The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 436, which would amend the election code to remove the sunset date for the voting standards adopted by the Voting Standards Development Board.

The board was created following passage of a federal law that requires each state to adopt standards for what constitutes a valid vote.

Unless action is taken, the current voting standards, adopted in 2003, would have expired at the conclusion of the 2012 elections. This legislation completely removes the sunset date, which would eliminate the need to occasionally re-approve the standards.

The bill now goes to the governor for enactment.

 

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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 623, which would establish an adult mentored hunting program.

Under the bill, the Game Commission could waive the license cost for someone interested in hunting to accompany a licensed hunter on an outing. The program would likely be structured similar to the state’s successful mentored youth hunting program.

With the number of licensed hunters dropping in recent years, the bill is aimed at encouraging more people to try hunting.

The bill now goes to the governor for enactment.

 

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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 680, the state’s 2012-13 capital budget.

Under the measure, the state would be authorized to incur a maximum of $3.572 billion in bond indebtedness for the fiscal year. In fiscal 2011-12, the state authorized $1.675 billion.

The bill now goes to the House for consideration.

 

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The Senate approved Senate Bill 297 by a 49-0 vote. The measure would amend the state unemployment compensation law to prevent “triple dipping” by former state employees who work as annuitants for the commonwealth, collect their pensions and collect unemployment.

Currently, annuitants are allowed to work no more than 95 days in a calendar year. Some 1,600 part-time employees and 450 individuals collected unemployment after exhausting their 95 days in 2010 and 2011 at a cost of nearly $2 million.

The bill was referred to the House Labor and Industry Committee on May 6.

 

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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 638, which would prevent “high tunnels” or “hoop houses” from being taxed as real estate because they would be considered temporary structures.

The shelters are typically built with steel frames and are covered by plastic. They are frequently used for plant protection, to house livestock, and storage.

Studies show that in colder climates, growers can start their season 4 to 8 weeks earlier and extend it 2 to 5 weeks by using hoop houses. High tunnel greenhouses are said to better protect crops from weather, diseases and pests, thereby reducing soil disturbance, additional fertilizers and pest control chemicals.

The bill is now in the House.

 

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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 177, the Lyme and Related Tick-Borne Disease Surveillance, Education, Prevention and Treatment Act.

The legislation is intended to raise public awareness about the dangers of and measures available to prevent, diagnose and treat Lyme disease and related maladies. It is also aimed at ensuring that: medical professionals, insurers, patients and governmental agencies are educated about treatment options; medical professionals provide patients with sufficient information about treatment options to enable patients to make an informed choice as part of informed consent and to respect the autonomy of choice; and that Pennsylvania government agencies provide unbiased information regarding multiple standards of care.

The legislation would direct the Department of Health to establish a 20-member task force on Lyme disease and related tick-borne diseases to investigate and make recommendations.

The bill was borne out of Pennsylvania’s high number of Lyme disease cases. From 2006 to 2011, total reported cases of Lyme disease in Pennsylvania have more than doubled. During 2010, Pennsylvania ranked first in the nation with 3,805 confirmed and probable cases, and according to provisional numbers for 2011, an additional increase to 7,484 cases was expected, which again would rank Pennsylvania first in the nation.

The bill is now in the House.

 

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Senate Bill 302 was approved unanimously. The measure would standardize and strengthen the training and resources for county directors of veteran affairs by delineating training requirements and setting minimum standards, including:

  • Requiring all county directors to be accredited as a veteran service officer by a national or state accrediting body.
  • Providing the authority to county commissioners to appoint a Director of Veterans Affairs, approve compensation as set by the county’s salary board and provide the necessary office resources at the courthouse or other centrally accessible location.
  • The bill would codify in statute the functions and services that many county directors already perform.

The bill is now in the House.

 

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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 744, which would give counties greater control over the makeup and responsibilities of local row offices by allowing counties that grow from the fifth class to the fourth class — based on population gains — to maintain their current configuration of row offices indefinitely.

The bill would give counties the flexibility to decide whether to add new row offices.

Pennsylvania counties are divided into eight classes based on population. The County Code currently mandates that any county that advances from the fifth class to the fourth class must increase its number of elected row offices.

Under the bill, counties could reconfigure local row offices at any time if county officials determine that the change is in the best interest of the citizens.

Senate Bill 744 was sent to the House.

 

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The Senate unanimously passed legislation that would tighten time limits for public entities to notify authorities of a personal information security breach.

Under Senate Bill 114, state agencies, counties, school districts and municipalities would be required to notify anyone whose information has been breached within seven days. The bill also requires public entities to notify the Attorney General’s Office within three days of the discovery of the breach. Also, a state agency under the governor’s jurisdiction is required to notify the governor’s Office of Administration within three business days following the discovery of a breach.

The bill now goes to the House.

 

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The Senate unanimously passed legislation intended to reduce the risk of custody-related child abductions. Senate Bill 689 allows parents to seek from presiding courts special protections if the opposite party in the case has exhibited risk factors for abducting the child. Risk factors would include previous abduction attempts, use of aliases, stalking, or possession of forged identification documents.

The bill would allow a judge to issue a Prevention of Abduction Order that could result in allowing police to take custody of a child to prevent abduction.

The bill now goes to the House.

 

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