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Number 16
August 8, 2014

www.pacounties.org

LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN

An e-newsletter of the County Commissioners

Association of Pennsylvania

Serving Counties Since 1886

In This Issue

House Cancels August Session

Federal Transportation Legislation

Center for Rural PA Holds Hearings on Drug Overdose Crisis

Waters of the U.S. Update

Senate Committee Considers Blight Bills

Common Level Ratio Study Released

CCAP Resolutions Balloting

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Dear

HOUSE CANCELS AUGUST SESSION

In late July the PA House announced that it will follow the Senate lead and reconvene on Sept. 15, cancelling their original plan to return to Harrisburg the week of August 4 to resolve House-Senate differences on HB 1177, legislation authorizing the City of Philadelphia to levy a $2 per pack tax on cigarettes to fund the City's school system.

Media reports indicate that Gov. Corbett plans to advance $265 million to the Philadelphia schools until the issue can be addressed legislatively this fall, although he also asked legislators to return to Harrisburg to do so prior to the start of the school year.

FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION LEGISLATION

A short-term extension for the Highway Trust Fund and MAP-21, the federal surface transportation law, was approved by Congress in late July, following several days of disagreement between the House and Senate on the amount and timeframe.

The final legislation, H.R. 5021, will provide funding for highway projects through May 2015 by transferring nearly $11 billion to the Highway Trust Fund, with $9.9 billion coming from the general fund and another $1 billion from a fund set up to deal with leaking underground storage tanks. The bill is on the President's desk and he has said he will sign the bill.

With the U.S. Department of Transportation slated to cut payments to states on Aug. 1, the Senate approved a version of the bill on July 29 by a 79-18 vote that would have authorized funding only through Dec. 19, in an attempt to pressure Congress to pass a multiyear highway bill between the November elections and the start of a new Congressional session. Other amendments considered prior to the final vote included a CCAP-supported amendment offered by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), which would have facilitated the reconstruction of damaged highways and bridges after disasters by exempting those repair projects from additional environmental permits. That amendment failed by a vote of 47-50.

Two days later, the House rejected the Senate's changes by a 272-150 vote, instead sending the Senate the original $10.9 billion House proposal that authorized funding through May 2015; the Senate ultimately agreed to the House version by a vote of 81-13.

While the National Association of Counties (NACo) indicated its understanding of the need for a short-term fix, it urged Congress to provide long-term certainty and multi-year reauthorization of MAP-21, with support for county-owned infrastructure, which remains a priority for NACo. Additional resources can be found on the CCAP Legislative Action Center and NACo's Transportation Advocacy websites.

CENTER FOR RURAL PA HOLDS HEARINGS ON DRUG OVERDOSE CRISIS

Several county drug and alcohol administrators have been participating in a series of statewide hearings convened by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania to highlight the heroin and opiate epidemic. Judy Rosser, Executive Director of Blair Drug and Alcohol Partnerships and Board chair of the Pennsylvania Association of County Drug and Alcohol Administrators, a CCAP Affiliate, provided testimony on Aug. 5 at St. Francis University in Cambria County. George Vogel, executive director of the Council on Chemical Abuse in Berks County, also a PACDAA member, had previously testified at a hearing at Reading Area Community College.

Of the many themes in her testimony, Rosser emphasized prevention efforts needed to get ahead of the problem, including the ability to intervene on early substance use by youth and to control the access to substances in our communities. Rosser also called for General Assembly action in the fall on bills to establish a prescription monitoring program, to access to naloxone, and to enact Good Samaritan legislation that would offer immunity for individuals seeking help and access to rescue medication. Each of these proposals is supported by CCAP's priority on prevention of substance abuse and drug overdose.

The St. Francis University event was the third in a series of four hearings on the issue, at which state legislators have heard testimony from drug and alcohol personnel, medical professionals, law enforcement, school leaders and community groups, providing a broad perspective of the full extent of the epidemic in all corners of the commonwealth. The fourth and final hearing will occur on Aug. 19 at Clarion University. More information is available on The Center for Rural Pennsylvania website.

WATERS OF THE U.S. UPDATE

In mid-July the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA), approved the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act, H.R. 5078, by a voice vote. H.R. 5078 would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal to define "Waters of the U.S." under the Clean Water Act from moving forward. Additionally, it would require the agencies to consult with state and local governments on any future rule development process. The agencies would be required to document the interactions, including areas where consensus was reached and not reached, and submit the final report to Congress.

In addition, both the FY 2015 House Energy and Water Appropriations and the House Interior Appropriations bills include a moratorium on funding for development or implementation of the proposed rule for a year. The Senate Energy and Water bill does not include moratorium language, and the Senate Interior Appropriations bill has not yet been released.

On July 31, 13 U.S. Senate Democrats, led by Agriculture chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and including PA Sen. Bob Casey, sent a letter to leaders of the EPA, Army Corps and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to raise concerns about the Waters of the U.S. proposal. The Senators noted that while they have long supported the Clean Water Act and its role in protecting the nation's waterways, they also believe more clarity is needed to ensure the proposed rule does not have unintended consequences for agriculture and conservation efforts. They raised several questions regarding the scope of the proposed definition, and voiced concerns with a separate interpretive rule spelling out agricultural practices that are exempt from permitting requirements.

A detailed analysis compiled by NACo, as well as materials for counties wishing to comment individually on the local impact of the proposal, can be found on NACo's website or by going to CCAP's Legislative Action Center. The deadline for comment is Oct. 20.

SENATE COMMITTEE CONSIDERS BLIGHT BILLS

Three bills aimed at providing tools to decrease the number of blighted properties across the commonwealth were reported from the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee on June 27. Senate Bill 1420, authored by Sen. LeAnna Washington (D-Philadelphia), would allow a property owner's Pennsylvania driver's license to be suspended for 90 days if the property owner has three serious convictions of property violations within a municipality. The bill was reported by an 8-3 vote.

Another proposal, SB 1427, introduced by committee chair Sen. Dave Argall (R-Schuylkill) was reported from committee 10-1 and would allow counties the option to apply an additional fee of up to $15 on deeds and mortgages, with the additional revenue to be used exclusively for demolition within the county. Sen. Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny), the committee's minority chair, authored SB 1442, which was reported from committee 10-1, and would amend the Real Estate Tax Sale Law to allow counties to add a ten percent fee to properties sold at a tax sale, with the funds directed for demolition and rehabilitation of blighted property. The bills are now before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

COMMON LEVEL RATIO STUDY RELEASED

A study of how common level ratios (CLRs) are calculated, required under Act 2 of 2013, was released in late July in a presentation to the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) and other stakeholders. The report was written and presented on DCED's behalf by Alan Dornfest, affiliated with the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO).

The CLR is calculated by DCED's Tax Equalization Division (TED, formerly the independent State Tax Equalization Board, STEB), and its data is an element of the school funding formula as well as a statistical measure used between countywide reassessments to assist in determining a property's assessed value.

Dornfest characterized the TED calculations as more closely matching protocols developed in the 1980s, and not reflecting current IAAO standards. He made several recommendations to enable the CLR to better reflect each county's data. First, he recommended legislation to require use of a sales verification form to more accurately record sales data. He also noted the current CLR is based on the proportion of sales, not properties, in a given category, which could lead to over-representation of property types. Further, he felt the statistical procedure TED uses to assure outliers in the data are properly handled is inadequate and inconsistent with IAAO standards. He also recommended that TED use the median rather than the mean as the statistical measure of assessment level to improve accuracy, and that it develop a manual and training on the process of developing the CLR.

TED and other stakeholders, including the Assessors Association of Pennsylvania, will be reviewing the recommendations as part of ongoing work to develop standards and tools that will improve the assessment process.

CCAP RESOLUTIONS BALLOTING

At the recently-completed CCAP Annual Conference the CCAP membership considered 25 policy resolutions, which will next be placed in an electronic ballot to be emailed to the full CCAP voting membership on Monday, August 11. Members will have 10 days to vote on the resolutions, and those adopted will become part of the Pennsylvania County Platform. Questions about the ballot or the resolutions process can be directed to the CCAP government relations staff at pacountiesgr@pacounties.org.

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