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HOUSE PANEL DISCUSSES EXTENSION OF OSHA REQUIREMENTS TO PUBLIC ENTITIES
On Dec. 4, the House Labor and Industry Committee held a hearing on HB 1082, introduced by Rep. Patrick Harkins (D- Erie), which would create the Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Act and require political subdivisions to come under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
CCAP submitted written testimony to the committee, highlighting counties' commitment to workplace safety, including risk-management activities, compliance with state law requiring employees to be notified about hazardous materials in the workplace, training requirements and more. CCAP questioned the need for legislation in the absence of data demonstrating a difference in worker safety between comparable private and public sector occupations, and noted that federal OSHA standards are not entirely applicable or appropriate to local governments. Requiring local governments to face stringent regulatory requirements, new administrative overhead and substantial fines would thus have minimal additional benefit to workers beyond the public safety procedures already in place.
Representatives of the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association participated in the hearing, reiterating the current commitment by local governments to employee safety within existing laws and regulations, and concerns regarding costs and administrative burdens. Other panelists included public employee representatives and the state Department of Labor and Industry, who spoke in favor of HB 1082.
CCAP's full testimony can be found at
www.pacounties.org
on the Legislative Action Center by clicking on Legislative Testimony.
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SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS FY 2014-2015 FISCAL CODE VETOES
The state Supreme Court has overturned partial vetoes of appropriations and Fiscal Code bills made by former Gov. Tom Corbett in 2014, ruling 5-2 that the governor's announcement of the vetoes did not meet the constitutional requirement of a "public proclamation."
Gov. Corbett had vetoed only part of the Fiscal Code amendments approved by the General Assembly concurrent with the FY 2014-2015 state budget; Fiscal Code amendments typically provide greater direction for how the funds that have been appropriated in the General Fund bill must be spent. State Senate leaders, however, had challenged whether Gov. Corbett had the authority to use the line-item veto for Fiscal Code legislation under his constitutional power to partially disapprove appropriations bills. While a Commonwealth Court ruling in January 2016 determined the Fiscal Code amendments were a type of appropriations bill, and therefore subject to the governor's line-item veto power, the Supreme Court did not rule on this particular question in its decision.
Instead, the Supreme Court determined that the line-item vetoes of the Fiscal Code were invalid because the announcement of the vetoes was not properly transmitted to the General Assembly. Although Gov. Corbett notified the House parliamentarian, filed the physical bills and objections with the Secretary of State and issued a press release about the vetoes, the news release failed to meet the constitutional requirement of a "public proclamation" because the release did not include constitutionally required information that his objections had been filed with the Secretary of State. The Court therefore said the news release was an informal communication to the public and lacked the formality required to make the public aware of the vetoes' legal and constitutional significance. Because the Court ruled the vetoes invalid from a procedural standpoint, it did not tackle the underlying question of whether the governor had the authority to make them in the first place.
Those vetoes struck about $72 million from the FY 2014-2015 budget, and the question now remains whether, or how, those appropriations should be honored given the Court's opinion indicates the bills became law in their entirety, but also given that the fiscal year in question has already concluded.
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CONGRESS MOVES FORWARD ON TAX REFORM
In the early hours of Dec. 2, the U.S. Senate approved H.R. 1, a nearly $1.5 trillion tax reform bill, by a 51-49 vote, with all but one Republican voting in favor and no Democratic senators voting for the measure.
There are several differences between the Senate-passed version and the tax bill passed earlier in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of those differences, the Senate version sunsets individual tax rate cuts after 2025 and retains the current seven tax brackets, while the House had made the individual tax rate cuts permanent and reduced the tax brackets to four. Both bills eliminate the state and local tax (SALT) deduction for state and local income taxes, but allow a property tax deduction capped up to $10,000. In addition, both bills eliminate advance refunding bonds, which counties use to save taxpayers money on infrastructure projects. A detailed comparison between the House and Senate tax bills can be found at www.naco.org.
The bill has been sent to a conference committee for the two chambers to work out their differences, which will need to be resolved before it can be sent to the president's desk for his signature. In the meantime, as the Bulletin goes to print, Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) have offered a bipartisan proposal to the conference committee that would fully retain the SALT deductions, along with private activity bonds, the medical expense and mortgage interest deductions. NACo has co-founded Americans Against Double Taxation, a coalition of state and local government organizations, service providers and others to preserve the SALT deduction, and both organizations support the amendment..
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AUDITOR GENERAL DISCUSSES CHILD WELFARE REPORT
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale recently provided an overview of his report on Pennsylvania's child welfare system to the House Children and Youth Committee.
The State of the Child report, originally released by the Auditor General in September, outlines the challenges facing county children and youth services such as heavy caseloads and paperwork requirements, high turnover rates and the impacts of recent statutory changes. DePasquale told the committee that since then, he has visited several counties to focus on learning how the opioid crisis is putting yet another strain on the child welfare system. He also referenced a follow-up and action plan that will come in early spring.
In discussing the report, committee members noted the work of non-profits and private providers who also partner with counties to provide services to children and families. In addition, they pointed to the impacts of the judiciary on the child welfare system and the need to uncover the underlying reasons children are currently in the system.
For 2018, counties support recognizing the state-county partnership to protect children by increasing state funding for county children and youth agencies, as part of their top priority on human services funding and system reform. More information about this and other 2018 county priorities can be found at www.pacounties.org by clicking Priorities under the Government Relations tab.
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COUNTIES PARTICIPATING IN NALOXONE PROGRAM
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has approved 59 counties to be the initial recipients of 13,752 naloxone kits - some 27,500 doses - for first responders. The measure is the first step in an effort to make 60,000 kits available through a state-procured contract over a two-year period.
Participating counties were required to identify one main point-of-contact for each county or region, such as the county commissioners, single county authority, district attorney's office, or local health agencies, to coordinate the process of getting the naloxone kits into the hands of first responders. The number of cases available per county is based on factors including population, number of overdose deaths, and information from the state's prescription drug monitoring program.
PCCD will be conducting outreach efforts with the remaining eight counties to assure naloxone is also made available to first responders in those areas.
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EPA, CORPS PROPOSE TO DELAY WOTUS EFFECTIVE DATE
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers have proposed to delay the implementation of the 2015 Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule until 2019. The 2015 rule is currently under a nationwide stay pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision expected in early 2018 on which court has jurisdiction; that decision may lift the stay across much of the country, at which time the 2015 rule would be implemented. A delay would allow the agencies more time to work through the rulemaking process to repeal and replace the rule, a process currently ongoing following a February executive order by the president to the agencies to review and reconsider the rule.
The term "Waters of the U.S." is used in the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) to determine what waters fall under federal CWA oversight as opposed to state oversight. Both the National Association of Counties (NACo) and CCAP submitted comments on the proposed rule in 2014, highlighting the vagueness of the definition and calling for the agencies to withdraw and revise the rule in order to address state and local concerns. CCAP argued that Pennsylvania already has a strong regulatory framework in place to protect all waters of the commonwealth, so an expansion of federal jurisdiction would only add a layer of permitting and paperwork without any benefit to the state's water quality.
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BULLETIN DELIVERY PREFERENCES
The Bulletin is published both in print and electronically on an every-other-Friday basis. Recipients who would like to change their method of delivery, or who would prefer to receive only the print or the email version, can let CCAP know of their preference by contacting PACountiesGR@pacounties.org.
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