Legislation to restore authority for county commissioners to abolish the office of jury commissioner has advanced rapidly in the Senate and House, and is expected to come before the full House the week of April 22. Sponsored by Senator Lloyd Smucker (R-Lancaster), SB 808 would reverse the March 14 decision of the PA Supreme Court declaring Act 108 of 2011 in violation of the constitution's single subject rule.

Senate Bill 808 was reported out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 15 and approved by the Senate by a 38-12 vote on April 16. It then moved to the House of Representatives, where it was quickly scheduled for consideration by the House Local Government Committee on April 17 and reported out by a vote of 22-2, sending the bill to the House calendar.

The legislation would reinstate the provisions of Act 108, although removing that Act's prohibition against action to abolish the office in the year jury commissioners are on the ballot, thus allowing adoption of a resolution by the county commissioners this year. Under Act 108, 42 counties had taken action to abolish the office.

CCAP members should contact their House members to ask for passage of the bill before the House breaks on April 24. A House version of the bill, HB 1199, was introduced Tuesday by CCAP alumnus Rep. RoseMarie Swanger (R-Lebanon). 

IN RELATED NEWS the Supreme Court on April 18 upheld Justice Colins' April 5 Commonwealth Court order that, in the 42 counties that had abolished the office of jury commissioner under Act 108, the jury commissioners will appear on the November ballot under the provisions of 25 P.S. §2953, and will not be on the May primary ballot. The jury commissioners had appealed the order, instead seeking a petition circulation process to allow them to appear on the primary ballot. 

CCAP officers and board members joined other statewide local governments groups at the Capitol on April 15 for a press conference outlining the local impact of prevailing wage mandates and calling on the General Assembly to enact meaningful reforms to allow more efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

Under the state's Prevailing Wage Act, prevailing wages must be paid on public projects of more than $25,000, an amount which has not been updated since the 1960s. CCAP President Christian Leinbach noted that prevailing wage requirements prevent local governments from getting the most value out of limited resources. To rectify this, he added, the groups are asking an increase of the threshold, updates to the definition of maintenance and/or an opt-in or opt-out ability for local governments.

Representatives of the local government groups, including townships, boroughs, cities, municipal authorities and school districts, presented examples of the impact of prevailing wage requirements on local governments. Speaking on behalf of CCAP, Snyder County Commissioner Joe Kantz commented that had the threshold kept pace with inflation, the savings on projects in his county in the past several years would have paid for a courthouse painting project this year. He also pointed to the impact of the Youngwood decision on the maintenance of more than 4,000 county-owned bridges; with many of these projects now being considered construction and therefore subject to prevailing wages, fewer bridges can be maintained within the same budget allocation.

A white paper outlining additional impacts of prevailing wage requirements can be found at CCAP's Legislative Action Center. Prevailing wage reform is one of CCAP's 2013 priorities.   

On April 16, the House Labor and Industry Committee moved two bills that would make changes to the state's prevailing wage threshold and update the definition of maintenance.

House Bill 665, introduced by Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin), addresses 2007 Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the Youngwood Borough decision, which narrowed the interpretation of "maintenance" under the Prevailing Wage Act. The bill would amend the definition of maintenance to ensure work that is truly maintenance is not subject to prevailing wages, including replacement in kind of guide rails, pipes, patching of cement concrete surfaces, and bridge cleaning, washing, resurfacing and minor nonstructural repairs.

House Bill 796, introduced by Rep. David Millard (R-Columbia), would increase the threshold over which prevailing wages must be paid on public projects from $25,000 to $75,000. Rep. Fred Keller (R-Snyder) offered an amendment to increase the threshold to $100,000, which was adopted 15-10 on party lines, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats voting against.

An amendment by Rep. Cherelle Parker (D-Philadel-phia), preventing discrimination or retaliation against a worker who exercises his rights to challenge the rates he was paid as being less than the prevailing rates, was unanimously adopted to both bills. An amendment by Rep. Brandon Neuman (D-Washington) prohibiting division of projects to get around prevailing wage requirements, was also unanimously adopted to both bills. Democratic committee chair Rep. Bill Keller (Philadelphia) offered an amendment to HB 665 requiring contractors to submit wage data to be eligible for public work, which was defeated by a 10-15 vote. An amendment put forward by Rep. John Galloway (D-Bucks) to increase the time in which complaints can be filed under the Act, was defeated by the same vote.

Both bills, as amended, were reported from committee by a 15-10 vote, with Republicans voting in favor and Democratic members voting against. 

The House of Representatives is moving a package of bills, collectively referred to as the Marcellus Works package, which provide competitive grants and tax credits to encourage development of natural gas corridors and conversion of vehicles to alternative fuels, including natural gas. CCAP's priority on shale gas impacts recognizes a growing interest in using natural gas as a source for vehicle fuel and for residential and commercial purposes.

One bill, HB 306, sponsored by Rep. Tina Pickett (R-Bradford) would provide grants to political subdivisions, school districts, municipal authorities, nonprofit entities and corporations for purchase of compressed natural gas vehicles, with priority given to political subdivisions, school districts and municipal authorities. Other legislation in the package, HB 302 (introduced by Rep. Dan Moul, R-Adams) and HB 303 (introduced by Rep. Kathy Watson, R-Bucks), would provide $5 million for grants to convert small mass transit buses to alternative fuels and $7.5 million for large mass transit authorities to convert vehicles to natural gas, respectively. All three bills were reported from the House Environmental Resources Committee on April 10.

The CCAP membership has adopted five policy resolutions following the Association's Spring Conference. The resolutions, amending the PA Counties Platform, were discussed at the Spring Conference and then placed on an on-line ballot for consideration by the full membership.