SENATE DEMOCRATIC WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK OF
September 19, 2005

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            The Senate this week unanimously approved Senate Bill 450, which would crack down on price gougers during declared emergencies ranging from natural disasters to labor strikes.

            Under the measure, the Attorney General would have new powers to investigate and prosecute price gougers if prices go up by more than 20 percent in a seven-day period. The bill contains a key Democratic-sponsored amendment that would penalize offenders with a maximum $10,000 fine and restitution.

            Skyrocketing gasoline prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina piqued public support for the legislation.

            The bill now goes to the House.

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            The Senate voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 875, which would expand eligibility for duty-related death benefits under the state “Emergency and Law Enforcement Personnel Death Benefits Act.”

            Under the bill, emergency services personnel, law enforcement officers, and National Guard members would be eligible for duty-related death benefits if they suffer a fatal heart attack or stroke within 24 hours of responding to an emergency or participating in physical training. The measure would put Pennsylvania in line with a recently passed federal law. 

            The bill would also increase the state death benefit paid to the surviving spouse, children or parents from $62,000 to $100,000. 

            The bill now goes to the governor.

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            The Senate voted 47 to 2 in favor of House Bill 619, which would specify that horse farms are eligible for farmland Preservation benefits.

            The newly defined “commercial equine activity” would include boarding and training horses, handling, instruction, riding and grazing.

            The eligibility would not apply to race tracks.

            The term “Agricultural security area” was broadened to include land used for agriculture and also the portion used for equine activity. An Agricultural conservation easement that restricts the use of land was amended to say that the use of commercial equine activity does not apply.

          The bill now goes to the governor.

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