue to work on several other key issues to address impacts from shale gas drilling, including safety and planning for gathering pipelines and restoring the ability of the conservation districts to implement the erosion and sedimentation permit review process for oil and gas well drilling.   

Both SB 1502 and HB 2042 were introduced to provide an optional one percent sales tax for counties, while other bills (HB 2230) offered options for earned and personal income taxes for local governments. While there was no legislative movement on these bills, the House in particular showed significant interest in the issue of property tax form, creating a Select Committee on Property Tax Reform, authorized by HR 774, to investigate and review the relationships among all current sources of school district and local government tax revenue and the services local governments are required to provide. Following a number of public hearings over the course of several months, the committee issued a report in late 2012 containing recommendations for legislative initiatives and areas of further study. CCAP testimony on these issues is available on the Government Relations page at www.pacounties.org.  

The Association and its affiliate Assessors Association of Pennsylvania (AAP) were active participants in late 2011 and early 2012 on the HR 343 and HR 344 task forces, which reviewed assessment standards, assessment contracting, and reform of the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB). These task forces released their reports and recommendations in April.

While the HR 343 Task Force discussed in detail the recommendations contained in the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee's (LBFC) 2010 report on assessment issues, along with recommendations by CCAP, AAP and others, it concluded its six-month time frame was not sufficient to make final recommendations, and recommended these be continuing tasks for the House Local Government and Finance committees.

The HR 344 task force focused on STEB, which has responsibility for statistical measures of property sales that underpin local assessment appeals, state realty transfer taxes, and school funding formulas. Separately, CCAP and AAP convened a work group to meet with STEB on enhancements to their operations and to develop more detailed best practices for assessment office operations. While STEB has now been transferred to the Department of Community and Economic Development under a memorandum of understanding, the transfer must still be finalized legislatively.

CCAP was also successful in securing passage of several technical corrections to the County Consolidated Assessment Law in Act 160 of 2012, and worked with Sen. David Argall (R-Schuylkill) on SB 1309, which sought to limit the circumstances under which a taxing jurisdiction could appeal property assessments. The legislation did not obtain final passage prior to the end of the 2011-2012 session. 

In May 2012, the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee released a report required under Act 118 of 2010, examining county administration of the 911 system. The 16 recommendations for system improvement touch on issues such as funding through subscriber fees, consolidation of some public service answering points (PSAPs), a stronger regulatory role for PEMA, and clearer provision for so-called Next Generation technologies such as text and video.

CCAP also worked closely with 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 LBFC report. 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. While the bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House during the fall voting session, there was not enough time for action in the Senate.

In addition, the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee held a hearing in October to review the LBFC report. In testimony before the Committee, CCAP shared the history of 911 and the critical role counties have played, as well as the challenges that have faced the development of the system as new technologies such as wireless communications, VoIP and PBX networks have come on board, in terms of developing appropriate response systems and updating the fee structure that helps counties cover the costs of operating the 911 system. CCAP noted that while not in complete agreement with all of the recommendations in the LBFC report, counties agree that it is time to undertake a full revision of the Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act. 

CCAP worked with the Local Government Commission on legislation to amend the special fund covering the commonwealth's DA salary reimbursement obligations to require quarterly fund disbursements to address cash flow concerns and to
establish predictability. The legislation was introduced as HB 2418 and HB 2419 by Rep. Mauree Gingrich (R-Lebanon) in late May, and SB 1549 and SB 1550 by former CCAP member Sen. Ted Erickson (R-Delaware) in June. However, the bills did not receive legislative consideration. 

CCAP submitted comments to DEP in March in response to a draft erosion and sedimentation (E&S) permit regulation, and again at a local government forum held by DEP in early June, requesting the reversal of a 2009 commonwealth policy that removed conservation districts from the erosion and sedimentation permit review process for oil and gas well drilling. Further conversations with the Bureau of Oil and Gas Management within DEP indicate this remains a topic of discussion.

Additionally, Act 13 included funding directly for conservation districts. The distribution implementation was developed between the conservation districts and the State Conservation Commission; final distribution information can be found on CCAP's Act 13 web page.  

Act 127 of 2011 requires pipeline operators to annually report to the Public Utility Commission (PUC) their total miles of transmission and gathering lines. Also, Act 13 contains a provision requiring gathering line operators to comply with the state's One Call System, while Act 9 of 2012 requires DEP to adopt regulations regarding emergency planning between the operators of unconventional oil and gas wells, PEMA, DEP and county emergency management agencies. PEMA and DEP have been working with county emergency management agencies and 911 coordinators to draft the necessary regulations, which are expected to be finalized in early 2013.

CCAP was also invited to offer input into a study on pipeline placement for natural gas gathering lines being conducted by the Governor's Energy Executive, as required under Act 13. Comments were solicited from several counties and a compilation of the feedback and recommendations was submitted.  

CCAP staff had the opportunity to discuss this issue at a training session of the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania in late April. Staff also met with several senators and key committee staff in late June which resulted in interest in pursuing a variety of options to address this issue. CCAP's Energy, Environment and Land Use committee members held a conference call with the statewide recyclers' group to discuss potential alternatives, and several ideas remain under development.