WILLIAMS COMMENTS ON THIS WEEK'S LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY

HARRISBURG, DEC. 13 – State Sen. Connie Williams called the last week of session for 2007 a productive one for consumers, for voters and for the environment.

 She offered comment on the following legislative actions:

 Hazardous Site Cleanup Act funding (S.B. 1100)
"The Department of Environmental Protection lists over 20 hazardous sites presently active in Montgomery County and four in Delaware County. Without reauthorizing HSCA funding (which expired on June 30^th), planned cleanup operations would be put in jeopardy. I am pleased that the House this week came to agreement on the Senate plan to extend funding without raising taxes. It is critical that we do not put in jeopardy cleanup operations at nearly 150 sites currently in progress or discontinue the approximately 230 annual hazardous waste site investigations."
The House passed the measure this week, sending it to the Governor.

 Alternative Energy (Special Session S.B. 1)
"This is a good start toward increasing the use of alternative energy sources, including energy efficient appliances and dedicated funding to help consumers to implement solar technology. Initially, I had planned to amend the bill to ensure that more funds were dedicated to solar, but the final language did include $50 million for solar. I also am pleased that the proposal included incentives to help consumers to purchase certain energy efficient appliances. For the past several sessions, I have been advocating for a program to incentivize the purchase of energy efficient appliances. I am glad that I could be part of the dialogue. The version of the bill passed by the Senate isn't everything that it could be, but it was important that legislation be advanced to move this debate forward, with the ultimate goal of putting in place a new alternative energy policy for Pennsylvania."
Senate members voted in favor of the amended SS SB1 sending it to the House.

 Election Reform (S.B. 317)
"An educated electorate is essential to ensuring the future viability of Pennsylvania and also speaks to our ability to elect the best candidate for public office. With the amended version of S.B. 317, a new layer of transparency will be added to the Election Code, ensuring that voters know who paid for e-mail, faxes, Internet advertising and automated dialing-announcing devices and pre-recorded phone calls. Automated calls have to be one of the most annoying part of political campaigns. For the past several sessions, I have introduced legislation to ensure that people are informed of who pays for these calls. Until now, candidates were required to clearly disclose who paid for direct mail, newspaper and magazine ads, outdoor advertising and broadcast. Today's action will update the Election Code to reflect current technology."
Senate members voted in favor of the amended S.B. 317 sending it to the House.

 MCARE Abatement (HB 489)
"I am disappointed that MCARE abatement legislation was not acted upon before the New Year, but I am hopeful that the delay will give all of us time to achieve both the Governor's objectives to ensure health-care coverage is available for as many Pennsylvanians as possible as well as continuing the abatement program."
Senate members voted in favor of the amended H.B. 489. House delayed action.

 Prohibition on Fees for Police Services (H.B. 131)
"The need for this legislation arose from the practice of a number of municipal police departments that had charged accident victims a fee to reimburse police for responding to an accident scene. Responding to accidents is one part of a police officer's duties. Those involved in an accident shouldn't receive a bill weeks later for these services. I am pleased to note that while I had received a report of this type of billing occurring in one of the municipalities in the 17^th District, the municipal council took it upon themselves to change their own local ordinances prior to passage of this legislation to clarify that fees would not be charged for accident response."
The legislation passed both the House and Senate and is awaiting action by the Governor.