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GENERAL ASSEMBLY RETURNS FOR FALL SEASON
The legislative summer recess is coming to an end, with the House scheduled to return to voting session on Sept. 17 and the Senate on Sept. 23.
Among other items expected to be on the legislative schedule, election reform legislation is back on the radar screen, with the House and Senate State Government Committees holding a joint informational meeting on Sept. 16 to discuss election issues and legislation. CCAP Elections Reform Committee co-chair and Snyder County commissioner Joe Kantz will be participating in the informal roundtable discussion, as will Tim Benyo, Lehigh County Chief Clerk of Elections and Voter Registration. Relatedly, counties are also awaiting further action on Gov. Wolf's request to the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority (PEDFA) to undertake a $90 million bond issue to partially reimburse county costs to replace voting systems.
Several bills important to counties also remain before the General Assembly. Among them is HB 787, which would require online hosting platforms such as Expedia and Travelocity to register with the state for the collection, reporting and payment of the state hotel tax. The bill comes on the heels of Act 109 of 2018, which requires online travel companies to pay hotel taxes directly to the state and counties for rooms rented through their platforms. House Bill 787 would ensure accurate information is provided to counties about all room rentals available online for collection enforcement and auditing purposes.
Counties also seek movement on legislation, specifically HB 456, to update sheriff fees, including those that support the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff Education and Training Account, which reimburses counties for the costs in sending sheriffs and deputy sheriffs to training. The fees overall have not been adjusted since 1995 and the training fee since 2000. The training fee's failure to keep pace with training costs led to a 2017 decision by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, on the recommendation of the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff Education and Training Board, to suspend reimbursements to counties after July 1 of that year. The long-term solution is to increase the surcharge to match the increase in training obligations and related costs.
Counties also support movement of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative 2, a comprehensive effort aimed at reducing the prison population through criminal justice reform, and then directing resources saved to the front end for alternatives that result in reduced recidivism. Senate Bills 500, 501 and 502 were unanimously approved by the Senate in June and are now before the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Other bills awaiting action include the remaining legislation in the assessment reform package developed by the Local Government Commission: SB 491/HB 1032 (adding two Certified Pennsylvania Evaluators to the State Real Board of Certified Real Estate Appraisers), SB 492/HB 1033 (CPE requirements for third party vendors) and SB 493/HB 1034 (building permit reform).
CCAP will continue to provide updates through the Bulletin, calls to action and on our Twitter feed, @PACountiesGR.
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SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL RECOVERY MONTH
September marks National Recovery Month, a time for individuals, families, groups, and organizations across the country to share their stories and raise awareness of substance use conditions, celebrate individuals in recovery, and acknowledge the work of prevention, treatment, and recovery support services.
In addition, the Pennsylvania Association of County Drug and Alcohol Administrators (PACDAA), a CCAP affiliate, will be hosting its fifth annual Recovery Advocacy Day at the state Capitol in Harrisburg on Sept. 24. A media event will be held in the Capitol rotunda at 2 p.m. that day with members of the recovery community, and will include remarks from several legislators. More information about the event can be found at www.pacdaa.org.
Preventing substance abuse has been a county priority for many years, as counties seek strong state and local partnerships, as well as increased capacity for prevention, intervention and treatment to effectively address substance abuse.
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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELEASES FUNDS TO FIGHT OPIOID CRISIS
As Gov. Wolf announced the seventh renewal of the state's opioid disaster declaration, Pennsylvania is also set to receive about $70 million in federal funds to continue its work to fight the opioid epidemic, as part of an overall $1.8 billion pot that will be distributed to states across the country.
Pennsylvania will receive $56 million in State Opioid Response Grants, which states can use toward treatment and prevention efforts, with the goal of helping states develop local solutions for this purpose. The commonwealth's funds will go to the Department of Health to fund treatment, prevention and providing naloxone to reverse overdoses. This is the third year such funds have been available, bringing Pennsylvania's total allocation to $141 million.
Another $900 million in new funding is available from the Centers for Disease Control for a three-year cooperative agreement with states, territories and localities to advance the understanding of the opioid overdose epidemic and to scale-up prevention and response activities, with $301 million released for the first year. Of this, the commonwealth will receive $8.5 million toward real-time tracking of overdoses, and Philadelphia will be separately allocated $5.9 million for real-time tracking.
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ONLINE ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION TO LAUNCH
Beginning on Sept. 16, Pennsylvania voters will have the opportunity to apply for an absentee ballot online at www.votesPA.com/ApplyAbsentee. Sept. 16 is also the first day to apply for absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 election.
When a voter completes an online application, the information will be forwarded directly to the voter's county elections office for processing. Under state law, registered voters may apply for an absentee ballot up until one week before an election (5 p.m. on Oct. 29 for the upcoming general election), and voters must still mail or hand-deliver their completed ballot to their county election office by the deadline, which is 5 p.m. on the Friday before the election (Nov. 1 for the upcoming general election).
The online application system is accessible to all domestic Pennsylvania voters, and will be available to military and overseas voters by 2020. Absentee ballots may be cast by individuals with illnesses or disabilities or who will be away from their municipalities on Election Day, and Pennsylvania students attending out-of-state colleges and universities.
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DOS RECERTIFIES VOTING SYSTEM
In response to a voter petition, the Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS) has re-examined the ES&S ExpressVote XL voting system and determined the system can be safely used to conduct elections in the commonwealth.
State law allows ten or more registered voters to petition the Secretary of the Commonwealth to reexamine any voting system. About 200 voters filed a petition in July seeking reconsideration of the state's approval of the ES&S system, a touch screen model producing a voter verifiable paper record. The petition alleged security flaws and noncompliance with certain Election Code requirements. Contractor SLI Compliance conducted the re-examination with DOS oversight, and as a result maintained the certification of the system for use in the commonwealth.
A full list of certified voting systems can be found at www.votespa.com by selecting New Voting Systems.
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CENSUS BUREAU TOOLKIT RELEASED
The U.S. Census Bureau has released a 2020 Census Toolkit for State and Local Officials
to provide local leaders with resources to help increase response rates to the Census, such as creating public advertising campaigns, accessing "hard to count" communities and responding to constituent inquiries.
With $900 billion in annual federal funding directed by decennial census results, an accurate and complete count is crucial to ensure federal support for counties. Counties can assist in this effort by organizing outreach efforts and utilizing resources like the toolkit to ensure an accurate count.
Additionally, Pennsylvania's 2020 Census Complete Count Commission is seeking volunteers to serve as part of its 1000 Champions effort. Champions will be point persons to help share information and promote participation in the Census. More information on the 2020 Commission and Census can be found at https://pennsylvaniacounts2020.info/.
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IFO RELEASES COUNTY INCOME TRENDS
In late August, the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released a report on county income patterns, analyzing population change, personal income growth and per capita figures to paint a picture of economic well-being at the county level.
From 2015 to 2017, Pennsylvania's population expanded at an average rate of 0.1% annually
. While the northern and western regions of the state generally recorded contractions, the southern and southeast regions recorded moderate gains. During the same time, nearly all Pennsylvania counties recorded personal income gains, although once adjusted for inflation, may not actually indicate real gains at a countywide level. For 2017, the statewide weighted personal average income per capita was around $53,000, ranging from around $35,800 to $77,500 across counties, with 16 counties recording per capita income levels below $40,000.
More specific information by county as well as the overall report can be found on the IFO website at www.ifo.state.pa.us/ under the Featured Releases heading.
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