StateGovt_Committee

Senate State Government Committee

Monday, October 24, 2022 | 10:45 a.m. 

East Wing, Hearing Room 8EA 

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Agenda

10:45 a.m.:         Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Senator Argall and Senator Street

10:50 a.m.:          Vote on Senate Bill 996 (Mastriano)

• Parental Bill of Rights

11:00 a.m.:          State Civil Service Commission

• The Honorable Pam Iovino
  • Introduction by Senator Fontana

11:15 a.m.:         State Athletic Commission

• Joel Frank
• Rudy Battle
  • Introduction by Senator Haywood

11:30 a.m.:         Closing Remarks

• Senator Street and Senator Argall

Senate State Government Committee

Tuesday, October 18, 2022 | 10:00 a.m.

Hearing Room 1, North Office Building

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Schedule

• House Bill 34 (Day) – Providing for the safe and secure transport of ballots.
  • Amendment A05725
• House Bill 121 (Ecker) – Swaps 0.043 acres of Project 70 land in Adams County between the Game Commission and the Department of Transportation to facilitate the construction of an interchange.
  • Amendment 05705 will add-
    • HB 2836 (Hennessey) – Southeastern Pennsylvania Veterans Center (7.2 acres) conveyed to Pennhurst Holding, DE, LLC for $220,000
      • East Vincent Township, Chester County
    • SB 1340 (Argall) – 5.529 acres of PA DoT property to the Bear Creek TWP Volunteer Fire Hose Company for $61,000
      • Bear Creek Township, Luzerne County
    • SB 1328 (Browne) – Allentown State Hospital (165.846 acres) conveyed to City Center Investment Corp. for $5,500,000
      • Cities of Allentown and Bethlehem, Lehigh County
    • SB 1346 (Corman) – SCI Rockview (13.26 acres) conveyed to Centre County Industrial Development Corporation for $1,560,000
      • Brenner Township, Centre County
    • SB 1137 (Argall) – A portion (5.8 acres) of the Hamburg Center conveyed to the Berks County Intermediate Unit for $25,000.
      • Windsor Township, Berks County
•  House Bill 2484 (Mizgorski) – Removes qualifying write-in candidates from the ballot if they do not file a Financial Interest Statement.
• House Bill 2633 (Topper) – Comprehensive reform to the Uniform Athletic Agents Act.
  • Amendment A05712 –
    • Amends the definition of “Athlete agent” to clarify that it does not include a coach or other school employees acting within the scope of their employment.
    • Updates the language on penalties for perjury to be consistent with other statutes.
    • Requires further information (state of offense and date of offense) be supplied by registering agents with prior disciplinary offenses in other states.
    • Improves legislative language on certain notification requirements.
    • Requires the State Athletic Commission to develop and maintain a database for all registrations of an athletic agent.

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Agenda for Public Hearing on SB 996

10:30 a.m.:         Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Senator Argall and Senator Street

10:35 a.m.:          Senator Doug Mastriano

• Prime sponsor of Senate Bill 996

10:40 a.m.:         Parents Panel

• Megan Brock
• Jamie Walker
• Maria Ault
• Fenicia Redman

11:00 a.m.:        Dr. Chaminie Wheeler, DO – Testimony

11:15 a.m.:          Parents Defending Education  

• Alex Nester, Political Director, PDE Action

11:30 a.m.:         Pennsylvania Advocacy for Children’s Education

• Matthew Contreras

11:45 a.m.:         Parental Rights Foundation

• William A. Estrada, Esq., President – Testimony

12:00 p.m.           Closing Remarks

• Senator Street and Senator Argall

Senate State Government Committee

Tuesday, September 20 | 10:30 a.m.

Location: East Wing, Hearing Room 8E-A

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Agenda

Meeting to consider HB121, HB 1281, HB 1738, HB 2524 and SB 492, SB 1292

Schedule

House Bill 121 (Ecker) – Swaps 0.043 acres of Project 70 land in Adams County between the Game Commission and the Department of Transportation to facilitate the construction of an interchange.

House Bill 1281 (Delozier) – Creates a new section §3914 (Specifications for Contracts) within Chapter 39 (Contracts for Public Works) of Title 62 (Procurement) to prohibit the awarding of contracts containing proprietary, exclusionary, or discriminatory requirements, other than those based on performance.

House Bill 1738 (Jozwiak) – Establishes a process for the review and implementation of executive orders by the President of the United States. 

House Bill 2524 (Schmitt) – Amends the Right-to-Know Law, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; in access, further providing for open-records officer, for

regulations and policies, for uniform form, for requests and for retention of records and providing for inmate access; in procedure, further providing for written requests, for redaction, for production of certain records and for exceptions for public records.

• Amendment ????? – Technical change to the definition of “commercial purpose”; removes “economic development authority” from the definition of “local agency”.   Changes the definition of “vexatious requesters” and makes changes to Section 906 (Relief from vexatious requesters.  Changes the effective date of the act to 90 days from 30 days. 

Senate Bill 492 (Mastriano) – Amends the Right-to-Know Law further providing for definitions; in requirements and prohibitions, providing for Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association; in access, further providing for open-records officer, for regulations and policies, for uniform form, for requests and for retention of records and providing for inmate access.

• Amendment ????? – Deletes the section on commercial purpose and the section on inmate limitations, while making several other editorial changes.  Changes the effective date of the act to 90 days from 30 days.

Senate Bill 1292 (Langerholc) – Amends the Election Code to prohibit a member of a county board of elections from serving as State Chair of a political party.

Senate State Government Committee

Monday, July 18, 2022 | 11:00 a.m.

Hearing Room 1, North Office Building

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Agenda

11:00 a.m.:         Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Senator Argall and Senator Street

11:05 a.m.:          National Conference of State Legislatures

• Natalie Wood, Director, NCSL’s Center for Legislative Strengthening

11:20 a.m.:         Gubernatorial Incapacity and Succession Provisions

• Brian J. Gaines, Ph. D., University of Illinois
  • Department of Political Science
  • Institute of Government and Public Affairs

• Brian D. Roberts, Ph. D., Principia College – Testimony
  • Chair, Political Science Department

11:45 a.m.:         Closing Remarks and Adjournment

• Senator Street and Senator Argall

Former acting Governor Mark Singel provided the following written statement.

Senate State Government Committee

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 | 10:00 a.m.

East Wing, Hearing Room 8EA

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Agenda

Meeting to consider SB 488, SB 492, SB 1130, HB 2115, HB 2219, HB 2485, HB 2524

Schedule

• Senate Bill 488 (Mastriano) – Amends the Right-to-Know Law for state-related universities to further provide for reporting, for contents of report and for copies and posting and providing for contracts.
  • Amendment A04963 (Argall) – Increases the amount of contracts required to be filed from $5,000 to $10,000 to coincide with HB 2485. 

• Senate Bill 492 (Mastriano) – Amends the Right-to-Know Law further providing for definitions; in requirements and prohibitions, providing for Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association; in access, further providing for open-records officer, for regulations and policies, for uniform form, for requests and for retention of records and providing for inmate access.
  • Amendment ### – Deletes the section on commercial purpose and the section on inmate limitations, while making several other editorial changes.  Changes the effective date of the act to 60 days from 30 days.

• Senate Bill 1130 (Dush) – Amends the Sunshine Act to facilitate the creation of local rules for broadcasting meetings online and allow public comment via authorized telecommunications devices.
  • Amendment A04720 (Dush) – Provides a definition for broadcast.   Further clarifying methods of broadcast and methods of remote public comment.
• House Bill 2115 (Wheeland) – Amends the Administrative Code of 1929 to remove provisions referencing entities that were terminated under the Sunset Act.
• House Bill 2219 (Rowe) – Amends the Administrative Code of 1929 to require each authority that initially authorized a regulatory suspension, under COVID-19 regulatory flexibility authority, that was previously extended, to issue an updated report to be published on the authority’s website.   For each suspension, the report must include whether the authority recommends that the suspension be extended further or enacted permanently into statute or regulation.
  • Amendment A05169 (Argall) – Changes the March 1, 2022 reporting date to August 1, 2022 and changes the March 31, 2022 recommendation date for further suspensions to August 31, 2022.
• House Bill 2485 (Grove) – Amends the Right-to-Know Law, in State contract information, further providing for submission and retention of contracts.
• House Bill 2524 (Schmitt) – Amends the Right-to-Know Law, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; in access, further providing for open-records officer, for regulations and policies, for uniform form, for requests and for retention of records and providing for inmate access; in procedure, further providing for written requests, for redaction, for production of certain records and for exceptions for public records.

• • Amendment #### – Technical change to the definition of “commercial purpose”; removes “economic development authority” from the definition of “local agency”.   Changes the effective date of the act to 60 days from 30 days.

Senate State Government Committee

Thursday, June 23, 2022 | 9:00 a.m.

East Wing, Hearing Room 8EA

Agenda

Public hearing on Right to Know Law legislation

Schedule

9:00 a.m.: – Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Senator Argall and Senator Street

9:05 a.m.: – Office of Open Records – Testimony

• Liz Wagenseller, Executive Director
• Erik Arneson, past Executive Director

9:20 a.m.: – American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania – Testimony

• Elizabeth Randol, Legislative Director

9:30 a.m.: – Local School Boards

• Danielle Lindemuth, Elizabethtown Area School Board
• Jen Goldhahn, Bermudian Springs School Board

9:45 a.m.: – Local Government Associations – Panel # 1

• Jonathan D. Berger, Senior Director of Government Affairs – Testimony
  • Pennsylvania School Boards Association
• Ashley Lenker White, Director of Government Relations – Testimony
  • County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania

10:05 a.m.: – Local Government Associations – Panel # 2

• Joseph H. Gerdes, Director of Government Relations – Testimony
  • Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors
• Ronald J. Grutza, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs – Testimony
  • Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs

10:25 a.m.: – Pennsylvania News Media Association – 

• Brad Simpson, President – Testimony
• Sharon Sorg, CNHI Regional Executive Publisher – Testimony

10:40 a.m.: – Representative Lou Schmitt (Blair County)

• Prime Sponsor of House Bill 2524

10:50 a.m.: – Closing Remarks and Adjournment

Written Testimony:

State Related Universities Feedback

Senate State Government Committee

Tuesday, June 14, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

North Office Building, Hearing Room 1

AGENDA

Meeting to consider SB 1140, SB 1203 and HB 2447, followed by meeting to consider these bills

 

Schedule

10:00 a.m. – Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Senator Argall and Senator Street

Senate Bill 1140 (Bartolotta, Hughes)

• Updates and codifies certain procedures for minority and veteran procurement

10:05 a.m. – Senator Camera Bartolotta

10:15 a.m. – Department of General Services – Testimony

• Curt Topper, Secretary
• Kerry Kirkland, Deputy Secretary for Diversity, Inclusion & Small Business Opportunities

10:30 a.m. – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – Testimony

During the testimony for the Small Diverse Business Legislation hearing, UPMC Corporate Services and UPMC Health Plan were afforded the opportunity to provide testimony. Speaking on behalf of UPMC Corporate Services was George Robinson, director, Supplier Diversity & Inclusion, UPMC, and Jonathan Encarnacion, senior director, Medicaid Programs, UPMC Health Plan. During Mr. Encarnacion’s testimony, he inadvertently stated that 100% of UPMC Health Plan’s contracting is with small, diverse businesses (SDBs). In fact, he should have said that UPMC Health Plan routinely strives to maximize its contracting with SDBs and to meet or exceed 100% of any diverse vendor requirements contained in Commonwealth and other RFPs and contracts.

• George Robinson, Director of Supplier Diversity and Inclusion
• Jonathan Encarnacion, Senior Director, Medical Assistance, Health Plan

10:45 a.m. – National Federation of Independent Business – Testimony

• Melissa Morgan, Assistant State Director

Senate Bill 1203 (Argall)

• Prohibits contracts, grants and tax credits for companies which do business with Russia or Belarus.

11:00 a.m. – The Honorable Jim Gerlach

• President and CEO, Greater Reading Chamber Alliance

11:15 a.m. – Iryna Mazur

• Honorary Consul of Ukraine in PA

11:30 a.m. – The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau – Testimony

• Kyle Kotzmoyer, State & Local Affairs Specialist

House Bill 2447 (Benninghoff)

• Divestiture of Russian and Belarusian assets by the Commonwealth’s public funds

11:45 a.m. – Pennsylvania’s Public Pension Funds

• Tim Reese, Chief Executive Officer, Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System – Testimony
• Joe Torta, Executive Director, State Employees’ Retirement System – SERS Info Packet
• Bob Devine, Interim Chief Investment Officer, Public School Employees’ Retirement System – PSERS Remarks

12:10 p.m. – The Honorable Stacy Garrity

• Treasurer, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

12:30 p.m. – Closing Remarks and Adjournment

12:30 p.m.

• Senate Bill 1140 (Bartolotta) – Amends the Military Affairs Code and the Procurement Code to provide for procurement programs for veteran owned businesses and minority owned businesses.

• Senate Bill 1203 (Argall) – An Act preventing the Commonwealth for dealing with persons associated with the Government of Russia or the Government of Belarus.
  • Amendment A04701 – Exempts critical material and critical mineral from the prohibition.   The Treasury Department shall develop a list of critical materials and critical minerals.

• House Bill 2447 (Benninghoff) – An Act providing for divestiture of state investments to Russia and Belarus.