The legislative calendar for the year is winding down quickly, with both House and Senate in Session next week, followed by a few scheduled days for the House the week of December 16. While there is some talk of working on pension reform legislation, the agenda appears to be less ambitious.
During that timeframe, the House has the following energy-related bills on its calendar:
- House Bill 302 (Moul-R-Adams) transfers $5 million to DEP for a competitive grant program to convert small mass transit bus fleets to natural gas;
- House Bill 303 (Moul-R-Adams) transfers $7.5 million to DEP for a competitive grant program to convert large mass transit fleets to natural gas;
- House Bill 304 (Marshall-R-Beaver) funds conversions of transit buses to natural gas;
- House Bill 306 (Pickett-R-Bradford) redirects $5.3 million from the Alternative Fuels Incentive Fund to create the Keystone Fuel Incentive Program to fund conversions of vehicles to natural gas and provide a 10 cent per gallon biofuels production subsidy;
- House Bill 308 (Saylor-R-York) redirects $6 million from the Clean Air Fund to finance vehicle conversions to natural gas.
The Senate has the following bills on its agenda:
- Senate Bill 411 (Kasunic-D-Somerset) provides for the reuse of water in abandoned mines for Marcellus Shale drilling;
- Senate Bill 1037 (Vogel-R-Beaver) repeals summer RVP gasoline requirements;
- House Bill 920 (Sonney-R-Erie) amends the Agricultural Area Security Law and defines wind power generation systems, clarifies that an agricultural conservation easement shall not prevent granting an easement for a wind power system.