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, September 24, 2021.

Chamber members are invited to join weekly legislative update calls hosted by our Advocacy team to hear the latest on COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts at the federal, state, and local level as well as other legislative matters concerning our community.

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

Visit the Recharge & Recover PHL Information Hub

KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Local

  • The Philadelphia Department of Public Health today reported the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 856,648, and the number of Philadelphians with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to at least 1,040,008.
  • On August 13, the City announced that all health-care workers in Philadelphia were mandated to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 15. For more information on the health-care worker mandate, see the Health Department’s blog here.
  • On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the City Council Committee on Public Safety unanimously approved Bill 210636, Councilmember Thomas’ “Driving Equality Bill” aimed at reducing racial disparities in traffic stops.
  • At Thursday’s Council session, Council used a consent agenda to approve several resolutions on the Final Passage calendar. Of note, Councilmember Green’s resolution to continue the Philadelphia Hospitality Improvement Levy District and Councilman Jones’ resolution recognizing October 4-8, 2021, as Philadelphia Minority Enterprise Development Week (MED) were both approved.
  • Councilmember Parker introduced a bill that would create a license requirement for sheet metal contractors and amend requirements for sheet metal systems technicians.
  • In other news, Councilmember Jones introduced a resolution calling for hearings to explore ways HBCU’s (Cheyney and Lincoln) can provide courses or degree programs that would act as feeder programs for the Philadelphia Police Department in an effort to diversify the police force.
  • City Council and the Mayor’s Tax Reform Working Group has been empaneled and will begin meeting next week. Chamber Chair, Sue Jacobson, is a member of the group that also consists of both Administration staff and five Council members, as well as business and civic leaders appointed by each entity.
  • Council President Clarke proposed a Charter Change that would overhaul the Philly Zoning Board, known formally as the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA), the agency charged with reviewing and approving zoning and variance requests.
  • With the school facilities crisis back in the news, Councilmembers introduced resolutions to hold public hearings on the history of asbestos cleanup and abatement practices in Philadelphia public schools, and on a plan to fund comprehensive remediation of school buildings and adapt to changing climate.
  • In response to a recent report from Pew Charitable Trusts regarding the tangled title issue in Philadelphia, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson introduced a bill (Bill 210671) requiring certain businesses or professions to provide disclosures regarding tangled titles and a resolution to hold public hearings on tangled titles.
  • As gun violence continues to ravage certain neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Councilmember Jones introduced a resolution to hold public hearings on public safety, and Councilmember Parker introduced a resolution to hold hearings on the relationship between public safety and the economic vitality of commercial corridors.
  • [Virtual] Addressing Gun Violence & Inclusive Business Growth: A Roadmap for Growth Issue Forum
    Thursday, September 30, 2021 | 5:30 P.M. – 6:30 P.M.

State

  • Last week, Governor Tom Wolf proposed new charter school regulations to Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law (details below). All interested stakeholders should submit comments at RA-EDCharterRegs@pa.gov. Following the public comment period, the department will update the proposals and submit a final version of the regulations to IRRC for the last step in the state’s regulatory review process. The Wolf Administration expects the regulations to take effect before 2023.
  • Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee members expressed concern about uncollected tolls along the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a hearing this week. Turnpike Commission officials said the agency lost $104 million in revenue last year to uncollected tolls as the all-electronic tolling system went into effect.
  • On Wednesday, Governor Tom Wolf announced the Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan 2021 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as address the impact of climate change. In 2019, Governor Wolf set Pennsylvania’s first greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals: a 26% reduction by 2025 and an 80% reduction by 2050, compared to 2005 baseline levels. The Governor said that switching electricity generation to renewable and nuclear energy sources, increasing industrial energy efficiency and fuel switching, and increasing use of electric vehicles offer the greatest potential for reaching the 2050 goal.  For the complete Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan 2021 visit www.dep.pa.gov/climate.
  • [Virtual] State Advocacy Update with Representative Matt Bradford
    Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | 9:30 A.M. – 10:30 A.M.

Federal

  • This week, the House attempted to avert a government shutdown at the end of this month by passing a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government at current FY2021 levels through December 3.  The CR would provide an additional $28.6 billion in hurricane disaster relief and $6.3 billion in funding for Afghan refugees. The CR also includes an increase to the U.S. Treasury’s borrowing cap or “debt-ceiling” to keep the government from defaulting on its debt before the final week of October.  Senate Republicans are united in their opposition to helping Democrats lift the debt-ceiling arguing for months that Democrats have the power to attach the debt-ceiling increase to their single-party pursuit of a $3.5 trillion spending package through budget reconciliation.
  • The House has not voted on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that would create $550 billion in new spending and reauthorize surface transportation spending programs that are set to expire at the end of this month.

DETAILED LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Local: Updates from Philadelphia’s City Hall

Update: Partnership for Inclusive Growth

Last week, Council returned for its first session since its three-month summer break with a full agenda.

Council introduced a plan to borrow $400 million “to increase funding for a variety of existing programs aimed at improving housing stability and reviving commercial corridors” according to the Inquirer.  More detail regarding the need to borrow to fund these programs, outside the money that has come from federal COVID-19 related funds will undoubtedly be discussed at the yet-to-be-scheduled hearings on the proposals.

In any event, it is this type of big picture public policy discussions our city should be having as the world continues to struggle with COVID-19 and how best to rebound from its depths. From critical decisions about how to reduce the violence that plagues the city, how to help struggling students and schools, and how the required redistricting will impact certain communities going forward – there are many important debates that will happen this fall.

But perhaps no debate is more important to the city’s future than the one expected to happen with the Tax Reform Working Group, which was created after Council failed to approve tax cuts to spur business growth that had been proposed by Mayor Kenney.

This is at least the third effort to review Philadelphia’s tax structure in recent years as part of an overall effort to reduce the number of people in poverty by increasing the number of good paying jobs.

The Working Group will be meeting soon – although its full membership hasn’t been publicly announced-but our chair, Sue Jacobson, has been tapped to be a member and we will be heavily engaged in its work.

COVID-19 Update

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health today reported an additional 8,121 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Philadelphia since last reported on Monday, September 20. This brings the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 856,648, and the number of Philadelphians with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to at least 1,040,008. Currently, 69% of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 83.7% of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The Department of Health reports 216 patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in Philadelphia hospitals, with a total of 30 on ventilators.

In the last two weeks, 4% of COVID-19 tests in Philadelphia have come back positive. Thus far during the pandemic, 160,340 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 3,857 have succumbed to the virus. Philadelphia is averaging 280 new cases of COVID-19 per day over the last two weeks.

On August 13, the City announced that all health-care workers in Philadelphia were mandated to be vaccinated against COVID by October 15. People who get their first dose of Pfizer by Friday, September 24 will be able to get their second dose by the deadline. People who get the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be able to make the deadline. Health-care workers, and everyone else in Philadelphia, can find the closest vaccine site today by visiting phila.gov/vaccine. For more information on the health-care worker mandate, see the Health Department’s blog here.

Approved Weekend Street Closures for Outdoor Dining (September 24-26):

In June 2020, the City launched four new options for restaurants to operate outdoor dining in order to earn much needed revenue. To see this weekend’s approved street closures, view this blog. Vehicular traffic should avoid these streets.

COVID-19 Resources:

 City Council Update

  • Driving Equality Bill
    • On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the City Council Committee on Public Safety unanimously approved Bill 210636, Councilmember Thomas’ “Driving Equality Bill” aimed at reducing racial disparities in traffic stops.
    • This bill reclassifies eight traffic violations into “secondary” violations and prohibits police officers from conducting traffic stops for secondary offences unless a “primary” violation such as speeding, running a red light or stop sign, or suspected DUI, has also occurred. The eight “secondary” violations include driving an unregistered vehicle, having a hidden registration plate, broken taillight or headlight, bumper issues, driving without an inspection or emissions sticker, loud muffler, and minor obstruction. The bill was reported out of Committee and had a First Reading in City Council on Thursday, September 23, 2021, and will be considered for Final Passage on Thursday, September 30, 2021.
  • Resolutions of Note
    • At Thursday’s Council session, Council used a consent agenda to approve several resolutions on the Final Passage calendar. Of note, Councilmember Green’s resolution to continue the Philadelphia Hospitality Improvement Levy District and Councilman Jones’ resolution recognizing October 4-8, 2021, as Philadelphia Minority Enterprise Development Week (MED) were both approved.
  • Sheet Metal License
    • Councilmember Parker introduced a bill that would create a license requirement for sheet metal contractors and amend requirements for sheet metal systems technicians. On its face, it appears that Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 is the catalyst for this new legislation. As you may recall, City Council passed a bill in early 2019 that required licensed technicians to regularly inspect fire-prevention devices, including fire dampers. At that time, the work mandated by fire damper inspection bill was expected to go to members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 19, a politically influential labor union that provides training for licenses.
  • Police Force Diversity
    • In other news, Councilmember Jones introduced a resolution calling for hearings to explore ways HBCU’s (Cheyney and Lincoln) can provide courses or degree programs that would act as feeder programs for the Philadelphia Police Department in an effort to diversity the police force.
  • Tax Fairness Working Group
    • City Council and the Mayor’s Tax Reform Working Group has been empaneled and will begin meeting next week. Chamber Chair, Sue Jacobson is a member of the group that also consists of both Administration staff and five Council members, as well as business and civic leaders appointed by each entity.
    • With the creation of the new Working Group BIRT tax reduction among other tax issues will be front and center this Fall.
  • ZBA Changes
    • Council President Clarke proposed a Charter Change that would overhaul of the Philly Zoning Board, known formally as the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA), the agency charged with reviewing and approving zoning and variance requests. According to Council President Clarke, “[t]he board has flagrantly violated the law by granting zoning variances without any demonstration of hardship by the developer,” Clarke wrote in the letter. “Far too often, the board is condescending to the community and dismissive of legitimate issues raised by neighbors.” If approved by City voters, Clarke’s bill would expand the ZBA to seven members (up from five currently) and would require two of the seats to go to community members and require City Council sign-off on the Mayor’s appointees.
  • School Facilities Crisis
    • With the school facilities crisis back in the news, Councilmembers introduced resolutions to hold public hearings on the history of asbestos cleanup and abatement practices in Philadelphia public schools, and on a plan to fund comprehensive remediation of school buildings and adapt to changing climate.
  • Tangled Titles
    • In response to a recent report from Pew Charitable Trusts regarding the tangled title issue in Philadelphia, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson introduce a bill (Bill 210671) requiring certain businesses or professions to provide disclosures regarding tangled titles and a resolution to hold public hearings on tangled titles.
  • Public Safety
    • As gun violence continues to ravage certain neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Councilmember Jones introduced a resolution to hold public hearings on public safety, and Councilmember Parker introduced a resolution to hold hearings on the relationship between public safety and the economic vitality of commercial corridors.
  • City Council returned to session on Friday, September 17, 2021, a day later than originally scheduled due to the Yom Kippur holiday. At the first meeting following summer recess, Councilmembers introduced a number of resolutions authorizing hearings on tangles titles, public safety, and the school facilities crisis playing out in schools across the city.

Upcoming Event

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

State: Updates from Harrisburg

Gov. Wolf Proposes Charter School Regulations

Governor Tom Wolf proposed new charter school regulations to Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law. They include:

  1. Charter school applications requirement: Establishes requirements for applications to open a charter school, allowing school districts authorizing brick and mortar charter schools and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) authorizing cyber charter schools to hold the schools to high academic, fiscal, and administrative standards, ensures charter schools will equitably serve all students; and provides consistent application expectations.
  2. Non-discriminatory enrollment policies: Requires charter schools to post their non-discrimination enrollment policy on their website and in the student application so families and taxpayers know how admission preferences are considered and weighted.
  3. Boards of Trustees ethics standards: Clarifies that charter school trustees are subject to the state’s Public Official and Employee Ethics Act, addresses conflicts of interest, and sets penalties for violations. The same requirements already apply to school districts.
  4. Financial and auditing standards: Requires charter schools to use common accounting principles and auditing standards as school districts already do. This will make reviewing annual reporters and financial records easier for school districts and PDE.
  5. Redirection process clarification: Outlines the process to reconcile disputes over school district payments to charter schools for student tuition.
  6. Charter school employee health-care benefits parity: Ensures charter school staff have adequate health-care. The charter school law requires charter schools provide the same health-care benefits as the authorizing school district. The regulation clarifies that when a charter school serves more than one school district, the school district in which the charter school’s administrative office is located is the district of comparison.

The Department of Education has submitted the proposed charter school regulations to the General Assembly, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) and the Legislative Reference Bureau. The package was published in the PA Bulletin on September 18, which starts a 30-day public comment period that closes October 18. The department encourages all interested parties to submit comments at RA-EDCharterRegs@pa.gov. Following the public comment period, the department will update the proposals and submit a final version of the regulations to IRRC for the last step in the state’s regulatory review process. The Wolf Administration expects the regulations to take effect before 2023.

All-Electronic Tolling Results in Lost Revenue for Turnpike

Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee members expressed concern about uncollected tolls along the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a hearing this week. Turnpike Commission officials said the agency lost $104 million in revenue last year to uncollected tolls as the all-electronic tolling system went into effect.

Roughly 11 million of some 170 million Turnpike rides failed to generate revenue as motorists without E-ZPass didn’t have their license plates recorded for billing by a license camera system.

According to the Commission, the turnpike has a 93% toll collection rate. It is currently looking for new methods and technology to improve its electronic toll collection system. The commission employs a debt collection agency and has authority under a 2017 law to file private theft-of-services complaints with county prosecutors for scofflaws who owe at least $2,000 in unpaid tolls.

Wolf Administration Announces Climate Plan

On Wednesday, Governor Tom Wolf announced the Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan 2021 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as address the impact of climate change.

In 2019, Governor Wolf set Pennsylvania’s first greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals: a 26% reduction by 2025 and an 80% reduction by 2050, compared to 2005 baseline levels. The Governor said that switching electricity generation to renewable and nuclear energy sources, increasing industrial energy efficiency and fuel switching, and increasing use of electric vehicles offer the greatest potential for reaching the 2050 goal.  The plan includes the following proposals:

  • Joining 11 other Northeast states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
  • Requiring commercial buildings to meet higher energy efficiency standards
  • Increasing use of electric vehicles
  • Increasing the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards to require electricity generators to get more of their energy from clean renewable sources
  • Increasing the energy savings requirements for electric distribution companies
  • Requiring gas utilities to meet similar energy savings requirements
  • Increasing capture of biogenic methane from non-fossil sources, including animal manure, food waste, and landfill gas, for use in by commercial and industrial properties.

See the complete Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan 2021.

Upcoming Event

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

Federal: Updates from Washington D.C.

This week, the House attempted to avert a government shutdown at the end of this month by passing a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government at current FY2021 levels through December 3.  The CR would provide an additional $28.6 billion in hurricane disaster relief and $6.3 billion in funding for Afghan refugees. The CR also includes an increase to the U.S. Treasury’s borrowing cap or “debt-ceiling” to keep the government from defaulting on its debt before the final week of October.  Senate Republicans are united in their opposition to helping Democrats lift the debt-ceiling arguing for months that Democrats have the power to attach the debt-ceiling increase to their single-party pursuit of a $3.5 trillion spending package through budget reconciliation. The strong opposition from Senate Republicans means the bill will surely fail in the Senate at the beginning of next week. Therefore, Democrats will have the remaining three days of the month to consider passing the CR without a debt limit increase or risk a government shutdown on October 1.

The House has not voted on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that would create $550 billion in new spending and reauthorize surface transportation spending programs that are set to expire at the end of this month.  Even though the Senate sent the bill to the House last month with a strong bipartisan margin, Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not call a floor vote on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act until a broader $3.5 trillion social spending package could be hammered out and brought simultaneously to the floor.  This move was at the demand of the House Progressive Caucus that has warned that they will not vote to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by itself and without broader progressive spending priorities.

However, due to pressure from House moderates threatening not provide the votes necessary to kickstart the Budget Reconciliation process, Speaker Pelosi pledged in August to run the infrastructure bill next week while laying out a timeline to bring an accompanying multi-trillion social spending plan to the floor during the same week. House leadership has said publicly this week that it remains on schedule to run the narrow infrastructure bill, but prospects are dim that an accompanying reconciliation package – called the Build Back Better Act – will be ready in time. House Progressives say they have the votes to stop the bill from passage without a deal on the Build Back Better Act.

Currently, there is no consensus within the Democratic party on topline spending and key provisions of the Build Back Better Act. House leadership has committed not to force a vote on a bill that will subsequently fail pass in the Senate.  Despite the effort to draft the Build Back Better Act, its is very apparent to Congressional Democrats that the votes are not there.  The President and Congressional Democrats leaders are furiously attempting to find compromise in their party to win the support from both fringes of their party by next week.  The fate of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and quite possibly the Build Back Better Act hangs in the balance.

Questions? Contact Anselm Sauter (asauter@chamberphl.com) for more information about federal legislative affairs.

WE’RE HERE FOR YOU, YOUR TEAM, AND YOUR BUSINESS

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: 

Chamber members are invited to join weekly legislative update calls hosted by our Advocacy team to hear the latest on COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts at the federal, state, and local level as well as other legislative matters concerning our community.

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

Visit the Recharge & Recover PHL Information Hub