18138_Authority_Feb

24 The Authority | February 2025 2025 Legislative Session Schedule House January 7, 27, 28, 29 February 3, 4, 5 March 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 April 7, 8, 9, 22, 23, 24 May 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 June 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30 September 29, 30 October 1, 6, 7, 8, 27, 28, 29 November 17, 18, 19 December 15, 16, 17 Senate January 7, 27, 28, 29 February 3, 4, 5 March 24, 25, 26, 31 April 1, 2 May 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 June 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 PA General Assembly Leadership Teams for 2025-26 Legislative Session House of Representatives Democrats – 102 Republicans – 101 Vacancies – 0 Leadership: Speaker of the House – Joanna McClinton (Delaware, Philadelphia) Majority Leader – Matt Bradford (Montgomery) Minority Leader – Jesse Topper (Bedford, Fulton) Senate Democrats – 22 Republicans – 28 Vacancies – 0 Leadership: Senate President – Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis Senate President Pro Tempore – Kim Ward (Westmoreland) Majority Leader – Joe Pittman (Armstrong, Indiana, Jefferson, Westmoreland) Minority Leader – Jay Costa (Allegheny) Law Enacted Last Session SB 1237 (Senator Lisa Baker - Luzerne, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming) amends the Underground Utility Line Protection Law (PA One Call) to extend the expiring sunset date another seven years as well as make various other changes. For details on the changes, visit page 24 of the December issue of The Authority at municipalauthorities.org , select Communications, The Authority Digital Edition, December 2024. The bill passed the Senate (Y: 48/N: 0) and the House, as amended (Y: 196/N: 6). The Senate concurred in House amendments (Y: 50/N: 0) to the bill and was signed by the Governor (Act 127 of 2024) on October 29, 2024. This addresses and fulfills PMAA Adopted Resolution 8-25. New Legislative Session 2025-2026 At the conclusion of the 2023-2024 legislative session, this issue of the magazine went to print. At that time, legislators began to post co- sponsorship memos (HCO or SCO) to express their intent on introducing legislation on the floor in the new session 2025-2026. Some of these memos contain verbiage and intent from previous legislative sessions. HCO362 - Prohibition of Land Spreading of Oil & Gas Wastewater Representative Greg Vitali (Delaware, Montgomery) This bill will amend Act 97 of 1980 (Solid Waste Management Act) by prohibiting the spreading of production brine on all land, developed or undeveloped. It would also prohibit wastewater transport vehicles from having brine spreading equipment installed on the vehicle. These provisions would help stop the spread of harmful and toxic contaminants. This bill was introduced last session (2023-2024) as HB 2384. HCO367 - Stormwater Fees Representative Justin Fleming (Dauphin) and Representative Dave Madsen (Dauphin) The purpose of this legislation is to achieve state and federal clean water requirements. The Pennsylvania General Assembly expressly granted permission to both municipalities and authorities to properly assess stormwater fees and defined the charges as “reasonable and uniform rates” comparable to the myriad of other fees for service such as sewer and water rates. While the Commonwealth acknowledges the validity of other water and sewer fees and pays them accordingly, it counter-intuitively refuses to do so for stormwater fees, arguing that stormwater assessments are a local tax, of which Commonwealth agencies are immune.