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U.S. HOUSE PASSES BILL TO STRENGTHEN REVIEW OF UNFUNDED MANDATES
Federal legislation to improve the requirements of the Unfunded Mandates and Reform Act recently saw movement in Congress, approved by the U.S. House by a 230-168 vote.
The underlying law limits the imposition of unfunded federal mandates through legislation on state and local governments. H.R. 50, sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) would strengthen the required analyses of pending legislation and set criteria to guide federal agencies to properly analyze the effects of federal regulatory actions on state and local governments. In addition, the legislation requires federal agencies to include consultation activities with state and local governments in their annual compliance statements. The chair or ranking member of any standing or select committee would also be permitted to request a lookback of regulations to evaluate their financial impact.
NACo, as part of a coalition of national organizations representing state and local government, sent a letter of support for H.R. 50 to the chairs of the House and Senate standing committees of jurisdiction in March, noting that monitoring federal regulations and planning for unfunded mandates continues to be one of the most pressing issues for state and local leaders.
Mandate reform is also a top priority in 2018 for Pennsylvania counties, who seek to re-engage the state and federal government in understanding the state-county partnership in service delivery. At the same time, counties call for a commitment to work together at all levels of government to assure new or expanded programs reflect state and/or federal financial commitment and mutual determination of its scope, objectives and administration.
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OPIOID PRESCRIBING GUIDELINES RELEASED FOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION
The Wolf Administration announced on July 16 new opioid prescribing guidelines for workers' compensation.
The guidelines were developed by the Safe and Effective Prescribing Practices Task Force, convened by the Department of Health and Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, which includes state agencies, representatives from medical associations, provider advocates and community members. The guidelines are designed to help health care providers determine when opioids are appropriate for treatment of someone injured on the job, including recommendations for the treatment of acute, subacute and post-operative pain, and treatment of chronic pain. In addition, they are designed to be used in conjunction with other treatment guidelines rather than in lieu of other recommended treatments. Earlier in the spring, the Governor had vetoed SB 936, which would have created a state list of all prescribed drugs injured workers could receive under the Workers' Compensation Act.
Ten other prescribing guidelines were previously released for health care providers, including guidelines for emergency departments, dental practices, orthopedics and sports medicine and pediatric and adolescent populations. All of these guidelines can be found at www.health.pa.gov under Opioid Epidemic.
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PCYA TESTIFIES ON CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE LEGISLATION
Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators Association (PCYA) executive director Brian Bornman testified before the House Children and Youth Committee on June 19 on HB 1311, which seeks to create an Office of the Children's Advocate under the purview of the state Attorney General's office.
Bornman noted that there are beneficial elements of the legislation, offered by Rep. Scott Petri (R-Bucks, resigned), and 36 states have some version of a children's advocate or ombudsman. However, in Pennsylvania, counties, rather than the state, provide child welfare services, and an individual who has a complaint about treatment at the county level can already file a complaint with the Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) within the Department of Human Services. OCYF can then conduct its own investigations and issue citations against the county. For that reason, Bornman told the committee that PCYA believes another independent office of children's advocate would be redundant and create another layer of uncertainty for families within the system.
To read PCYA's full testimony on HB 1311, go to www.pacounties.org and click Legislative Action Center, followed by Legislative Testimony.
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LAND BANK FLEXIBILITY ENACTED
Gov. Wolf signed SB 667 into law as Act 33 of 2018 in mid-June to provide counties with additional resources to help combat blight.
Since 2012, counties have had the ability to establish land banks, a tool that enables communities to address blighted, tax-delinquent properties. Act 33, originally sponsored by Sen. Pat Stefano (R-Fayette), allows redevelopment authorities to have some of the key powers that are already available to land banks, such as the ability to acquire properties held by a tax claim bureau. This will be especially helpful to those communities that do not have land banks but do have active redevelopment authorities engaged in blight elimination initiatives, without requiring a county to establish and staff a separate land bank board to use these tools.
Act 33 does nothing to inhibit the powers of land banks or the ability of a community to use both a land bank and a redevelopment authority to deal with blight, which is presently the case in several counties across the commonwealth. Rather, the legislation simply provides more local flexibility for counties to craft innovative solutions to eliminate blight and improve local communities, and will help counties effectively use limited resources to that end.
The law takes effect 60 days after its June 18 signing.
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PACE PROGRAMS AUTHORIZED FOR CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS
Gov. Wolf signed SB 234,
sponsored by Sen. John Blake (D-Lackawanna) into law as Act 30 of 2018 in mid-June, to allow counties, as well as municipalities with community and economic development departments, to establish a commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program. PACE programs are designed to assist agricultural, commercial and industrial property owners with financing energy efficiency, water conservation and renewable energy projects and upgrades. Working with private investors, property owners would be able to pay for the project by recording the financial obligation as a lien against the property while it is collected over time through the property tax collection process. Act 30 does not permit PACE programs for residential properties.
Act 30 takes effect 60 days following its June 12 signing.
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HOUSE PANEL ADVANCES COUNTY CODE REWRITE
Legislation that will update and combine the County Code and Second Class County Code into a single, comprehensive statute continued to move through the House during June with consideration by the House Local Government Committee.
Senate Bill 1005
, introduced by former CCAP member Sen. John Eichelberger, is the result of a multi-year effort, coordinated by the Local Government Commission, to bring counties' core statutes governing county operations, enacted in the 1950s, up to date with current need and practice. Although most changes are of a technical or conforming nature, it also makes substantive changes to the extent needed to incorporate case law or to delete obsolete language. The final product reflects the collaborative partnership and thoughtful input of both the legislature and local government partners.
The House Local Government Committee unanimously adopted two amendments offered by committee chair Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery).
One was simply a technical amendment, while the other amendment addresses how and when flags provided by counties are placed on veterans' graves, and allows family members to claim the flags at the end of the season. Still at issue is a draft provision that would require flags to remain until Veterans Day, compared to Independence Day, a matter that will be discussed among stakeholders before the General Assembly returns for its fall session days.
As amended, SB 1005 was reported from committee with one negative vote.
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PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON OVERTIME REGULATIONS EXTENDED
The state Department of Labor and Industry has extended the deadline for public comment related to its proposed regulations that increase the salary level used to determine overtime eligibility over the next four years, from July 23 to Aug. 22, 2018. CCAP has developed a sample letter for counties who wish to comment on the potential impacts of the proposed rule, which is available on CCAP's Legislative Action Center. The proposed regulations can be found at www.irrc.state.pa.us by searching IRRC number 3203.
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ACTS AFFECTING COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Concurrent with the passage of the state budget in late June, the General Assembly sent a number of legislative bills to the Governor's desk to be signed into law. A list of new acts affecting government, including the bill's number, the date the bill was signed and a brief summary, is available on CCAP's Legislative Action Center.
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VOTING MATTERS
Soon each CCAP member will be emailed a voting matters packet with items to be considered at the Tuesday business meeting of the upcoming CCAP Annual Conference at the Wyndham Gettysburg and Gateway Campus in Adams County. The agenda packet will include proposed policy resolutions, along with information on officer elections and site selection for the 2023 Annual Conference. The resolutions will be deliberated during the conference and then submitted by electronic ballot to the full CCAP membership within 10 days of the conclusion of the Conference for final adoption.
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