Dear  

On Nov. 25, Governor Corbett signed into law Act 89 of 2013, a comprehensive transportation funding package that will generate $2.3 billion over a five-year period for infrastructure and mass transit. The Senate and House had amended and approved the underlying legislation, HB 1060, just days earlier by respective votes of 43-7 and 113-85.

Act 89 achieves counties' 2013 transportation priority, addressing their infrastructure and mass transit responsibilities, and also touches on the 2013 prevailing wage priority by increasing the threshold on transportation projects from $25,000 to $100,000.

The key funding provision in Act 89 is removal, over a five year period, of the artificial cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax, which is charged at the wholesale level. In exchange, the 12-cent state retail gas tax, currently paid at the pump, is eliminated on the act's effective date. The millage increase in the first year of the incremental lift of the Oil Company Franchise Tax will be enough to offset the 12-cent immediate removal of the retail gas tax, as well as addressing new funding needs.

While the removal of the pump tax also removes the current half cent that funds the county liquid fuels tax, it is replaced by a dedicated 4.17 percent allocation from the Oil Company Franchise Tax. Lifting the cap on the oil franchise tax, along with replacing the county half cent per gallon pump tax with a comparable yield from the franchise tax, generates new and more stable funding for county bridges, particularly in the face of stagnating at-pump sales. The distribution formula and methodology, and allowable uses, appear to be unchanged.

Lifting the cap also yields new revenue under the existing two percent county and forestry bridge allocation. The act retains the special $5 million allocation to county bridges from Act 44. Both the county and forestry bridge allocation and the $5 million allocation are distributed based on the relative square feet of county-owned bridge decking, counties' preferred distribution formula. Finally, Act 89 creates a Highway Bridge Improvement Restricted Account exclusively for improvements for county and municipal bridges.

A bridge bundling program, currently being piloted in three counties, allows PennDOT to propose to counties and municipalities projects to combine multiple common-design bridges into bundled projects for repair or replacement. Normal match requirements are maintained, although they can be waived based on local circumstances. Counties and municipalities would be obligated to maintain the bridges following project completion.

Act 89 phases in increased funding for mass transit, reaching more than $475 million per year by 2017.

Match requirements for operating and capital funds are maintained at current levels, and the Secretary may also waive for cause up to 75 percent of the capital fund match. Competitive grants for fleet conversion to alternative energy sources are available as well. A new provision allows PennDOT to complete regionalization feasibility studies of local mass transit organizations, focusing on creation of service regions or mutual cooperation pacts. If the results estimate an annual net savings, the local government and transportation organization may implement the recommended action, and the operating match requirement will be waived for five years if consolidation occurs. Capital funding will be available to assist in implementation.

In a measure to allow local generation of transportation funding, counties are permitted the option to assess, by ordinance, a $5 fee on vehicles registered in the county. PennDOT is to collect the fee at the time of registration, and the full amount is then remitted back to the county that assessed the fee. The money generated may be spent by the county in any way the Liquid Fuels money can be expended. A local fee can go into effect no earlier than Jan. 1, 2015, and a county must notify PennDOT at least 90 days before the ordinance is to take effect.

Other provisions with an impact for counties include a Shared Ride Pilot Program, with an advisory board on which CCAP has an appointee, and a Multimodal Fund for aviation, rail freight, passenger rail, ports and waterways and bicycle and pedestrian projects. More details, including estimates for the $5 optional county fee, are available on the CCAP website under What's New.

The House Children and Youth Committee has approved several Senate proposals that are part of the child protection reform package, introduced as a result of the 2012 report of the Task Force on Child Protection.

Several amendments were adopted to the legislation, reflecting ongoing negotiations between the House and Senate. Specifically, the committee amended and reported SB 21 (offered by Sen. Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland), increasing the number of mandated reporters; SB 23 (sponsored by Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne), expanding the definition of perpetrator; SB 30 (introduced by Sen. Edwin Erickson, R-Delaware), increasing the scope of information maintained in the child abuse central registry and providing immunity from liability for certain persons; and SB 33 (sponsored by Sen. Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery), providing for protection from employment discrimination for persons making reports of suspected child abuse. Additionally, the committee reported SB 1116 (sponsored by Sen. LeAnna Washington, D-Philadelphia), regarding multidisciplinary investigative

teams, a team approach to investigating suspected child abuse with law enforcement which counties support.

In separate action, the House Judiciary Committee amended and reported SB 28 (Sen. Patrick Browne, R-Lehigh) to increase penalties for assault when the victim is a child. The bill also creates an offense of "false report of child abuse," grading such offenses as second degree misdemeanor. The language in the section differs from the recommended language from the Task Force on Child Protection. Finally, SB 28 creates an offense of intimidation of witnesses or victims in child abuse cases.

The bills reported from both committees await action by the full House with the expectation that final votes will occur prior to the December holiday break.

In the Senate, several House proposals from the package were also advanced recently by the Senate Judiciary Committee, including HB 321 (sponsored by Rep. Marcy Toepel, R-Montgomery), which establishes a sentencing enhancement for offenses relating to sexual abuse of children and child pornography, and HB 1201 (sponsored by Rep. Bryan Barbin, D-Cambria), which assures confidentiality of the names of victims of child sexual abuse, and requires the district attorney to make reports to licensing boards when a health care practitioner is found guilty of a felony. Both bills remain on the Senate calendar awaiting further action. 

The House and Senate recently amended legislation in their respective chambers that would exempt "high tunnels" from property assessment and taxation. High tunnels are typically steel pipe frames covered by plastic that are most frequently used as greenhouses that can help farmers extend their growing season, although they are sometimes used for livestock housing and storage as well.

HB 1439, introduced by Rep. Marcia Hahn (R-Northampton), and SB 638, offered by Sen. Elder Vogel (R-Beaver), were both amended with language which resolved a concern raised by CCAP that the language in the bills was written too broadly relative to the use of the structures to assure consistent and fair implementation. Instead, the amendment specified that a high tunnel is exempt only if it meets certain structural characteristics, which were already in the bill, and if it meets clear characteristics on usage based on existing language in the state's Clean and Green Law. That language will assure uniformity and equity for all taxpayers while referencing a statute with which county assessment offices are already familiar.

The respective amendments were unanimously adopted, and both bills are expected to receive a final floor vote prior to the winter recess.