Labor and Industry Committee 11/19/02

The Senate Labor and Industry Committee met today (11-19-02) and reported out the following bills:

HB 591 (Egolf)  This bill prohibits incarcerated individuals from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.  An amendment was offered by Sen. Tartaglione that requires the department to assist the unemployed  find suitable work and makes a person ineligible for benefits if they fail a drug test.  The amendment and bill passed unanimously.

HB 731 (Maitland)  This bill substantially raises the penalties for committing fraud on UC applications.  The bill was opposed by the Democratic members but was reported out 7-4.

HB 1898 (Metcalfe)  This bill provides relief of certain employer charges under the UC law.  A technical amendment was added in committee.  The bill and amendment were reported out unanimously.

HB 2183 (Butkovitz)  This bill gives first-level supervisors on the Turnpike Commission the right to collective bargain.  A minor amendment to change the expiration date was added.  The amendment passed unanimously and the bill passed 7-4, with all 4 negative votes coming from Republican members.

HB 2778 (Tulli)  This bill amends and the Workforce Development Act by providing greater accountability to the program.  Two minor amendments were added to the bill.  The amnedments and the bill were reported out unanimously.

HB 2780 (Steil)  This bill repeals the Child Labor Law and replaces it with an updated Child Labor Act.  The new law would unify and conform to federal standards.  A specific amendment that allows children to work in bowling alleys was included in committee.  The bill and amendment passed unanimously.     

Labor and Industry Committee 11/12/02

The Senate Labor and Industry Committee met today and reported out the following bills:

SB 1555 (Armstrong)  This bill extends the sunset provision of Act 54 of 1997.  That act extends unemployment compensation benefits for individuals who are pursuing interests of being self employed and are in danger of running out of benefits.  The bill passed unanimously from committee.

HB 974 (C. Williams) This bill strengthens Child Labor Laws by prohibiting “youth peddling” for minors under 16 years old.  The bill was passed unanimously.

HB 1547 (M. Baker) This bill amends the PA Conservation Corps Act by allowing crew leaders to accumulate service time to be used towards their state pension.  This bill passed unanimously.

HB 2444 (R. Miller) This bill includes local emergency coordinators under the Worker’s Compensation Act.  This bill passed unanimously.

HB 2737 and HB 2183 were pulled from the agenda.

Labor and Industry Committee 2/12/02

The Senate Labor and Industry Committee reported out the following bills today:

Senate Bill 813 (Sen. Armstrong), which would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to indefinitely extend an employer’s eligibility for a five percent discount in its workers’ compensation policy rates for establishing a state-certified, operative safety committee. Currently, after the first year, the extension maximum is five years. To maintain the discount, the employer must annually verify to the Department of Labor and Industry and the insurer that the safety committee remains operative and in compliance with certification requirements.

House Bill 481 (Rep. Maitland), which would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to provide a coverage compensation mechanism when a municipality that does not have its own voluntary emergency service agency – such as a fire company – has a contractual or other arrangement to use services provided by another community. The municipality using the service would be required to pay the other municipality a portion of the workers’ compensation premiums covering members of the applicable emergency organization.

House Bill 1171 (Rep. Flick), which would amend the Police Chief’s Act to add language ensuring that municipal police chiefs, police superintendents, police commissioners, and ranking officers not included in a bargaining unit receive at least the same dollar increase and fringe benefits in a new union contract as the highest ranking officer in the bargaining unit. However, the bill would permit the municipality’s governing body to provide, by a majority vote, a lesser pay increase for the chief and other non-bargaining unit officers.