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Senate of Pennsylvania
SENATE DEMOCRATIC WRAP-UP FOR
THE WEEK OF |
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The Senate this week unanimously approved House Bill 1178, legislation that would disband the 220-member volunteer state police agency of Crawford and Erie counties. The bill would repeal the outdated Act 1109 of 1872, which was established “for the recovery of stolen horses and other property, and for the detection of thieves in Crawford and Erie Counties.” The original act gave arrest powers to the volunteer Crawford/Erie state police unit, and placed the group under the jurisdiction of the governor and state attorney general. However, the organization has operated independently since its charter. House Bill 1178 was prompted by complaints from Pennsylvania’s 3,900-member State Police force, citing the group’s lack of formal training, as well as accountability issues. Currently, the Crawford/Erie state police unit conducts traffic and crowd control at community events. Through the formation of a police auxiliary association with a local police department, the group’s volunteers would still be able to serve in this capacity. The bill now returns to the House for concurrence in Senate amendments.
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By a 48-0 vote, the Senate approved Senate Bill 502. This legislation would amend Pennsylvania’s Landlord-Tenant Act to require that prior to entering into a lease agreement for residential real property, landlords must inform prospective tenants of the property’s flood history, including the frequency and extent of prior flooding.
Landlords who willfully or negligently violate the proposed measure would be
required to pay the amount of actual damages suffered by the tenant as a
result of the failure to disclose flood history.
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The Senate approved Senate Bill 573 by a 48-0 vote. This bill would allow the governing bodies of fourth- through eighth-class counties to cast a separate vote to raise taxes following a countywide reassessment. Current state assessment law mandates that after a countywide reassessment, real property tax rates must be lowered to a rate that would bring in the same amount of revenue as the preceding year. This action creates a revenue-neutral switch between tax rates before and after the assessment. Counties or municipalities are now permitted to increase property tax revenues by up to 5 percent, and school districts are permitted to increase property tax revenues by up to 10 percent—without a separate vote—in the first year after a countywide reassessment. The bill now goes to the House.
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The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 651, which would extend for another year the authority of the state librarian to waive certain mandates on local libraries facing budget constraints. Such authority is set to expire at the end of June. The bill now goes to the House.
* * * The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 679, which would give certain teachers one more year to complete continuing education training requirements outlined in Act 48 of 1999. Many teachers had complained that they did not get the required one-year notice of the impending deadline. Under the bill, teachers who did not get the notice and have not completed their continuing education would have until April 2006. The bill now goes to the House.
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