Here are the Senate and House Calendars and Committee meetings showing bills of interest as well as a list of new environmental bills introduced--

Session Schedule

The Senate and House return to session on March 15.

House Session Schedule-

Senate Session Schedule-

Calendars

House (March 15):  House Bill 80 (Vitali-D-Delaware) expanding the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards and authorizing a carbon sequestration network; House Bill 2289 (D.Evans-D-Philadelphia) providing for a 2010-11 Capital Budget; House Bill 2290 (D.Evans-D-Philadelphia) raising the RACP Capital Budget borrowing limit to $4.25 billion from $3.45 billion.

Senate (March 15):  Senate Bill 1092 (Kasunic-D-Somerset) amending the Oil and Gas Act to require oil and gas well operators to provide cement quality logs to DEP; Senate Bill 1159 (D.White-R-Indiana) authorizing the Department of General Services to lease minerals on state land owned by agencies other than DCNR, Fish and Boat and Game Commissions and depositing any payments or royalties in the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund; Senate Bill 1176 (D.White-R-Indiana) requiring changes to mining permit fees to be done by regulation; Senate Bill 1196 (D-White-R-Indiana) requiring changes to mining permit fees to be done by regulation; Senate Bill 1197 (D.White-R-Indiana) requiring changes to coal refuse disposal permit fees to be done by regulation; Senate Bill 1250 (Pileggi-R-Delaware) requiring 25 percent of penalties assessed under the state Air Pollution Control Act to be distributed to the impacted municipality.

Committees

House: the Local Government Committee holds a hearing on zoning and outdoor advertising and House Bill 1237 (O'Neill-R-Bucks) and House Bill 2085 (Adolph-R-Delaware); the House Democratic Policy Committee holds a hearing on additional State Forest land leasing for natural gas drilling and House Bill 2235 (Vitali-D-Delaware) providing for a moratorium on natural gas leasing in King of Prussia.

Senate: the Environmental Resources and Energy and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees hold a joint information meeting on developing the Total Maximum Daily Load Plan for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed; the Urban Affairs and Housing Committee holds a hearing on urban modernization in Philadelphia; the Rules Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 297 (Yaw-R-Bradford) providing for semi-annual reporting of oil and gas well production; the Appropriations Committee meets to consider  Senate Bill 85 (Musto-D-Luzerne) providing for an independent counsel for the Environmental Quality Board.

Bills Introduced

The following bills of interest were introduced this week--

No Regulations:  House Bill 2304 (Causer-R-Cameron) prohibiting the Environmental Quality Board and the Department of Environmental Protection from promulgating regulations under the Clean Streams Law, the Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act, the Air Pollution Control Act, the Solid Waste Management Act and the Oil and Gas Act.

3/15/2010