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

Following is a listing of executive and legislative action for the week of March 9. 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 Monday.

Worker Protections

A bill to protect workers during public health crises is being prepared for introduction in the Pennsylvania Senate, and has already attracted bipartisan support, Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks, announced March 9.

The legislation would prevent employers from retaliating against or terminating an employee when they must take leave for quarantine or isolation.

"Currently, there is no law in Pennsylvania that protects an employee from termination if placed under quarantine or isolation during a declared public health emergency," Santarsiero said. "No one should have to fear losing their job when they are forced to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spreading of viruses, for the sake of their own wellbeing and the health of the public."

Tom Tosti, president of the Bucks County AFL-CIO Council, said the measure was needed for workers "to know that their jobs are safe while they're in this required quarantine or isolation."

Santarsiero said the first co-sponsors of the bill were Sens. Tim Kearney, D-Delaware; Katie Muth, D-Montgomery; Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery; Maria Collett, D-Montgomery; and Tina Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia.

Online Learning

Pennsylvania should streamline approvals required to authorize online learning and eliminate standardized testing this year, Pennsylvania Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Chester, said March 11 in response to the potential impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak on school districts.

"Given the rapid spread of this virus, we must rethink the systems we have in place to deal with meeting school day requirements, as they will be quickly overwhelmed in the event of extended closings," said Dinniman, Democratic chairman of the Senate Education Committee. "My aim is to free up our school districts from burdensome requirements and bureaucratic processes, so they can protect students, teachers and staff, while continuing to educate students to the top of the curriculum. The time to act is now."

Dinniman has announced two bills to address the contingencies:

One measure would allow school districts that have the capabilities in place to move ahead with online learning, rather than await approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

It also calls for the Education Department to, within two weeks, put in place alternative plans for school districts that may not have online resources available and give school districts the freedom, as with online learning, to put programs into place for the school year.

A second bill calls for the cancellation of the state PSSA and Keystone exams for this school year and requires the Education Department to ask the federal government for a waiver of federal accountability regulations.

"In the face of COVID-19, our focus should be on public health and ensuring that we have adequate and accurate tests for the virus itself, not on worrying about standardized tests or other bureaucratic procedures," Dinniman said. "Let's trust our local schools, teachers and staff to do what needs to be done in dealing with an alarming and unprecedented event."

Rural Broadband

A measure aimed at bringing better access to broadband services to the state's rural communities has been introduced in the state House of Representatives.

State Rep. Martin Causer, R-McKean, is the main sponsor of the Unserved High-Speed Broadband Funding Program, he announced March 10.

House Bill 2348 would convert a $5 million tax credit program—the Mobile Telecommunications Broadband Investment Tax Credit—into a grant program.

"Access to high-speed internet is not a luxury but a necessity for our students and teachers, our farmers and business owners, and our doctors and patients," Causer said. "This proposal will address one of the biggest challenges to broadband expansion by providing some much-needed funding for the unserved and underserved areas."

Under the bill, the grant program would be administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Along with the $5 million appropriation called for in the bill, additional state and federal funding could be directed to the account and used for grant awards.

Entities eligible for grants would include nongovernmental entities with the technical, managerial and financial expertise to design, build and operate high-speed broadband service infrastructure within the state; and rural electric cooperatives or local development districts in the state. Any nongovernmental entity that qualifies for a grant would have to invest from its own funds at least 25% of the project cost.

Preference would be given to projects in the most unserved areas of the state as defined by the Federal Communications Commission's minimum speed requirements and to projects that already have federal funding allocated to them.

The bill was introduced with 20 co-sponsors, including Rep. George Dunbar, R-Westmoreland, who made the announcement with Causer.

Cyber Charter Schools

Cyber charter schools would be required to report attendance figures to local school districts under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives, Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga, announced March 11.

House Bill 2358 would help ensure cyber charter students are participating in school and not falling behind in their learning by requiring cyber charter schools to regularly report the attendance of each student to their school district of residence.

"Right now, different cyber charters measure attendance in different ways, making any data we have about it inconsistent and unreliable," Owlett said. "We offer a variety of educational options in the commonwealth to best meet the varying needs of our students, but we have to make sure our kids are actively attending and participating in their lessons."

HB 2358 has yet to be referred to a committee.

Hearsay Exception

A bill aimed at allowing more alleged child abuse victims to testify remotely was also introduced by Owlett, he said March 11.

House Bill 2342 would amend the state's Tender Years Hearsay Act to increase its protections to persons up to 16 years of age. The law currently permits the introduction of hearsay statements by children up to age 12 concerning violent or sexual offenses.

"While our ultimate goal is always to prevent our children from being victimized, it is important we also have the tools in place to ensure justice is served when crimes are committed against them," Owlett said. "The Tender Years exception has proven a valuable tool in the effort to seek justice for some of the most heinous crimes committed against our children, and I believe we need to make it available in cases involving older children."

A fear of testifying is one of the primary reasons many sexual assaults go unreported, Owlet said in a statement.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on State Government on March 10.