Legislative Updates: A Weekly Roundup of Federal, State, and Local Actions – July 2

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, July 2, 2021.

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

• City Council recessed for the summer on Thursday, June 24, 2021 and will return on Thursday, September 16, 2021.
• Thursday, July 1 marks the new fiscal year for the City of Philadelphia. Many of these investments were possible because of the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan (ARP). As part of the budget, the city will dedicate more than $150 million this coming fiscal year to reduce violence.
• PHLpreK will grow with 700 new slots (to 4,000 this school year), and services at Community Schools will expand to include case management support.
• The Five Year Plan also calls for a quarter of a billion dollars for the Community College of Philadelphia, with $54 million dedicated to the Octavius Catto Scholarship. This initiative will enable 5,000 first-time, full-time, students to attend college tuition-free, as well as receive food, books, and transportation stipends.
• The Five Year Plan envisions a return of teachers and students to classrooms, with $1.38 billion in funding for the School District of Philadelphia. This is on top of the $1.3 billion that the District will receive through the American Rescue Plan.
• The budget includes a wage tax reduction for residents to the lowest level in 50 years.
• The plan sets aside $50 million for COVID-19 containment, as part of a $75 million Reopening and Recession Reserve. The City will also invest $250,000 to develop a citywide strategy to improve racial equity in health outcomes.
• The Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban was originally passed by City Council in December 2019 and was implemented on July 1, 2021.
• The Department of Commerce’s Office of Business Services is launching “Zoom With Us,” virtual one-on-one business support sessions to help Philadelphia businesses plan, launch, manage, and grow.
• Business Services Managers will now be available for one-on-one assistance every second and fourth Monday of the month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Business owners can safely receive virtual, personalized assistance using a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

• Pennsylvania’s General Fund budget will spend $39.78 billion, a 24% increase in spending compared to the FY2020-21 budget that was adopted in late November 2020.
• A significant portion of the $7.3 billion in federal ARPA funds will be kept in reserve to be prepared for an expected contraction of the state’s economy. Members are likely to continue discussions about how to spend those dollars in the fall.
• Discretionary spending on the state’s education system will increase basic education funding by $300 million, or 4.4%.
• The state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit will increase by $40 million, or 22%.
• A total of $279 million in federal relief will be earmarked for transportation infrastructure by the state budget.
• The budget also ends overtime regulations imposed by Gov. Wolf.

• Last week, a group of 21 Democratic and Republican senators reached an agreement with the President on a $579 billion infrastructure spending package. The agreement includes $312 billion for roads, bridges, transit, and passenger and freight rail; and an additional $266 billion in spending on water, broadband, and environmental remediation.
• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that the U.S. House of Representatives will not bring the bipartisan infrastructure framework to the floor without seeing the larger reconciliation bill first.  Bicameral votes on both measures are expected to come this September.
• On Thursday, House Democrats approved a $715 billion surface transportation authorization and water infrastructure bill, which may also serve as a third vehicle for policy changes and increased spending that could be merged into the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure framework.

City Council

City Council recessed for the summer on Thursday, June 24, 2021 and will return on Thursday, September 16, 2021.

City Covid-19 Update

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health reported an additional 13,633 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Philadelphia since last reported on Thursday, June 24. This brings the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 709,947, and the number of Philadelphians with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to at least 886,900. Currently, 57.2% of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 71.4& of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Department of Public Health reports 67 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, 145,037 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 3,739 have succumbed to the virus. Philadelphia is averaging 24 new cases of COVID-19 per day over the last two weeks.

FY’22 Budget Update

Thursday, July 1 marks the new fiscal year for the City of Philadelphia. Many of these investments were possible because of the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan (ARP).

Here’s what you need to know about this year’s budget:

Public Safety

The City will dedicate more than $150 million this coming fiscal year to reduce violence through an array of strategies focused on:

• Community empowerment.
• Employment and careers.
• Prevention.
• Safe havens for children and youth.

Between existing, new, and expanded programs originally proposed back in April, as well as additional resources added, $155.7 million will be invested to reduce and prevent violence.

This does not include educational and anti-poverty investments nor traditional economic development activities

Within the $155.7 million investment; is:

• $20 million for a new Community Grants initiative with Philadelphia City Council.
• $1.5 million for two Youth Evening Reporting Centers.
• $5.6 million for the Commerce Department.

For a total of $27.1 million, which both the administration and City Council agreed to.

The $155.7 million also includes the Administration’s originally proposed $18 million in new anti-violence investments as well as more funds for the Office of Workforce Development, Parks and Rec, and the Free Library.

The City broadened its definition of what constitutes violence prevention to better reflect the array of services that play a part in the City’s violence prevention strategy.

In addition, $30 million will fund:

• $13.3 million for 911 Triage/Co-Responders & Mobile Crisis Units.
• $10.1 million for restorations to Parks & Recreation and the Free Library budgets.
• $3.5 million for a transitional jobs program and the Office of Workforce Development.
• $1.3 million for Roadmap Community Response.
• $1.3 million for Group Violence Intervention and Community Crisis Intervention Program expansions.
• $500,000 more for the City’s existing Targeted Community Investment Grants program.
• $130,000 for L&I Demolitions in Operation Pinpoint areas.
• $125,000 for the Office of Violence Prevention.

There’s also $11 million in rollover funds for programs that did not start in FY21 that will be available in FY22. This brings the new FY22 anti-violence spending total to $68 million. 

Education

The Plan expands the city’s commitment to improving education from preschool to college.

PHLpreK will grow with 700 new slots (to 4,000 this school year), and services at Community Schools will expand to include case management support.

The Five Year Plan also calls for a quarter of a billion dollars for the Community College of Philadelphia, with $54 million dedicated to the Octavius Catto Scholarship. This initiative will enable 5,000 first-time, full-time, students to attend college tuition-free, as well as receive food, books, and transportation stipends.

The Five Year Plan envisions a return of teachers and students to classrooms, with $1.38 billion in funding for the School District of Philadelphia. This is on top of the $1.3 billion that the District will receive through the American Rescue Plan.

Inclusive Economic Recovery and Growth

The budget includes a wage tax reduction for residents to the lowest level in 50 years. In addition to maintaining the existing funding for the Commerce Department’s work to help drive the local economy’s economic recovery, the FY22 budget includes $300,000 for new grants for small business storefronts and security, $3 million for workforce development, and more than $5 million in new funding for staff and programs to further support the city’s business community.

The budget also restores $150,000 for the “Color Me Back Same Day Pay” program, $1.5 million in adult education programs, and $170,000 for digital equity initiatives.

Additionally, in the Capital program, the city earmarked $20 million dollars toward economic development projects like the I-95 Cap, Schuylkill River Development Corporation’s Christian to Crescent, and East Market and Neighborhood Commercial Center improvement projects.

Health and Housing

The plan adds $12.9 million for shelter beds for Philadelphia’s unsheltered population, to replace one-time federal dollars.

The plan sets aside $50 million for COVID-19 containment, as part of a $75 million Reopening and Recession Reserve. The city will also invest $250,000 to develop a citywide strategy to improve racial equity in health outcomes.

To continue the city’s battle against the scourge of opioids, the plan allocates $400,000 for opioid treatment, and $500,000 for the Opioid Response Unit, the multi-departmental effort to address the opioid epidemic.

Improving quality of life in neighborhoods 

This year’s budget also includes funding to restore summer programming such as camps, sports, jobs for young people and reopen pools. In addition, the City’s Rebuild initiative, which invests in improvements to the city’s public spaces such as recreation centers and libraries, plans to break ground on five project sites and cut the ribbon on five other project sites this summer.

Of those sites, eight include renovations to recreation centers.

The Capital Program includes $317 million over six years in street paving, reconstruction, and ADA curb ramps. This is the largest single-year investment in the city’s history.

The plan provides $300,000 in additional funding for storefront improvement and security grants for commercial corridors.

$7 million is available for the “PHL Taking Care of Business Corridor Cleaning” program.

Additional investments in Philadelphia’s shared public spaces include $1.8 million to restore five-day service at libraries and $3.7 million to restore recreation centers hours and reopen pools.

Other significant capital projects over the next six years include Citywide Technology Improvements and Enhancements ($136.8 million), FDR Park Master Plan Improvements ($50 million), and Neighborhood Commercial Centers ($26.5 million).

Single Use Plastic Bag Ban

The Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban was originally passed by City Council in December 2019 and was implemented on July 1, 2021.

To assist businesses through this transition, the city is providing a variety of resources, all of which are available on a new webpage at phila.gov/plastic-bag-ban.

Resources available include signage—in multiple languages—that businesses can download, print, and hang at points of sale as well as a flyer that answers frequently asked questions about the ban.

In addition, beginning in April 2021, the city held three separate virtual business information sessions that are available to watch online.

Though the ban will be implemented beginning July 1, there will be a nine-month awareness, education, and warning period before full enforcement begins in order to provide businesses time to prepare and comply with the law. 

The legislation prohibits commercial businesses from providing on-site or with a delivery:

• All single-use plastic bags. This includes all those created through a “blown film extrusion” process or bags that are less than 2.25 mils thick. (The blown film extrusion process is the primary way that all plastic bags that use plastic film are created, regardless of the thickness of the plastic. Therefore, this legislation bans ALL bags we commonly refer to as single-use plastic bags, no matter their thickness.)
• Bags made from PLA (polylactic acid) created through a blown film extrusion process.
• Any paper bag that does not contain at least 40% recycled content and does not meet the labeling criteria set in the legislation.

Retail establishments will still be permitted to provide:

 Reusable bags:

• Made of nylon, cotton, cloth, polyester, or another machine washable fabric that are specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuses.
• Reusable plastic bags that are not created through blown film extrusion, are more than 2.25 mils thick and are specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuses.

Paper bags that:

• Contain a minimum of 40% post-consumer recycled content
• Contain no old-growth fiber.
• Display the word “Recyclable” or “Recycled Content” in a highly visible manner and are labeled with the name of the manufacturer and the percentage of post-consumer recycled content of the bag in an easy-to-read font size.

The City held a series of digital business information sessions in the spring of 2021 that are available to watch online. The city is also providing resources to help businesses comply with the requirements and to inform residents of the changes, which are available on the city’s website, including:

• A Frequently Asked Questions flyer (in multiple languages)
• Signage for hanging at points of sale (in multiple languages)
• A list of compliant bag suppliers.

Commerce Department’s Zoom With Us

The Department of Commerce’s Office of Business Services is launching “Zoom With Us,” virtual one-on-one business support sessions to help Philadelphia businesses plan, launch, manage, and grow.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact daily life for Philadelphians, the past year has been one of immense challenges, especially for the city’s local business community. Local small businesses have shown incredible resilience, and the city will continue to highlight resources offered by the public and private sectors, as they become available.

To that end, business services managers will now be available for one-on-one assistance every second and fourth Monday of the month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Business owners can safely receive virtual, personalized assistance using a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

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

Pennsylvania FY22 Budget Summary

Pennsylvania’s General Fund budget will spend $39.78 billion, $7.7 billion, or 24%, an increase in spending compared to the FY2020-21 budget that was adopted in late November 2020.

Another $1.04 billion in federal relief dollars will offset state spending, meaning the FY2021-22 would have otherwise spent $40.82 billion, which would have been a 29.2% growth in spending.

Much of the increase in overall spending is due to growth in mandatory entitlement programs, many of which are found within the state Department of Human Services. The department’s budget is to grow by $1.81 billion, or 11.7%, compared to the agency’s current year spending.

Including the federal dollars received during the past two fiscal years, DHS spending has grown from $13.61 billion at the start of FY2020-21 to $17.32 billion for FY2021-22, or nearly 27.3%, which would be the lion’s share of the budget’s growth.

To help individuals rejoin the workforce, $44 million in federal relief funds will be used for career and technical schools to help students learn the skills needed for available jobs.

There was a great deal of discussion around spending down the $7.3 billion in federal ARPA relief funds. However, a significant portion of that funding will be kept in reserve to be prepared for an expected contraction of the state’s economy. Members are likely to continue discussions about how to spend those dollars in the fall.

Roughly $2.52 billion of the General Fund’s surplus revenue at the end of FY2020-21 will be deposited in the state’s Rainy Day fund, increasing the fund’s total to $2.76 billion. Additionally, $5 billion of federal relief funds will go unspent to be used in future budgets.

Discretionary spending on the state’s education system will increase basic education funding by $300 million, or 4.4% which brings the total to $7.067 billion. In total, funding for Pre-K through 12th grade education will increase to $13.55 billion.

Within that overall increase, the budget raises early childhood education funding (Pre-K Counts and Head Start) by $30 million, or nearly 10.7%, to $311.5 million, and special education funding will go up by $50 million, or 4.3%, to $1.24 billion.

Approximately $350 million of federal relief funding will be used to address learning loss, as well as provide for summer enrichment and after school programs.

There will also be a $40 million, or 22%, increase in funding for the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit.

And while much of the higher education budget lines will again receive what they did last year, the FY2021-22 does allocate $50 million in federal relief funds to support the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) system redesign.

$282 million in federal relief funds will go to help nursing homes, assisted living and personal care homes with costs related to personal protective equipment (PPE), staff testing and other pandemic related costs.

Another $112.8 million in federal funds will be used to increase funding for the state’s Intellectual Disabilities Community Waiver Program, which is designed to help individuals with an intellectual disability, autism, or developmental disability to live more independently in their homes and communities and to provide a variety of services that promote community living.

And an additional $372 million in federal relief funds will be used by the governor’s executive offices for COVID-19 response.

The budget also uses a portion of federal relief funds to support critical road and bridge projects, helping to address revenue losses within the Motor License Fund caused by COVID-19 (due to fewer people travelling and paying fuel taxes): A total of $279 million in federal relief will be earmarked for transportation infrastructure by the state budget.

As part of the Administrative Code, the budget also ends overtime regulations imposed by Gov. Wolf. The overtime regulation was estimated to expand overtime pay eligibility to 82,000 of the very lowest-paid salaried workers through 2022.

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

Last week, a group of 21 Democratic and Republican senators reached an agreement with the President on an infrastructure spending package. Labeled the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, the agreement outlines a total of $579 billion in new spending, including $312 billion for roads, bridges, transit, and passenger and freight rail; and an additional $266 billion in spending on water, broadband, and environmental remediation. The framework provides $584.3 billion in potential financing for the new spending, including repurposing unused COVID-19 relief funds, boosting IRS tax enforcement, and leveraging private sector investments through incentivizing use of public private partnerships, expanding use of Private Activity Bonds, and creating direct-pay municipal bonds to attract more investment in public infrastructure.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework has the support from a required ten Republicans to join all Democrats to pass the bill in the Senate through regular order.  However, not all Democrats have said they would support the framework by itself. Progressives want some guarantee that a larger partisan bill that addresses “human infrastructure” spending and climate change initiatives will simultaneously or subsequently be advanced through the budget reconciliation process. The President may have attempted to align with members of his party when said that he would not sign a bipartisan infrastructure deal without also signing a much larger and broader partisan reconciliation bill, but the White House later walked back his comments after.  Nevertheless, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the House will not bring the bipartisan infrastructure framework to the floor without seeing the larger reconciliation bill first.  Bicameral votes on both measures – whether linked together or separate – are expected to come this September.

On Thursday, House Democrats meanwhile approved a $715 billion surface transportation authorization and water infrastructure bill, which may also serve as a third vehicle for policy changes and increased spending that could be merged into the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure framework. The INVEST in America Act would authorize five years of spending for roads, bridges, transit, rail, and wastewater and drinking water infrastructure along with a number of climate provisions. House Democrats are urging the Senate to adopt parts of their bill which are more complete but also more partisan than the Senate version.  Congress has until September 30, 2021 to authorize surface transportation spending.

The Chamber calls on lawmakers to develop adequate, sustained, and reliable transportation funding sources that will ensure adequate investments from federal, state, and local partners in our regional infrastructure. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has compiled a brief survey to better understand views of the region’s transportation system, including priorities and needs to better support businesses and their employees, and how we might support and pay for transportation improvements. Please share your perspective by completing the survey before Friday, July 9.

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