It’s always fun to see young people experiencing the Capitol for the first time, although a few of the North Penn swimmers have been here multiple times to commemorate their swimming accolades. If they keep coming back this much, we may need to hire them as tour guides! This week, I want to briefly describe one of my bills, H.B. 937, which passed the House (103-100) and now heads to the Senate, as well as some of the other bills we sent to the Senate last week.
House Bill 937 would modify the photocopying fees paid by next of kin to receive coroner, toxicology, and autopsy reports. I created this bill after talking to family members who live in the district who lost a loved one and could not afford to pay $700 for photocopies. When I called our county coroner’s office to see what could be done to help them, I found out that a law change the General Assembly enacted in 2018 raised the price for photocopies from $200 to $700 and required counties collect such high fees. Under my bill, next of kin would pay $100 for an autopsy report and $50 each for a toxicology report and coroner’s report, reverting to the previous copying fees. The bill is narrowly tailored to allow counties to mark the copies for family use only (meaning not for litigation purposes). Opponents of the bill want the increased photocopying fees to remain in place so that a small number of grieving family members seeking photocopies, rather than an entire county population, can subsidize the cost of coroner education. I think adding to those families’ burden by asking them to pay for coroner training just so they can find out what happened to their loved one is wrong. Last year, as H.B. 2166, this bill ran unanimously out of committee and then passed the House along party lines. This year, as H.B. 937, the bill was approved in the committee along party lines and the House nearly along party lines. The bill now awaits consideration in the Senate. If you feel like this is an important issue, please use this tool to reach out to your state senator.
The remainder of this email touches on a few of the other bills which passed last week which now also sit with the Senate. One such bill, H.B. 504 creates a framework for Community Solar projects across the Commonwealth. The bill would create the Community Energy Act, allowing for subscriber-based community energy projects, wherein subscribers can band together to finance and/or utilize local small scale energy facilities creating solar and biofuel energy. Pennsylvania is expecting a crisis regarding affordable energy access and this bill is one of a few which comprise Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Lightning Plan. Small solar operators often add energy to the grid and are cost savings to local participants. The bill passed the House, 114 to 89.
Another bill I co-sponsored, H.B. 630, would update Pennsylvania’s Equal Pay Law with new penalties if pay disparities exist based on race, ethnicity or gender and eliminates the practice of using prior wages to determine new wages when hiring. According to the US Department of Labor, in 2023, women in Pennsylvania were paid an average of 80.9% of what men were paid. The commonwealth’s pay gap is larger than the U.S. average and also that of five out of our six neighboring states.
Pennsylvania’s pay gap means that women experience higher rates of poverty, lower financial earnings over a lifetime, less financial security and less retirement savings. Not only will equal pay grow our state’s economy, but the number of women living in poverty will be reduced. As noted in the bill’s co-sponsorship memo, if Pennsylvania women had equal pay for equal work, the number of working women and single mothers living in poverty could be reduced by almost 40%. The bill cleared committee and passed the House along party lines. I hope it will move in the Senate and have a better reception.
A bipartisan consumer protection bill which I co-sponsored, H.B. 81, would forbid institutions from charging fees for paper billing statements passed the House 123-80. Many lower-income Pennsylvanians, seniors or those with limited access to digital technology are hit with unnecessary and often hidden financial burdens through “paper statement fees.” House Bill 81 would classify paper statement fees as an unfair or deceptive practice, while still allowing businesses the freedom to use incentives to encourage customers to use digital statements. It forbids them from charging consumers more when they prefer paper copies of their account statements. Currently, financial institutions sometimes charge between 50 cents and $5 per month for paper statements and those fees can add up significantly, disproportionately impacting the consumers least able to afford them.
Another bill I co-sponsored, H.B. 820, which passed 185-18, would establish the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit (WPTC). The WPTC is a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that would benefit nearly one million Pennsylvanians by providing a tax credit against PIT equal to 30% of the amount a taxpayer received for their EIT in the same taxable year, between $200 to $2,000 for working families. Research shows that every dollar spent on EITC programs generates between $3 and $4 in benefits, including increased income and sales tax collections and avoided costs. Since the Federal EITC was implemented in 1975, U.S. states and territories have each developed their own earned income tax credit programs that range widely in generosity from between 4.5% and 70% of the federal credit. More than 800,000 Pennsylvanians claimed the federal earned income tax credit during tax year 2023 and as a result may be eligible to claim the WPTC. Eligible households would receive an average credit of $780, providing critical relief for many working families. There are income limitations regarding who would qualify for WPTC based on household size and income limits. For instance, families with two children could earn no more than $62,688 to qualify. The bill intends to aid the commonwealth’s ALICE population. Around 40% of Pennsylvania households, or 2.15 million households qualify under the definition of “ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.” They earn above the Federal poverty line but cannot afford the cost of living and struggle to stay employed and make ends meet, struggling to afford basic things like food, housing, transportation costs, health insurance and childcare. This credit will provide much needed relief for working families to help them stay in the workforce.
The Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act, H.B. 926, passed 124 to 79. The bill seeks to eliminate violence faced by nurses and healthcare workers while on the job. It would direct health facilities to establish violence prevention committees, do risk assessments, improve training and establish written violence prevention plans. Health care professionals are seeing increased levels of violence with mixed levels of support from the healthcare agencies in which they work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care workers accounted for 73% of all non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence in 2018, the most recent year that data was collected. Moreover, Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, RN (D-Lackawanna), the prime sponsor of the bill, shared that “incidents of workplace violence reported by members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals jumped from 50% in 2021 to 66% in 2024.” No entity should subject their employees to the risk of violence, given the high level of violence faced by healthcare workers. I’m proud to have co-sponsored this legislation to better protect them.
House Bill 193, which passed 150 to 53, would require that Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) be placed in all state buildings. As the sponsor of the bill commented, “the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital is as low as 10%, so every second counts. Immediate delivery of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an AED can improve these odds significantly and reduce the possibility of permanent impairments. Unfortunately, despite available technology, an AED is only used about 6% of the time.” For those unfamiliar with AEDs, while there are small variations in units, such devices are easy to use and readily available. They can identify if an unconscious individual needs intervention and will (sometimes audibly) walk you through the process of restarting someone’s heart while you await EMS. You can watch a video about AEDs here and learn more about becoming CPR/AED certified here. I know classes are also available at our local YMCAs. By ensuring quick access to AEDs, we can increase the odds that an individual experiencing cardiac arrest will survive. I was glad to see this measure pass and hope that it serves as a reminder of how essential lifesaving skills and assistive support technology are!
I look forward to updating further on the legislation that passed the House this week and hope you have a wonderful weekend!
The Wissahickon School District has requested I share the following updates with everyone as there has been a significant number of violations occurring in the district. If you see an extended stop arm and red lights flashing, just STOP!