Finance Committee 11/17/04

The Senate Finance Committee met on Wednesday, November 17, 2004, and reported the following:

As Committed (unanimously):

Senate Resolution 315 (PN 1933)(Earll) This resolution requests Public School Employees' Retirement Board action relating to annuitants who were denied recompilations of their benefits under certain circumstances.

Senate Bill 1156 (PN 1684)(Wonderling) This bill amends the Tax Code to repeal the gross receipts tax on mobile telecommunications and landlines.

Senate Bill 1254 (PN 1892)(Piccola) This bill amends Title 24 (Education) to allow for annuitant associations to obtain data from the Public School Employees Retirement Board for the purpose of promoting memberships in the annuitant association.

House Bill 2865 (PN 4716)(Stetler) This bill authorizes a qualifying municipality to adopt an alternative amortization schedule under the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act to accomodate extraordinary events.

Finance Committee 11/9/04

The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday, November 9, 2004, and reported out the following bills:

As Committed (unanimously):

Senate Bill 963 (PN 1286)(Dent) This bill amends Title 24 (Education) to increase the membership of the Public School Employees' Retirement Board.

House Bill 798 (PN 930)(O'Brien) This bill prohibits any municipal pension or retirement system in a city of the first class from denying benefits to surviving spouses of police officers upon subsequent remarriage of the surviving spouse.

House Bill 2315 (PN 3236)(Crahalla) This bill amends the Real Estate Tax Sale Law to provide for combined judicial sales of multiple properties for the purposes of judicial tax enforcement and satisfaction.

House Bill 2336 (PN 3289)(Petrone) This bill amend the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law to further provide for judicial sales and the procedure for judicial sale of multiple properties.

As Amended (unanimously):

Senate Bill 528 (PN 1914)(Dent) This bill amends the Municipal Police Pension Law to for payments for service increments to pensions of police officers.

House Bill 1716 (PN 4646)(Bard) This bill amends the Local Tax Collection Law further providing for basic and continuing education and retention of tax collection records.

House Bill 2304 (PN 4647)(Gingrich) This bill amends the Real Estate Tax Sale Law further providing for property subject to or exempt from claim and for content of claims entered.

House Bill 2358 (PN 4648)(D. Evans) This bill amends the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law to provide for donation of property and for report of nonpayment of taxes.

House Bill 2638 (PN 4649)(Cappelli) This bill amends the Real Estate Tax Sale Law to further provide for alternative collection of delinquent property taxes and for assignment of claims by taxing district.
 

Finance Committee 7/2/04

The Senate Finance Committee met on Friday, July 2, 2004, and reported out the following bills:

As Committed (unanimously):

House Bill 1285 (PN 2819) (Birmelin) This bill amends the Tax Code to allow for an exclusion from the personal income tax for any income earned by a victim of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

As Amended (unanimously):

House Bill 1321 (PN 4283) (Sturla) This bill creates the First Class Cities Economic Development Act to provide for the erection of a multi-purpose skyscraper in Center City Philadelphia to be used as headquarters for Comcast Communications.

The Senate Finance Committee met on Wednesday, June 23, 2004, and reported the following bills:

As Committed (unanimously):

Senate Bill 1155 (PN 1682) (Thompson) This bill amends the Tax Code to accelerate the phase-out of the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax.

House Bill 2351 (PN 3279) (Phillips) This bill amends the Borough Code to allow employees transferred to a regional water authority to elect to retain membership in a borough retirement system.

House Bill 2467 (PN 3519) (Forcier) This bill amends the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act by further providing municipalities the option to elect to extend the amortization period from 15 years to 30 years with regard to the outstanding balance of the increment of unfunded actuarial accrued liability attributable to the net actuarial investment lossed incurred in calendar years 2001 and 2002. The bill also allows a municipality to amortize the increment of unfunded actuarial accrued liability attributable to the provision of survior benefits to a period payable over 40 years.

As Amended (unanimously):

Senate Bill 765 (PN 1735) (C. Williams) This bill amends the Tax Code to further provide for an exemption from the sales and use tax with regard to the sale at retail of various energy efficient appliances and products during designated exclusion periods.

Finance Committee 5/18/04

The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday, May 18, 2004, and reported out the following bills:

As Committed (unanimously):

Senate Bill 1100 (PN 1573) (Wenger) This bill amends the General County Assessment Law by further providing for valuation on property in second class A and third class counties. After a county wide assessment the real property tax rates must be lowered to bring in the same amount of revenue as the preceeding year, creating a revenue neutral switch. Thereafter, the governing body would be required to cast a separate vote if it wants to raise the tax rate consistent with the limitations on the amount of an increase under current law.

House Bill 1152 (PN 1365) (Stevenson) This bill amends the Tax Code to establish a check-off plan when filing personal income taxes to provide for contributions for juvenile diabetes research.

As Amended (unanimously):

Senate Bill 670 (PN 1640) (Wonderling) This bill amends the Tax Code with respect to the credit for research and development expenses. The bill extends the sunset provision that currently calls for the termination of the Research and Development Tax Credit after December 31, 2006 to December 31, 2008. The annual cap of $30 million would be increased to $120 million with the small business set aside being increased from $6 million to $40 million.

House Bill 1535 (PN 3872) (Lewis) This bill amends the Local Tax Enabling Act to require a political subdivision to distribute earned income taxes to the appropriate political subdivision within 60 days of the end of each quarter. Additional clarifications are included relative to the charging of fees, commisions, and representation by an attorney when filing a lawsuit under the legislation.
 

Finance Committee 5/11/04

The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday, March 16, 2004, and reported out the following bills:

As Committed (unanimously):

Senate Bill 971(PN 1340) (Earll) This bill amends the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act to require the forfeiture of a school employee's pension when that employee is convicted of certain sexual offenses against a student.

House Bill 1899 (PN 3046) (Saylor) This bill establishes an act excluding veterans' service-connected disability payments as income for the purposes of determining eligibility income for certain purposes such as the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program, PACE and PACENET programs, and vehicle registration fees.

As Committed (9-1):

House Bill 147 (PN 2962) (Stevenson) This bill amends the Tax Code to create the film enhancement tax credit. The intent is to encourage more film makers to use Pennsylvania to produce feature films, television series and television shows.

As Amended (unanimously):

House Bill 80 (PN 3460) (Godshall) This bill creates the Organ and Bone Marrow Donor Act. It would provide a tax credit to a qualified business when it grants an employee a special paid leave of absence for organ and bone marrow donation.

House Bill 225 (PN 3461) (Perzel) This bill amends Title 24 (Education) to further provide when an emergency situation exists for retired teachers or other retired personnel to return to school service without annuity penalties.

 Finance Committee 12/17/03

House Bill 1206 (PN 2379) (Maher) This bill amends the Local Tax Enabling Act to provide for an exemption for public service foundations with regard to the local amusement tax in second class cities.

Senate Bill 921 (PN 1326) (A. Williams) This bill amends the fiscal code to prohibit delivery sales of cigarettes through the mail or through any telecommunications means to a purchaser who is not a licensed dealer.

 Finance Committee 11/18/03

House Bill 176 (PN 2785) (Scavello) This bill amends the Tax Code to authorize the Department of Revenue to collect delinquent local real estate transfer taxes plus penalty and interest on behalf of the localities. The Department would remit the delinquent taxes collected to the Recorder of Deeds in the county where the tax was imposed and the Recorder of Deeds would be required to make disbursements to the relevant political subdivisions.

House Bill 545 (PN 2916) (Bunt) This bill amends the County Pension Law so that members of the pension system would vest after having completed five or more years of credited service instead of the current eight year period.

As Amended (9 - 1):

Senate Bill 940 (PN 1277)(Orie) This bill establishes an intergovernmental cooperation authority to assist cities of the second class with fiscal and budgetary concerns. It is intended to help Pittsburgh and is modeled on the legislation that assisted cities of the first class (Philadelphia) in 1991.

 Finance Committee 10/27/03

The Senate Finance Committee met on Monday, October 27, 2003 and reported out the following bills:

As Committed (unanimously)

Senate Bill 106 (PN 144) (Helfrick) This bill amends Title 17 (State Government) further defining “enforcement officer” to include full-time commissioned law enforcement officers employed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Senate Bill 200 (PN 200) (A.Williams) This bill amends Title 24 (Education) to permit annuitants who are certified teachers to return to service without penalty against their annuity.

Senate Bill 820 (PN 986) (Piccola) This bill amends the Tax Reform Code by further providing for various state tax benefits with regard to residential and commercial historic properties.

House Bill 197 (PN 226) (DeLuca) This bill amends the Local Tax Enabling Act further providing for the appointment of a single collector of taxes.

House Bill 1854 (PN 2415) (Herman)  This bill amends the General County  Assessment Law by clarifying that all political subdivisions subject to its provisions must factor in the impact of rent restrictions, affordability requirements or any other restrictions prescribed by Federal or State Programs when determining the actual value of real property.

As Committed (9-2):

House Bill 85 (PN 104) (O’Brien) This bill amends Title 71 (State Government) by allowing a state employee who is appointed as a bail commissioner of the Philadelphia Municipal Court to elect Class E-2 service credit for service performed as a bail commissioner.

As Amended ((Unanimously):

Senate Bill 763 (PN 1243) (Piccola) This bill amends the Tax Reform Code by extending the automatic extension with regard to personal income tax filing currently applicable to individuals serving or hospitalized due to injuries while serving in a “combat zone” to individuals serving in a “qualified hazardous duty area”.

Senate Bill 924 ( PN 1244) (Rafferty) This bill creates the Tobacco Product Manufacturer Directory Act in an effort to strengthen the enforcement of the Tobacco Settlement Act of 2000 and to ensure that Pennsylvania continues to receive all the funds it is entitled to under the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

House Bill 521 (PN 2870) (Feese) This bill amends the Keystone Opportunity Zone and Keystone Expansion Zone Act by deleting existing provisions and then codifies everything in the Act into Title 12 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statues.  Minor changes are made to the provisions being codified such as extending application and designation deadlines and creating the Keystone Innovation Program for institutions higher education.

Finance Committee 6/16/03

The Senate Finance Committee met on Monday, June 16, 2003 and reported out the following bills:

As Committed (9-2):

Senate Bill 100(PN 574) (Jubelirer) This bill amends the Public School Code to provide for the imposition and collection of an earned income and net profits tax by school districts after approval by the electors.

As Committed (unanimously)

Senate Bill 778 (PN 937) (D. White) This bill amends the Job Enhancement Act to provide for Keystone Innovation Zones at institutions of higher education.

House Bill 200 (PN 229) (Mundy) This bill amends the Tax Reform Code to exclude from tax any materials and building supplies used by a contractor in the construction, remodeling, repairs, and maintenance of any public school building.

House Bill 1133 (PN 1335) (Gannon) This bill amends the Fiscal Code as it relates to restitution held by any court, public corporation, public authority or instrumentality of the Commonwealth, or by a public officer or political subdivision thereof, unclaimed by the owner for more than 5 years.

As Amended (unanimously)

Senate Bill 443 (PN 966) (Armstrong) This bill establishes the Deferred Retirement Option Program in State Government for members of the Pennsylvania State Police.

Senate Bill 550 (PN 967) (C.Williams) This bill amends the Tax Reform Code to increase the research and development tax credits.

Finance Committee 4/24/03

The Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee met on Wednesday, April 24, 2003, and reported the following legislation and nomination:

As Committed (unanimously)

Senate Bill 673 (PN 732) (Waugh) Amends the Agriculture Education Loan Forgiveness Act to include teachers of agriculture education in the loan forgiveness program.

Reported unanimously:

The nomination of Mr. Boyd Wolff to the Milk Marketing Board.

Finance Committee 2/26/03

The Senate Finance Committee met today to consider the nomination of Mr. Greg Fajt as Secretary of the Department of Revenue. Mr. Fajt was unanimously reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation.