The Senate unanimously passed House Bill 264, which creates a standardized procedure for municipal authorities to handle funds.
The bill requires the treasurer of an authority to deposit funds into properly designated accounts. The measure also requires authorities to create accounting procedures for:
- billing customers;
- collecting payments;
- issuing receipts;
- handling funds received and depositing funds into an account or accounts; and
- making all bill payments in the name of the authority and not in an individual’s name.
The section also adds additional requirements for annual auditing and filing financial reports.
House Bill 264 became Act No.4 of 2019.
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The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 144, which would create the “Keystone Telepresence Education Grant Program.” The program would award grants to Intermediate Units (IU) to purchase telepresence equipment and related support services for homebound students.
Telepresence is the use of virtual reality technology, especially for remote control of machinery or for apparent participation in distant events.
The Department of Education would oversee the distribution of up to $300,000 in annual program grants.
Each IU applying for the grant would have to develop policies for using telepresence equipment and related support services. No fee could be charged by IUs to schools for use of these services when supporting homebound students.
Each IU’s annual grant allocation could not exceed 10 percent of available program funds.
The bill was referred to the House Education committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 372, which would update procedures for selling or disposing of abandoned property on loan to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The legislation designates the commission as administrator of state archives and provides for access to older records. Anyone who sells, transfers or alienates an archival record without legal authorization or approved by record retention procedures could be fined up to $2,500.
The bill was referred to the House State Government committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 399, which would amend the Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act to establish additional rights for sexual assault victims. These rights include:
- free medical forensic examination;
- free sexual assault evidence collection for the duration of the statute of limitations;
- Receiving written policies concerning collection and preservation of the kit;
- written notification of impending destruction of the kit 60 days beforehand;
- consultation with sexual assault counselor;
- information on protective orders;
- Information concerning victim compensation and restitution; and
- Information on the rights of sexual assault victims.
The bill would require the Attorney General to develop a standard protocol for notifying a victim about evidence in their case. The protocol would be made available online.
The bill was referred to the House Judiciary committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 425, which would amend the Crime Victims Act to give victims the right to attend criminal or juvenile proceedings.
The legislation would provide for an exception to this rule if the court determines that the victim’s testimony would be materially altered if the victim heard other testimony at the proceeding.
The court would be obligated to provide for the fullest attendance possible for the victim, to consider reasonable alternatives to excluding the victim and state any reason for exclusion on the record.
The bill was referred to the House Judiciary committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 431, which would amend the state’s Rape Shield law to make evidence of past victimization inadmissible in court.
The legislation would provide for an exception for evidence of the victim’s past sexual history with the defendant where consent of the victim is at issue.
The bill was referred to the House Judiciary committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 469, which would expand the “tender years” hearsay exception to allow statements made by people with intellectual disabilities or autism to be allowed in court.
The bill would provide for this exception if:
- the individual provides evidence that is relevant and reliable.
- the individual would suffer serious emotional distress that would impact their ability to reasonable communicate if they testified as a witness.
The bill was referred to the House Judiciary committee.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 479, which would expand the “tender years” hearsay exception to include prosecutions related to the following crimes:
Criminal homicide; assault; kidnapping; human trafficking; sexual offenses; burglary and other criminal intrusion; robbery; incest; endangering the welfare of children (if offense involves sexual contact with victim); corruption of minors; sexual abuse of children; unlawful contact with minor; and sexual exploitation of children.
The bill was referred to the House Judiciary committee.