Legislative Updates: A Weekly Roundup of Federal, State, and Local Actions – June 25

Your Chamber advocacy team is working to share legislative updates and continue to advocate for your business in Washington, D.C., Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. We’ve created a round-up of recent activity including Key Takeaways for Your Business and a Detailed Legislative Update. This represents our best knowledge of the situation as of 9:00 a.m. on Friday, June 25 , 2021.

To learn more about how our region is preparing for recovery, visit our Recharge & Recover PHL Information Hub:

• City Council passed a budget for the next year that restarts reductions to the wage tax that most small and medium-sized businesses pay. However, Council did not act on other much-needed policies to jump-start the city’s economic recovery.
• Mayor Kenney and City Council President Clarke announced the creation of a high-level working group that will study Philadelphia’s tax structure, with the goal of creating an action plan that supports an equitable, inclusive economic recovery of Philadelphia.
• Following City Council’s passage of a $5.2 billion FY2022 city budget, Mayor Kenney and City Council leaders on gun violence and public safety issued a joint statement about the process city officials will follow to determine which organizations receive funding to do this vital work in neighborhoods across Philadelphia.
• Philadelphia City Council approved legislation sponsored by Councilmember Johnson that provides workers at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL Airport) with increased wages, health care, and paid sick leave.
• Councilmember Richardson’s bill to require businesses to share a career pathways information sheet with employees passed Philadelphia City Council.
• City Councilmembers Gauthier and Quiñones Sánchez introduced the Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Overlay Bill, which aims to require that affordable housing be part of new large development projects.
• The Philadelphia Department of Public Health reported that 55.9% of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 70.4% of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
• Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole authored an open letter to Philadelphia warning of the COVID-19 Delta variant and recommending second dose vaccinations.

• At press time, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was wrapping up its budget negotiations for FY22.
• In February, Governor Wolf asked the General Assembly to increase state spending to $37.8 billion for FY22 – almost 18% or $6 billion more than this year’s General Fund budget of $33.1 billion.
• The FY22 budget is likely to be relatively flat with roughly $300 million additional dollars for public education and additional funding to expand tax credit programs that provide scholarships for students to attend private schools as well as some public schools.
• Governor Wolf had requested more than $1 billion in new education spending. In response to the pandemic, Pennsylvania school districts received more than $6 billion from the three federal stimulus packages.
• Legislators in Harrisburg have yet to decide how to spend the $7.3 billion in federal stimulus dollars they received this spring.
• Some tax credit programs have been advanced as part of the budget process, including a proposed sales tax exemption for major equipment purchases for data center projects and adjusting the thresholds for a business to be eligible for an existing state tax credit for methane-using industries.
• A full summary of Pennsylvania FY22 General Fund revenues will be provided on the Chamber’s website at chamberphl.com.
• Two 5G bills saw movement in the General Assembly with HB1621 passing in the House by a nearly unanimous vote and SB769 winning approval from the Senate on Tuesday. Governor Wolf is likely to support the measure.

Partnership for an Equitable Recovery

What should tax reform look like?

This week, City Council did two important things related to the city’s comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to address its status as the poorest big city in the country.

The first is that they passed a budget for the next year that restarts reductions to the wage tax that most small and medium sized businesses pay.  However, as we have related before, Council did not act on other much needed policies to jump start the city’s economic recovery. These policy changes are critical if this first step will have any real impact.

Which is why a second thing Council did today is encouraging.

As he promised he would do shortly before the budget vote, Council President Darrell L. Clarke announced that Council and the Mayor’s office would create “a high-level working group that will study Philadelphia’s tax structure, with the goal of creating an action plan that supports an equitable, inclusive economic recovery of Philadelphia.”  While important details about the new Philadelphia Tax Reform Working Group have not been released, its creation is an important recognition that tax policy impacts job development and that Philadelphia’s tax system isn’t working for its workers, business owners, or residents.

While it is certainly true, as Councilmember Maria Quiñones Sánchez stated when the new Working Group was announced, that “City Council and the administration have worked on these issues previously” there have been significant changes to our community and its priorities in recent years.  While there should be no question that job and business creation should be paramount — it is the only way to lift people out of poverty and is a proven element of any violence reduction plan — there are important questions about how our tax system should foster a more inclusive, equitable economy.

This sort of equitable growth has been a focus of the Chamber of Commerce for years — beginning with the announcement of its Roadmap for Growth, The Chamber of Commerce has been focused on what is required to have citywide growth and we expect to be actively engaged in the new Working Group.

As we learn more details about the new Working Group we will return to you often for updates and to gain your insight.

City Council Update

Philadelphia Tax Reform Working Group

Mayor Jim Kenney and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th District) announced the creation of a high-level working group that will study Philadelphia’s tax structure, with the goal of creating an action plan that supports an equitable, inclusive economic recovery of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Tax Reform Working Group will examine and propose changes to the city’s tax code to support an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic for every Philadelphia resident and business in the city. The action plan developed by this Working Group will inform and influence the creation of the FY2023 budget and five-year plan.

The mayor and Council President will appoint experts in municipal tax policy and stakeholders to the Working Group over the next several weeks.

In the 2000’s, the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission led an overhaul of Philadelphia’s business, wage, and real estate taxes to promote the growth of small businesses and family-sustaining jobs. The new effort will build on that work, along with other tax reforms implemented over the last decade.

Mayor and Council Provide Update on Process for Violence Prevention Funding

Following City Council’s passage of a $5.2 billion FY2022 city budget, Mayor Kenney and City Council leaders on gun violence and public safety issued a joint statement today about the process city officials will follow to determine which organizations receive funding to do this vital work in neighborhoods across Philadelphia.

According to the joint statement:

The Kenney administration and City Council are deepening their partnership on working together to combat the gun violence plaguing the City through the formation of a Violence Prevention and Opportunity Monitoring Group.

The group will include members of the administration and City Council, working together to improve transparency, accessibility, and accountability for violence prevention funding.  The group will advise, inform, and assist with messaging to ensure that community organizations with experience doing violence reduction work in neighborhoods are aware of potential grant and contracting opportunities and that they have effective technical assistance to navigate the application process.

The group will monitor the progress of programs selected for funding. Any organization that applies for and receives funding to do violence prevention work will be subject to the city’s standard contracting rules, regulations, and procedures.

Council Approves PHL Prevailing Wage Bill

Philadelphia City Council approved legislation sponsored by Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson (2nd District) that provides workers at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL Airport) with increased wages, healthcare, and paid sick leave.

Bill 210421A, known as The PHL Prevailing Wage bill, provides specific classification of PHL workers to receive up to $15.06 per hour, an additional $4.54 hourly wage supplement to obtain health insurance and up to 56 hours of paid sick leave annually, among other benefits.

The bill covers baggage and freight handlers and inspectors, cabin cleaners, passenger service agents, skycaps, wheelchair attendants, retail, food and beverage service workers, food preparation workers, and other airport service workers employed by an airline operating under a lease with the City of Philadelphia, or by a contractor for such an airline. The City of Philadelphia owns the PHL Airport. Airlines and other private businesses there operate under lease agreements with the city.

After hearing from small business owners at the airport and concerns from the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, Councilmember Johnson amended the bill before final passage.  The PHL Prevailing Wage Bill would become law once Kenney signs it, except for restaurant and retail workers, it will delay the wage standard until January 2022 and health standard until July 2023. Even after the bill becomes law, it will only apply to new leases, not existing leases, further staggering implementation.

In recognition of the increased costs imposed by the bill, City Council also approved today Councilmember Johnson’s Bill 210505, also dubbed as the MarketPlace bill.  MarketPlace PHL is the private partner with the City of Philadelphia in the redevelopment of the PHL Food and Shops program within the PHL Airport.

The MarketPlace bill authorizes continued financial relief to MarketPlace under its current lease at the PHL Airport, using federal relief funds provided directly to the Airport.  Johnson is committed to working with PHL Airport leadership to do an in-depth study of the economic impacts of the new prevailing wage requirements on small businesses and to explore other possible relief measures for airport businesses.

Workforce Development Bill 

Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson’s bill to require businesses to share a career pathways information sheet passed Philadelphia City Council.

The workforce development and career pathways information sheet bill requires employers to provide an information sheet listing skills development entities and other resources designed to help workers find gainful employment, created, and updated by the Department of Labor, to workers either at the start of employment for gig economy workers or at the point of separation for all other workers. The Chamber advocated for this requirement to be met electronically so as to not add any unnecessary cost to businesses.

Councilmembers Gauthier and Quinones Sanchez Mixed Income Overlay Bill 

City Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier and María Quiñones Sánchez today introduced the Mixed Income Neighborhoods Overlay Bill, which aims to require that affordable housing be part of new large development projects. This bill will apply to select tracts of the 3rd and 7th Districts that are seeing increased market pressures where Philadelphia residents will be especially vulnerable to displacement without additional policy interventions.

The bill would require 20% affordability in any new development with ten or more residential units within the overlay boundaries. 10% of total units would have to be on the property itself, while the other 10% could either be on site, within a half mile of the new building, or replaced by a payment to the Housing Trust Fund. The on-site units must be affordable for rental households earning up to 40% area median income (AMI), and for owner-occupied households earning up to 60% of AMI. Property owners would be entitled to additional development rights, such as additional building height or reduced parking requirements. These rights vary depending on the base zoning of the property.

The Philadelphia Zoning Code currently has a program that incentivizes property owners to build affordable housing, but it is optional and does not require new units to be built in the neighborhoods where development is occurring.

View the status of pending bills and resolutions »

View upcoming confirmed City Council meeting dates and agendas »

Mayor

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health today reported an additional 14,711 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Philadelphia since last reported on Thursday, June 17. This brings the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 693,885, and the number of Philadelphians with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to at least 874,278. Currently, 55.9% of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 70.4% of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The Department of Public Health reports 81 patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in Philadelphia hospitals, with a total of 14 on ventilators.

In the last two weeks, 1% of COVID-19 tests in Philadelphia have come back positive. Thus far during the pandemic, 144,784 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 3,722 have succumbed to the virus. Philadelphia is averaging 30 new cases of COVID-19 per day over the last two weeks.

Acting Health Commissioner Pens Open Letter to Philadelphia Warning of COVID-19 Delta Variant and Recommending Second Dose Vaccinations

In response to rapidly rising case counts of the new Delta variant in the United Kingdom, Acting Health Commissioner, Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, released an open letter to Philadelphians about the variant. No cases of the Delta variant have been found in Philadelphia. The Delta variant has been found to be more transmissible and more likely to hospitalize younger people. The best way to protect oneself against the Delta variant is by being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Questions? Contact William Carter (wcarter@chamberphl.com) for more information about local legislative affairs.

Budget Update

At press time, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was wrapping up its budget negotiations for FY22. In February, Governor Wolf asked the General Assembly to increase state spending to $37.8 billion for FY22 – almost 18% or $6 billion more than this year’s General Fund budget of $33.1 billion.

The FY22 budget is likely to be relatively flat with roughly $300 million additional dollars for public education and additional funding to expand tax credit programs that provide scholarships for students to attend private schools as well as some public schools. Governor Wolf had requested more than $1 billion in new education spending. In response to the pandemic, Pennsylvania school districts received more than $6 billion from the three federal stimulus packages.

Legislators in Harrisburg have yet to decide how to spend the $7.3 billion in federal stimulus dollars they received this spring. Republicans have expressed concern that economic forecasts over the next several years project a reduction in General Fund revenue. The state’s Independent Fiscal Office last month estimated the decline could be more than $2.5 billion once the federal stimulus dollars run out.

Some tax credit programs have been advanced as part of the budget process, including a proposed sales tax exemption for major equipment purchases for data center projects (similar to what has been proposed by House Bill 952 and Senate Bill 463) and adjusting the thresholds for a business to be eligible for an existing state tax credit for methane-using industries.

A full summary of Pennsylvania FY22 General Fund revenues will be provided on the Chamber’s website at chamberphl.com.

5G Bills Move in General Assembly

House Bill 1621, which would create a statewide process for the review and approval of applications to put small wireless facilities within the right-of-way on existing or new utility poles and municipal-owned poles passed the House by a vote of 198-3. A similar bill, Senate Bill 769 won approval from the Senate on Tuesday. Governor Wolf if likely to support the measure.

Questions? Contact Liz Ferry (lferry@chamberphl.com) for more information about state legislative affairs.

The constantly changing nature of this public health crisis requires continued engagement with public policy developments. We invite you to reach out to our advocacy team directly with your questions: 

• Anselm Sauter, Federal Affairs – asauter@chamberphl.com 
• Liz Ferry, State Affairs – lferry@chamberphl.com 
• William Carter, Local Affairs – wcarter@chamberphl.com 

To learn more about how our region is preparing for recovery, visit our Recharge & Recover PHL Information Hub: