by Jen Quinn
Here's your quarterly legislative update:
SB 596 (more electric vehicle charging stations)
This bill passed the Senate last Tuesday 43-6 with only the most conservative members voting 'no'. This is a big step in the right direction and a rare victory for us. It hasn't been referred to a House Committee yet, but there's a chance it will end up in Rep. Roae's Consumer Affairs Committee. He has been unwilling to move the community solar bill out of his committee so there's concern this bill could end up stuck, too. We'll be working on a strategy to move this bill forward in the House, and if Rep. Roae is your representative, feel free to reach out to him and express your support for SB 596.
HB 1100 (enormous tax credits for petrochemical industry)
After passing the House in September, this bill has been sitting in the Senate Finance Committee. It was, unfortunately, voted out of Committee recently and was sent to the Appropriations Committee. This bill could receive a final vote when the Senate returns in December. You can tell your State Senator to vote NO on this bill here.
Session Days
The Senate has finally cancelled two of the three days they had scheduled for December. They will be in Harrisburg December 18 for judicial confirmations.
And the House has cancelled three of their six session days for December. They'll be here December 16-18.
Politics
Also on Tuesday of last week, Sen. Yudichak from Luzerne County announced he was changing his party registration from Democrat to Independent and that he will be caucusing with Republicans. Now, instead of 22 Democrats in the Senate, we have 21, which makes it even harder to gain a majority in the Senate during the next election. Yudichak was also minority chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, so there will be a replacement coming soon.
To learn more about legislation we are following, please visit our Legislative Tracker. If you would like to stay up-to-date on our legislative efforts, join our email list here.