The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 387, which would expand the sale of reduced-fee hunting licenses for members of the military and National Guard.

Senate Bill 387 would allow all state hunting license-issuing agents to sell reduced-fee hunting licenses to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and Pennsylvania National Guard. Currently, qualified members of the military can only receive the $1 hunting licenses through a county treasurer or the Pennsylvania Game Commission. 

The bill is now in the House.

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The Senate unanimously passed legislation that would prohibit the future use of private transfer fees in Pennsylvania.
Senate Bill 353  would ban all new private real estate transfer fees, allow for remedies if private transfer fees are imposed, require the full disclosure of existing private transfer fees, establish a process to free the property of an obligation and require persons entitled to such a fee to register with the county Recorder of Deeds.   

A private transfer fee is also known as a resale fee or a capital recovery fee and allows the developer or builder of a home to collect 1 percent (or more) of the sales price from the seller every time the property changes hands for the next 99 years. To date, private transfer fees have been seen in 43 states, with 18 states acting to ban the practice, one acting to require additional disclosure requirements while six other states are considering similar bills.

The bill now goes to the House
           

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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 110, which would require that certain information be provided about any passenger flight undertaken using state aircraft.

Under the bill, the information and details on use of state aircraft would be accessible to the public and updated monthly on PennDOT’s website.

The bill is now in the House Transportation Committee.

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The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 265, which changes permitting procedures to establish adequate and safe spacing between natural gas well clusters and workable coal seams. 

Under the bill, no permit for a gas well covered by the Coal and Gas Resource Coordination Act can be issued unless the well cluster is located at least 2,000 feet from the nearest well cluster, unless the permit applicant and the owner of the workable coal seam consent in writing. 

Additionally, the bill states that absent an agreement, either the coal operator or the well applicant may activate a dispute resolution process to resolve a spacing issue.  

Lastly, the bill requires the DEP to commission an independent study, funded by the industry, which would determine the appropriate size of coal pillars to be left around wells and well clusters. 

The bill was signed into law as Act 2 of 2011.