Finance 2015-2016
The Senate Finance Committee met Monday, October 24, 2016 and reported the following bills from committee:
As Committed
House Bill 2370 (Moul): Amends the Tax Reform Code (Act 72 of 1972) relating to the Realty Transfer Tax exemption for certain transactions.
The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday, October 19, 2016 and reported the following bill out of committee.
As Amended
House Bill 932 (Driscoll): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in realty transfer tax, further providing for excluded transactions.
The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday, September 27, 2016 and reported the following bills from committee
As Amended
House Bill 245 (Dunbar): Amends the Local Tax Enabling Act (Act 511 of 1965) to clarify certain provisions related to the consolidated collection of local income taxes and delinquent taxes.
As Committed
House Bill 971 (Metzgar): Amends the Tax Reform Code (Act 2 of 1971) to reduce the inheritance tax rate to 0% upon the transfer of property to or for the use of a child 21 years of age or younger from a natural parent, adoptive parent or a stepparent of the child.
Senate Bill 1362 (Killion): Amends the Tax Reform Code (Act 2 of 1971) to extend the due date from 90 to 180 days – by which the 40% floor tax on electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products must be paid and reported on a form prescribed by the Department of Revenue.
The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday, June 29, 2016 and reported the following out of committee:
House Bill 1871 (Taylor): A joint resolution would amend Article VIII Section 2(b) of the Pennsylvania Constitution to authorize the General Assembly to pass legislation that would permit the City of Philadelphia to impose taxes on real estate that is used for business purposes at a rate that exceeds the tax rate applicable to other real estate.
The Senate Finance Committee met Monday, June 27, 2016 and reported the following bill out of committee
As Committed
Senate Bill 1317 (Gordner): Amends the Tax Reform Code providing for the definition of taxable income
House Bill 1334 (Klunk): Amends the Bingo Law to increase bingo prize limits; remove restrictions regarding how many days a licensed association may conduct bingo games; permit advertisement of prize amounts and make other omnibus changes
House Bill 1888 (Quinn): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for tax amnesty program for fiscal year 2016-2017.
As Amended
Senate Bill 598 (Mensch): Amends the Tax Reform Code providing for the definition of taxable income
Senate Bill 1127 (Stefano): Amends the Tax Reform code in sales and use tax, further providing for exclusions.
The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday, June 15, 2016 and reported the following bill from committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 1320 (Browne): Bill amends the Fiscal Code to add an article to provide for general budget restrictions on appropriations for certain funds and accounts.
The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 and took the following action:
Reported As Committed:
SB 1109 (Baker) – This legislation amends Article VIII of the state Constitution to extend the state’s property tax exemption program for disabled veterans to the surviving spouse of soldiers killed in action.
HB 1084 (Hill) – This legislation will remove future employees of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) from being eligible for public pension benefits in the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System (PSERS).
Reported As Amended:
SB 1161 (Reschenthaler) – This legislation will provide relief to the families, students, educational improvement organizations, and scholarship organizations across our Commonwealth that rely on the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and recently suffered significant financial hardships due to the late release of this fiscal year’s approval letters.
The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday, May 10, 2016 and reported the following bill from committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 1227 (Blake): Amends the Administrative Code of 1929, in organization of independent administrative boards and commissions, transferring certain powers and duties relating to public pension system analysis and legislation; providing for the Independent Fiscal Office; in powers and duties of the Department of the Auditor General, transferring certain powers and duties relating to municipal pension reporting and analysis; and making related repeals.
The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday, March 22, 2016 and reported the following bills from committee:
As Committed
SB 421 (Yudichak): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in realty transfer tax, further providing for excluded transactions.
SB 601 (Folmer): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in personal income tax, further providing for classes of income.
HB 147 (Maloney): A Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, further providing for exemptions and special provisions.
HB 1330 (Ross): Amends the Second Class County Code, in fiscal affairs, further providing for limits on counties of the second class.
The Senate Finance Committee met Friday, December 18, 2015 and reported the following bill from committee:
As Committed
House Bill 752 (Christiana): Amends the Tax Reform Code to increase the amount of available tax credits in the Education Improvement Tax Credit program and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program, and to provide for a set-aside of tax credits for contributions to pre-kindergarten scholarship organizations from un-awarded tax credits available for reallocation.
The Senate Finance Committee met Monday, December 07, 2015 and reported the following bills:
As Committed
House Bill 1735 (Maher): Eliminates the stamping requirement with respect to roll-your-own tobacco products.
House Bill 1736 (Krueger-Braneky): Amends the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Act, to revise the definition of “units sold” with respect to roll-your-own tobacco products.
The Senate Finance Committee met Friday, December 04, 2015 and reported the following bill from committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 1082 (Browne): This bill establishes a Defined Contribution (DC) retirement benefit plan for most new members of the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) and the State Employees Retirement System (SERS); add a Cash Balance retirement benefit tier to the existing Defined Benefit (DB) structure that will be mandatory for new members and optional for pre-2016 active members, and modify the future benefit entitlements of current members of both PSERS and SERS.
The Finance Committee met Wednesday, November 18, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee.
As Committed
Senate Bill 1071 (Browne): Amends Titles 24 (Education), 51 (Military Affairs), and 71 (State Government) extensively revising how public pensions are managed in the commonwealth. Senate Democrats opposed the bill, 7-4.
House Bill 406 (Cox): Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act, in senior citizens property tax and rent rebate assistance, further providing for definitions and for filing of claim. The bill was unanimously approved.
As Amended
House Bill 414 (Briggs): Amends the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act, in standards for municipal pension systems, further providing for definitions and providing for special procedures for certain professional services contracts. Senate Democrats opposed the bill, 7-4.
The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday, October 27, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee:
As Committed
House Bill 1332 (Godshall): Amends the PSERS and SERS retirement codes to make several technical changes to the administration of the pension systems in order to comply with federal rules imposed under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The bill was reported as committed, unanimously.
The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday, September 29, 2015 and reported the following bills from committee:
As Committed
House Bill 561 (Kauffman): Amends the Local Tax Enabling Act (Act 511 of 1965) to exempt wages paid to individuals on active duty military service regardless of whether it is earned for active service inside or outside of PA.
House Bill 1256 (Masser): Amends the Local Tax Enabling Act (Act 511 of 1965) to permit a municipality or school district to eliminate their occupation tax and enact an earned income tax that generates the same amount of revenue as was generated during the prior year, as opposed to current law in which the revenues from the 2008 calendar year (for municipalities) and 2009 fiscal year (for school districts) must serve as the base year.
Senate Bill 909 (White): Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act (Act 1 of the 1st Special Session of 2006) to require voter referendum approval for any school property tax increase by removing the few remaining exceptions for a tax increase up to an inflationary and cost-related index without triggering a voter referendum.
As Amended
House Bill 1319 (Marshall): Creates a free-standing act known as the ABLE Act to provide for 529-ABLE Plan savings accounts within the PA Treasury to support the cost of expenses related to the disability of an account’s beneficiary.
The Senate Finance Committee met June 24, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee:
As Committed
House Bill 683 (Rapp): Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act, in senior citizens property tax and rent rebate assistance, further providing for definitions.
House Bill 1198 (Dunbar): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in corporate net income tax, providing for amended reports.
Senate Bill 432 (Brooks): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in inheritance tax, further providing for the rate of inheritance tax.
Senate Bill 755 (Eichelberger): Amends Title 53 (Municipalities Generally), providing for a municipal alternative retirement plan.
Senate Bill 879 (Baker): An Act providing for the establishment of a savings program by the Treasury Department to encourage savings accounts for individuals with disabilities; establishing the Pennsylvania ABLE Savings Program and the ABLE Savings Program Fund; and imposing duties on the Treasury Department.
As Amended
House Bill 239 (Greiner): Amends the County Pension Law, further providing for definitions and for supplemental benefits.
Senate Bill 368 (White): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a waste coal energy and reclamation tax credit; and imposing duties on the Department of Revenue and the Department of Community and Economic Development
The Senate also reported out favorably, the nomination of Timothy Reese as Treasurer.
The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday, June 03, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 652 (Baker): Amends the Local Tax Enabling Act, in consolidated collection of local income taxes, further providing for definitions.
Senate Bill 798 (Hutchinson): Amends Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a computer data center equipment incentive program.
As Amended
Senate Bill 282 (Vulakovich): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a waterfront development tax credit.
The Senate Finance Committee met Monday, May 11, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 1 (Browne): Amends Titles 71 and 24 of the Consolidated Statutes to make reforms to the state and school employee retirement codes.
As Amended
Senate Bill 356 (Folmer): Amends the Local Tax Enabling Act, in consolidated collection of local income taxes, providing for the definition of “farming” and further providing for declaration and payment of income taxes and for withholding and remittance.
The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday, May 06, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee:
As Committed
SB 73 (Alloway): Amends the Tax Code (Act 2 of 1971) to re-institute the Malt Beverage Tax Credit which expired in 2008. The total amount of eligible expenditures for tax credits made by a brewery within a single calendar year could neither exceed $200,000 nor have been made prior to 2010
SB 691 (Mensch): Amends the Fiscal Code (Act 176 of 1929) to increase in the minimum presumptive price for the cost of doing business in cigarettes by raising the percentage mark-up from 6% to 7% for retailers.
As Amended
SB 556 (McIlhinney): Amends the Tax Code (Act 2 of 1971) to clarify transfers of conservation easements to municipalities are exempt from the Realty Transfer Tax.
The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday, April 21, 2015 and reported the following bills from committee:
As Committed
SB 7 (Folmer): Creates the “Taxpayer Protection Act” providing for limitations on state government spending growth. 7-4
SB 70 (Bartolotta): Amends the Pennsylvania Constitution to effectuate the provisions of the “Taxpayer Protection Act” providing for limitations on growth in state government spending. 6-5
SB 401 (White): Creates the State Legislators’ Defined Contribution Program, 10-1.
The Senate Finance Committee met April 15, 2015 and reported the following bills out of committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 386 (Pileggi): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in corporate net income tax, further providing for definitions.
Senate Bill 580 (Gordner): Amends the Tax Reform Code (Act 2 of 1971), in inheritance tax, further providing for definitions and for transfers not subject to tax.
Senate Bill 623 (Folmer): Amends the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for the definition of “child with a disability”; and further providing for inheritance tax.
The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday, February 25, 2015 and reported the following out of committee:
As Amended
Senate Bill 129 (Wiley): Amends the County Pension Law, further providing for definitions and for supplemental benefits
As Committed
Senate Resolution 28 (Scavello): A Concurrent Resolution establishing the Joint Select Committee on Institutions of Purely Public Charity.
The Senate Finance Committee met on January 22, 2015 and reported the following bill out of Committee:
As Committed
Senate Bill 4 (Aument): Amends the PA Constitution giving the General Assembly exclusive power in writing laws providing for the qualifications of institutions of purely public charity.