Following is a listing of legislative action from the week of Dec. 24. Both houses of the General Assembly are in recess, with no session days scheduled for the remainder of the year. Members of the new Pennsylvania Senate and state House of Representatives are set to be sworn into office Jan. 1.

Immigration Compliance

State Rep. Ryan Warner, R-Fayette, announced plans Dec. 27 to introduce legislation that would require state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

“Specifically, the legislation would require state and local law enforcement agencies to comply with requests to notify federal immigration officials before the release of certain individuals as well as maintain custody of certain individuals already in their custody for up to 48 hours beyond when such individuals would otherwise be released,” Warner said in his co-sponsorship memorandum, adding, “Ignoring the federal government's determination that an alien should not be returned to the community and releasing that alien from custody without giving the federal government the opportunity to take custody of the individual is not sound public policy.”

Affordable Care Act

State Reps. Anthony DeLuca, D-Allegheny, and Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, jointly issued a Dec. 26 co-sponsorship memorandum calling for support in codifying the federal Affordable Care Act's essential health benefits (EHB) into state law. The proposal is a reaction to a Texas federal judge's controversial decision from early December declaring the ACA unlawful.

“The 10 essential health benefits include ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance abuse disorder services, including behavioral health treatment, prescription drugs, rehabilitation and habilitation services and devices and chronic disease management, pediatric services, including oral and vision care,” the memorandum said.

Excessive Force

On Dec. 26, Sen. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, issued a co-sponsorship memorandum announcing plans to introduce legislation that would require municipal law enforcement departments to adopt model use of force policies and to train officers to comply with those policies.

Under Costa's proposed measure, police departments would be required, at a minimum, to adopt policies that include “decision making criteria for initiating the use of force; the severity of the crime at issue; the immediacy of the threat posed by a suspect; and other safety factors.” The Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission would be responsible for keeping track of which departments have adopted use-of-force policies and reporting those that have not to the State Police.

“The policy must also include rules on the roles of individuals within the department's chain of command and record keeping requirements in the event force is used,” the memorandum said.