Pennsylvania State Capitol. Photo credit: Zack Frank/Shutterstock.com

Following is a listing of executive and legislative action from the week of March 25. Both houses of the General Assembly were in recess at press time. The Pennsylvania Senate and state House of Representatives were scheduled to return to session April 8.

Agriculture Industry

Gov. Tom Wolf spoke at the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau State Legislative Conference on March 27 about his PA Farm Bill and Restore Pennsylvania, two funding proposals aimed at supporting farmers and their families.

“Pennsylvania proudly hails agriculture as one of its biggest industries, and both the PA Farm Bill and Restore Pennsylvania will help the agriculture industry realize an even greater potential,” Wolf said. “I look forward to working together on this exciting path for our farming future.”

The PA Farm Bill is modeled after a six-point plan to cultivate future generations of Pennsylvania's agriculture industry. The PA Farm Bill provides for business development and succession planning, creates accommodations for a growing animal agriculture sector, removes regulatory burdens, strengthens the agriculture workforce, protects infrastructure and makes Pennsylvania the nation's leading organic state.

Restore Pennsylvania, the infrastructure plan, would complement the PA Farm Bill by making critical infrastructure investments that will help make rural areas of the commonwealth a frontrunner in the 21st century economy. The plan would raise $4.5 billion for infrastructure investments through a commonsense severance tax. It includes an important provision that will protect landowner royalty payments from natural gas companies.

Licensed Occupations

A bipartisan duo of freshman state lawmakers unveiled a new measure March 26, dubbed the Fighting Chance Act, which is aimed at cutting government red tape and providing opportunities to ex-offenders.

State Reps. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, and Andrew Lewis, R-Dauphin, said their bill would require state agencies overseeing occupational licensure and the Board of Probation and Parole to reduce red tape by 25 percent over the next three years, with the intent to eliminate unnecessary barriers for people trying to get into licensed occupations.

“Pennsylvania has the potential to be the top state in the nation for jobs and opportunity, but we won't achieve that goal without significant government reform,” Lewis said. “For example, our state has thousands of outdated regulations governing occupational licensure that are keeping good people out of the workforce and hindering our small businesses growth. We believe we can change that through the Fighting Chance Act.”

The bill also aims to reform the criminal justice system by calling for the removal of barriers to employment for people who have paid their debt to society.

“People who are incarcerated have to perform all types of work in the institutions in which they're being held,” Kenyatta said. “If you have the training and expertise to do the work of an electrician, plumber, or barber, you should be able to get back to work when you have paid your debt. People deserve a path to redemption and a family-sustaining job. Those who are willing to work hard deserve the chance to do so; to deny them this chance is to doom them to a path of recidivism.”

Kenyatta and Lewis modeled their bill after one recently enacted in Virginia by a Republican-controlled legislature and signed by a Democratic governor that created a regulatory reduction pilot program requiring agencies to track their progress toward the goal of reducing regulatory requirements.

The bill has attracted 20 co-sponsors, according to a statement from Kenyatta and Lewis.

Heat Stroke

The Pennsylvania Senate on March 25 unanimously approved legislation that is intended to save lives by providing immunity to individuals who attempt to rescue children who have been left unattended in hot cars.

Senate Bill 49, sponsored by Sen. Tom Killion, R-Delaware, would extend current “Good Samaritan” laws to a person who breaks a window or forcibly enters a parked and locked vehicle to save an unattended child's life.

The measure now goes to the state House of Representatives for consideration.

Savings Program

Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella on March 25 announced that the “PA ABLE” savings program has surpassed $15 million in assets and has grown by $4 million since the start of 2019.

The PA ABLE Program now has more than 2,100 individual accounts open, according to a statement from the Pennsylvania Treasury.

“The PA ABLE Program continues to help Pennsylvanians with disabilities save for a more secure financial future,” Torsella said. “In just three months, $4.1 million in contributions have been made, and 269 new, individual PA ABLE accounts have been opened. These are our family, friends and neighbors that now have more options on how they plan for future expenses and goals.”

The PA ABLE program was launched in April 2017. The program finished 2018 with $11.6 million in assets, according to the Treasury statement. Modeled after the popular 529 college savings accounts, PA ABLE provides tax-advantaged savings accounts for individuals with qualified disabilities and their families.