State News

2007 Budget Hearing Schedule 
Act 55 Challenges  
Celebrate “Pennsylvania Nonprofit Day”-- April 17, 2008 
Committee Schedules
Filmmaker Tax Credit Bill
Games of Chance 
News Articles
Open Records Bill
OSHA
Statewide 2-1-1 System 
"Unfair" Competition Bill
New Welfare Bill Requiring ID Cards for Recipients Will Prove Costly
Wine Auctions as Charity Benefits

Articles
Senator's wife earns top dollar from Beaver Co. nonprofit, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley, Sept. 2, 2007

Committee Schedule:
The House Committee: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/CO/HM/COHM.HTM. 

The State Senate Committee (including meetings of legislative agencies): http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/CO/SM/COSM.HTM. 

Updates

4/10/08 Celebrate “Pennsylvania Nonprofit Day”-- April 17, 2008   

Join PANO and Pennsylvania’s nonprofits on April 17, 2008 on the floor of the State House in Harrisburg, for the first Pennsylvania Nonprofit Congress.  For details and to register, visit www.pano.org. Yesterday afternoon (4/9/08), the State Senate, in support of PANO, NCNA and the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Congress, adopted Senate Resolution 293 hereby recognizing that…April 17, 2008, is "Pennsylvania Nonprofit Day" throughout the Commonwealth.

The Resolution was introduced by State Senator Andrew Dinniman of Chester and Montgomery Counties.  Senator Dinniman and his staff are dedicated to the causes championed by PANO on behalf of the nonprofit community and has publicly demonstrated this commitment.  He has also agreed to serve as the Senate Chair for the Pennsylvania Charitable Nonprofit CAUCUS, a new initiative spearheaded by PANO and the United Way of Pennsylvania, to be launched later this year.   

Filmmaker Tax Credit Bill                             

10/10/07 Support Youngblood’s Charitable Giving Bill HB1433. PA Representative Youngblood’s Charitable Giving Legislation will generate $7.5 million in charitable contributions annually. HB1433 would require filmmakers who receive tax credits for filming in Pennsylvania, to pay 10% of that tax credit to a Pennsylvania charity, civic group, or volunteer fire company.

9/24/07 PA Rep Youngblood Introduces Charitable Giving Legislation. On September 24, State Representative Rosita Youngblood introduced the much anticipated charitable giving bill HB1433. This bill will require filmmakers who receive tax credits for filming in Pennsylvania, to pay 10% of that tax credit to a Pennsylvania charity, civic group, or volunteer fire company. HB1433 would amend amending Section 1704 -D of the current Filmmaker Tax Credit law to redirect $7.5 million each year to help local charities serve our communities.

The Filmmaker Tax Credit law (previously SB97) was signed by the Governor on July 25, 2007, the charitable giving requirement had been removed. The governor determined that giving $75 million of taxpayer money each year to Hollywood filmmakers was a priority for the Commonwealth. By reducing this enormous tax credit from $75 million to $67.5 million Youngblood will ensure that at least some of this money will stay in Pennsylvania to improve the quality of life in Pennsylvanian, not in Hollywood.

9/5/07 Youngblood to Introduce Charitable Giving Bill on Filmmakers Tax Credits. Rep Youngblood (D-198) circulated a co-sponsorship memo for a stand-alone amendment to the now Filmmaker Tax Credit Law. Just like the Youngblood and Cruz amendment to SB97 (that was cut from the bill in Senate Committee), Youngblood’s stand-alone bill would force 10% of the $75 million annual tax credit money to be donated to a local charity, civic group, or volunteer fire company. Youngblood’s charitable giving bill to amend the filmmaker tax credit law would keep more tax credit dollars in Pennsylvania and provide $7.5 million dollars each year to help local charities serve their communities.

Act without Youngblood Charitable Giving Provision (prior versions have charitable language)
Youngblood Press Release 7/9/2007
Youngblood's Memo 9/2007
Proposed legislation amending Section 1704 -D 9/2007

7/16/07 Senate Cuts Charitable Giving Provision from Filmmaker Tax Credit Bill. On Sunday, July 15, the charitable giving provision in Rendell’s Filmmaker Tax Credit Bill SB97 was cut by the Senate. On July 10, the House passed SB97 with the amendment by a 197-5 vote. The Youngblood and True amendments to SB97 would have required that filmmakers filming in Pennsylvania donate up to 10 percent of their tax credit– directly though a financial, fundraiser or via in kind services – to a Commonwealth-based nonprofit. The tax credit itself will give film companies who spend 60 percent of their production budget in Pennsylvania a $1 tax credit for each $4 spent. The charitable provision would have permitted these filmmakers to donate $1 to charities for every $10 they claimed in tax credits.

According to Tony Ross, President of the United Way of Pennsylvania, having to give $25,000 to a charity or church so that your filmmaking company can receive a $250,000 tax credit is a bargain. Besides, most industries that receive tax credits in Pennsylvania support local nonprofits. Bankers, manufacturers, retailers, doctors, lawyers each make charitable donations, but few local charities benefit from the production of a film.

The charitable giving provision was stripped from the bill by the Senate Rules Committee in an effort to keep the bill uniform. According to budget negotiators, no other tax credit has a similar charitable donation requirement. Both chambers are expected to approve the new bill today (without the charitable giving incentive), and the Governor is expected to sign it.

The latest version of the SB97 (PN1327).
PANO Press Release.

Open Records Bill

11/28/07 New Open Records Bill Less Harmful to Charities; Passes in State Senate. On Nov. 28, 2007, a revised version of SB1 (PN1583) passed the Senate by a 48-1 vote. This new bill lacked the harmful provisions of prior version of SB1. under prior versions, charities with State or local government contracts would be unduly burdened by the costs of records disclosure and retention.

On Nov. 21, 2007, Representatives Mahoney, Grell, Shapiro, DeWeese and others introduced HB2072 (PN2905) to replace HB443 as the new vehicle to amend the State’s 50 year-old Right-to-Know law.

PANO, Catholic Charities, and others have shared with Senate leadership and the House, our concerns on language of the Right-to-Know bills as applied to charities with State or local government contracts. Currently, neither the Senate bill nor the House bill seem to subject charities with government contracts to increased records disclosure obligations.

These amended versions represent a significant improvement over prior versions. The new language appears to limit right-to-know requests to records of a Commonwealth or local agency rather than to records of a nonprofit contractor. While we have been successful, we must remain vigilant. Differences between the House and Senate bills must be worked-out in conference committee, where the situation could change again. We will continue to engage on this issue until a right-to-know bill that does not unnecessarily burden charities is signed into law.

11/19/07 Open Records bills likely to move forward in last week of November. The effort to update Pennsylvania's 50-year-old Right-to-Know Law is based in part on a belief that passage of an open records law offers a victory for the reform-minded freshman legislators.

Under prior versions of SB1, charities with State or local government contracts would have faced significantly greater disclosure obligations and associated costs. With the November 14 addition of the word “PUBLIC” on page 15 line 23 of SB1 (PN1553) and the November 19 addition of the word “PUBLIC” on pages 16 lines 4 and 6 to SB1 (PN1562), it is believed that the Senate has now fixed the problem with the bill.

The House and Senate versions remain quite different. House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese has called for an immediate vote on the HB443. But HB443 last moved in the House on October 30, 2007. HB443 still poses a significant problem for the charitable community. SB1 on the other hand is now on Second consideration in the Senate, and is likely to serve as the vehicle for open records reform. Both bills will have to wait until next week, for a vote and the inevitable conference committee. 

11/7/07 Open Records Bill Will Cost Charities With Government Contracts. Nonprofits contracting with county or local agencies will be treated as State agencies under the new version of the Open Records bills currently being considered by the General Assembly. These bills SB1 and HB443 would require contracting charities to respond to open records requests directly to the public, without a State regulatory agency acting as an intermediary. While this would replace Pennsylvania’s 50-year-old Right-to-Know law and streamline the process, increased costs will be shouldered by the organization required to respond to the records request.

On Oct. 29, 2007 the Senate State Government Committee gutted and amended the original version of SB1 (PN772). The amended SB1 (PN1509) will be a problem for many charities with state or local contracts.

The new version SB1 (PN1509) does not make a contractor an "agency" for purposes of directly responding to public records requests. But, records in the possession of third party contractors which directly relate to performing a governmental function for an agency will be subject to records requests. (See SB1(PN1509) §506(D) pp.38-39). This represents a major change in the current Right-to-Know Law which limits records that must be produced to those "maintained by an agency."

Under SB 1(PN1509), a request for records in the possession of an independent entity or contractor (rather than “maintained by a governmental agency”) would be made directly to the governmental agency. However, the governmental agency and the third party contractor would be responsible for producing the public record(s). Nonprofit organizations subject to these records requests would be required to divert limited staff and resources to locating and producing these records. There is no provision that would reimburse contractors for the administrative costs or employee staff time used responding to records requests.

On Oct. 30, 2007, the House amended HB443 and moved it to second consideration. The House plans to take-up HB443 (PN2800) again during the week of Nov. 13.

Each open records bills will pass their respective chamber. Their differences will be reconciled over the next few weeks by a joint committee. The legislature sees passage of an open records law as a major reform, and expects to pass this before the end of the year.

While this is not typically within the scope of PANO’s public policy activity, it will impact thousands of charities throughout the State. If this issue is important to you or your organization, please contact David Ross to discuss response options david@pano.org. 

OSHA

8/15/07 OSHA Worker Safety Standards to Extend to Charities? A new bill (HB1325) was introduced in the State House on June 5 to extend OSHA worker safety standards to State workers and Charities. For State workers and for some charities, workplace safety has been governed by a General Safety Law, which is less stringent and less expensive to implement than are OSHA requirements. The House Labor Relations Committee has scheduled a hearing for September 10 in Harrisburg. If this bill would impact your charity please contact David Ross at david@pano.org.  

Welfare ID Cards

7/12/07 New Welfare Bill Requiring ID Cards for Recipients Will Prove Costly. On July 12, the welfare reform bill HB83 passed the House by a vote of 197-1. Included in the bill was a provision requiring social service recipients to carry and present a special photo ID card before receiving food stamps, Medicaid, or participating in TANF. DPW would be required to place the photo of an assistance recipient on all benefit cards so that cards can only be used by the approved user.

This provision was amended to the bill on the House floor and received minimal news coverage. According to welfare advocates and DPW sources, requiring ID cards will prove costly to administer for health care providers, county social service providers and for charities that serve low income families and individuals. The concern is that precious resources and countless hours will be spent helping recipients navigate the process of getting an ID or in teaching their own staff when and how to check IDs.

Similar legislation was enacted in Colorado in 2006 with dismal results. Colorado has spent an estimated $2 million administrating their Welfare ID law and realized no cost savings whatsoever. While the Colorado law was designed to prevent illegal aliens from receiving public benefits, the Pennsylvania provision, arguably, has a similar purpose. For more information on the Colorado experience go to www.coloradoidproject.org. 

HB 83 now heads to the Senate. For more information or to get involved contact Richard Weishaupt at Community legal Services, Inc. at RWeishaupt@clsphila.org.

For analysis on HB83 and welfare in Pennsylvania go to http://www.pennbpc.org/understanding_welfare.php. 

Wine Auctions

6/27/07 House Passes Bill to Allow Charities to Benefit From Wine Auctions. The House proposed by Rep. Mario Scavello passed the House by a vote of 177-23. HB 1481 would allow select charities to receive special permits for fundraising wine auctions. Other charities who are interested in hosting wine auctions must petition for a permit. Select charities include nonprofit hospitals; certain nonprofit public television stations; orchestras or museums, and organizations that train and place dogs for people with physical handicaps. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Opportunities

2-1-1 System

A 2-1-1 system in Pennsylvania? United Way of Pennsylvania, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association for Information and Referral, has initiated a statewide collaborative to introduce legislation on 2-1-1. N-1-1 lines are already used for emergencies 911 and other purposes. 2-1-1 is a system to get people referred to conceivably any kind of service in their community with the exception of emergency care. 911 will still be the number used for emergencies. The partners have modeled the approach on the efforts in several other states, especially North Carolina and Ohio. Many details need to be worked out. This is a complicated project between the telephone system challenges, developing the database of providers, designing a system for fair and neutral references and more. If you would like to join the collaboration or more information about the collaboration, call the United Way of Pennsylvania at 717-238-7365 or go to www.uwp.org.