Dear  

The Senate Local Government Committee recently reported Senate Bill 733, sponsored by Sen. Bob Robbins (R-Mercer), which offers local governments the option to advertise electronically as an alternative to newspaper advertising. The bill is part of CCAP's mandate relief agenda through which county officials are asking the General Assembly to review and re-visit mandates and statutory provisions that are outdated or unnecessary.

Under the bill, if a local government elects to switch to electronic advertising, it must guarantee that its website will be accessible at least 98 percent of the time, register its website to be posted on a state website, prominently display a link to the notice web page on its site and provide an email link to submit a complaint if access to any notice fails. In the event an individual is unable to access the legal notice on its website, the government unit would be required to provide a copy of the notice free of charge. All required time periods for posting must still be followed as for current advertising of legal notices.

Counties have sought the option to advertise in the way they determine is most responsive to their community's needs and in fact, many counties already advertise in special venues to seek a broader response. The decline of print media and rise of electronic media is evident in the decisions publishing venues have made in recent years regarding the type of coverage they are providing to their readers, and the current mandate that requires local governments to advertise legal notices in newspapers of general circulation fails to recognize these changes in technology. Senate Bill 733 offers counties the ability to determine locally the best fit for reaching the public. Several committee members also noted during the discussion on the bill that allowing local governments an electronic advertising option could not only provide savings, but also allow them to reach a broader audience.

The legislation was reported by a 10-1 vote, and moves on to the full Senate for consideration. Additional information and talking points are available on CCAP's Legislative Action Center at www.pacounties.org.

Contrary to common speculation, House action on a transportation funding proposal again failed to materialize during the week of Oct. 21. Still, House and Senate leaders and the Administration continue their discussions, and a vote on SB 1 or comparable legislation is expected during the fall session. The window of opportunity is narrow, with five days of legislative session scheduled in November and only one week of joint session in December.

Media reports indicate that negotiators may be close to an agreement on the overall level of funding, potentially somewhere between the Governor's $1.8 billion proposal and the Senate's $2.5 billion version. However, it remains undetermined how any new funding would be generated or how it would be distributed among the various state and local needs. Media outlets also report that a prevailing wage component, such as raising the threshold on transportation projects from $25,000 to $100,000, may be part of the negotiations.

Both funding and modernization solutions for transportation and infrastructure and prevailing wage reform are CCAP legislative priorities. 

The Senate Local Government Committee on October 22 amended and reported two pieces of legislation aimed at changing the way local governments incur debt and enter into interest rate management agreements. The committee had previously reported both SB 901 and SB 903, legislation resulting from hearings on the Harrisburg debt situation. However, the bills were re-referred to the committee for further review.

As originally drafted SB 901, sponsored by committee chair Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair), amended the Local Government Unit Debt Act to establish a more comprehensive review period by the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), limit local governments' ability to provide unlimited guarantees of other entities' debts, and provide for fiduciary duty of advisers. Following a September committee hearing on the bills, an amendment was drafted to exempt small borrowings from the proposed two-step review process, increase caps on large borrowing, reduce to 30 days the timeframe for DCED to conduct the review, and add a definition of financial adviser, among other changes. The amendment was adopted unanimously, and the bill as amended was reported with no negative votes.

Senate Bill 903, as originally introduced by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon), would have banned local governments from entering into interest rate management agreements, also known as swaps. However, based on commentary at the September hearing which indicated that risk could be minimized while still allowing swaps to be used when appropriate, the bill was amended to implement a number of protections, such as requiring local governments to set aside funds for termination payments in case needed, and to eliminate negative practices such as limiting the amount of debt tied to swaps. The bill was reported as amended with Sen. Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia) voting in the negative on both the amendment and the bill. 

The Local Government Commission released its Act 47 Municipalities Financial Recovery Act Task Force Report on Oct. 16. The report is available to the public on the Commission's website at www.lgc.state.pa.us under the Act 47 Task Force link. 

The report makes a number of recommendations for substantive change to the Act, and legislation resulting from the work of the Task Force has been introduced as HB 1773. A companion Senate bill is expected to be introduced shortly.  

Legislation authorizing the filing of electronic copies of municipal ordinances with the county was recently approved by the House.

Under current law, municipalities must file paper copies of adopted ordinances with the county law office or other designated office. HB 1529 and HB 1530, both introduced by Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery), would allow electronic filing of these ordinances through a method left to each county's discretion. The county can then store the ordinance electronically as long as the public has access to the filed ordinances during normal business hours. Both bills received the unanimous approval of the House and now go to the Senate for consideration.  

On Oct. 16, the House gave its approval to HR 425, a resolution recognizing the commonwealth's successful 25 year history of recycling programs under the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (Act 101 of 1988). The resolution, introduced by Rep. Ron Miller (R-York), also asks the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to review its recycling programs and report recommendations for improvements to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee within one year.

Legislation that would offer protections for individual information related to 911 calls received the unanimous approval of the House on Oct. 15. House Bill 1041, introduced by Rep. Joe Hackett (R-Delaware), provides that county 911 center records containing the name, address, telephone number, and location of a 911 caller are exempt from release under the Right-to-Know Law. The legislation clarifies the requirements of the Law, which stipulates that 911 call logs are open records; while HB 1041 would not change that requirement, it affirms that personal information attached to call records would not be released. Releasing the call logs meets the public's primary interest in determining whether counties are adequately and promptly providing 911 service, while maintaining the confidentiality of personal information helps protect the security of witnesses and avoids further traumatizing victims.

CCAP policy committee members will meet Nov. 24 in conjunction with the CCAP Fall Conference, Nov. 24 to 26 at the Hotel Hershey, to develop their 2014 work plans and to set legislative and policy priorities for 2014. A date for the formal announcement of the priorities at the State Capitol will also be finalized during the conference.

The Conference also includes a membership voting session on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The agenda includes votes on the Association's 2014 action plan and 2014 dues schedule. The voting information will be emailed to the membership in advance of the Conference.