SENATE DEMOCRATIC WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK OF
December 3, 2007

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            The state Senate this week sent its first bill from the Special Session on Energy to the House.

After convening the special session in September, the Senate spent the fall reviewing various proposals that would increase the state’s use of alternative energy and reduce its dependence on foreign oil, including Gov. Ed Rendell’s “Energy Independence Strategy.” This week, the Senate voted 36-13 to approve legislation that would make changes to the state’s alternative energy portfolio standard.

Under current law, Pennsylvania’s alternative energy portfolio calls for the state’s utilities to produce 18 percent of their energy from alternative sources by 2020. These alternative sources are divided into two categories. The preferred list of renewable, clean sources is known as Tier I, and it includes solar, wind, low-impact hydropower, geothermal energy, biologically derived methane gas, fuel cells, biomass energy, and coal mine methane. By 2020, the utilities will be required to produce 8 percent of their energy from Tier I sources. The remaining 10 percent of alternative energy can come from Tier II sources, such as large-scale hydropower, waste coal, energy-efficiency measures (also known as demand-side management), municipal solid waste, byproducts of wood processing, and integrated combined coal gasification (also known as IGCC or “clean coal”) technology.

Special Session Senate Bill 25 would move the wood-processing byproducts category from Tier II to Tier I and would permit two larger dams currently operating in Armstrong and Huntingdon counties to be considered Tier I sources. Some senators have argued that these energy sources were originally considered for Tier I status when the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (Act 213 of 2004) was being negotiated and that this legislation would help Pennsylvania companies that are currently producing alternative energy. Other senators have voiced concerns that adding new resources to the Tier I list could crowd out the existing Tier I sources and discourage the growth of solar and wind energy in Pennsylvania. In addition, several senators are opposed to providing incentives to companies that are already operational and profitable, rather than start-up businesses that are developing new technologies and trying to get off the ground.

            Special Session Senate Bill 25 now heads to the House for consideration.

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            The Senate passed Senate Bill 1125 by a vote of 47-0.  This bill would create a criminal offense and a civil cause of action for the unauthorized use of the name, portrait, or picture of a deceased soldier.

            The offense would be graded as a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $15,000 and up to five years in jail.

            This legislation would make it a criminal offense if the deceased soldier’s identity were used for commercial advertising or the solicitation of patronage for any business without obtaining the prior consent to use such likeness from the deceased soldier’s spouse, immediate family member, trustee or legally designated representative.  

            The use of the name, portrait, or picture of a deceased soldier would not be a criminal offense if used for non-commercial purposes, in artistic or literary works or exhibits not for profit, and when a picture does not identify the soldiers face.

            The legislation would also provide a five-year statute of limitations to institute a cause of action.

            The bill is now in the House.

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            The Senate unanimously passed the Democrat-sponsored Senate Bill 1147, which would require all applicants for employment to child care facilities to obtain a federal criminal history record information, including set of fingerprints.

            The bill would also require all prospective adoptive parents, prospective foster parents and any person in the household 18 years of age or older to submit a criminal background check, child abuse clearance certification from the Department of Public Welfare, and federal criminal history record information including set of fingerprints.

            Senate Bill 1147 would not require a person employed by a childcare service provider on or before January 1, 2008 to obtain the information required as a condition of continued employment.  Also, a person who has submitted such information may transfer to another childcare service if it is established and supervised by the same organization without being required to obtain additional reports.

            The bill is now in the House.

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            The Senate passed Senate Bill 1156 by a 47-0 vote.  This bill would insure that foster parents, preadoptive parent or relative providing care for the child be provided with the right to be heard at any hearing concerning the child.

            The legislation would also require that in a permancy hearing, the court consult with the child regarding the child’s permancy plan and the wishes of the child in a manner appropriate to the child’s age and maturity.

            The bill is now in the House.

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The Senate unanimously passed an amended version of House Bill 296, which would increase the amount of the bad check service charge permitted from $20 to $50.

            The bill would also make this offense graded in a range from a summary offense to a felony of the third degree depending on the amount of the check passed.

            The bill is now in the House.

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By a vote of 49-0, the Senate passed Senate Bill 778, which would give eligible patients the ability to acquire lower costs drugs if they reside in a long-term care facility. 

Only patients who are eligible to acquire lower cost drugs through the Veterans’ Administration would have access to those drugs if they reside in a long-term care facility.

Repackaging and relabeling the drugs received from the Veterans’ Administration could take place so that they can be dispensed in unit doses to patients in a long-term care facility under certain stipulations.

The bill is now in the House.

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            The Senate passed legislation that would prohibit the regulation of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and establish consumer protection measures, fees and rates, and preserve cable franchise authority. 

Senate Bill 1000 would forbid a department or agency from enacting or enforcing any law, rule or standard that regulates the rates, terms and conditions of VoIP service.

The bill now moves to the House for consideration.

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            The Senate unanimously passed a measure intended to prevent dramatic fluctuations in employer contributions to the State Employee Retirement System (SERS).

Senate Bill 826 would set the rate at no less than 4 percent, beginning after 2006.  The bill now goes to the House.

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The Senate approved legislation encouraging federal officials to suspend funding for a controversial project that permits Mexican trucks to deliver freight from Mexico to anywhere in the United States and to pick up American freight and deliver it to Mexican destinations. The yearlong demonstration project launched on Sept. 1, 2007, and it has already raised border security concerns because the standards that are required of American companies are not required of the Mexican drivers and trucks.

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