House closes after votes on casinos, police
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives adjourned Thursday after a busy pre-election legislative agenda that included passing a bill that would allow casino-style gambling in Pennsylvania to expand to the internet and reinstate a provision that casinos pay tens of millions of dollars to host communities.
The GOP-controlled House, which adjourned until Nov. 14, also passed a bill that would restrict situations in which police officers are identified after firing a weapon or using force.
Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he will sign a bill liberalizing the sale of beer in Pennsylvania and legislation designed to fight opioid addiction.
The Republican-controlled Senate adjourned just after midnight Wednesday until Nov. 16. Legislative officials said they did not yet know whether any votes will be held before the Nov. 30 end of the current two-year legislative session.
Here are some of the more closely watched pieces of legislation in the General Assembly:
Beer sales
Wolf said he plans to sign the bill that would allow beer distributors to sell suds in smaller quantities, including six-packs, and let bars sell alcohol starting at 9 a.m. on Sundays, without a requirement to serve food. Sporting venues could sell mixed drinks, and consumers could legally participate in beer-of-the-month clubs that ship directly to homes.
Casino taxes/gambling
The House voted 108-71 to approve legislation that would allow casino-style gambling in Pennsylvania on the internet and in the state’s six international airports, and reinstate a mandate that casinos pay tens of millions of dollars to host communities. It also would regulate daily fantasy sports betting. The future of the bill is unclear in the Senate. The provisions to expand casino-style gambling previously passed the House in June, but stalled in the Senate. The Senate approved a similar provision Wednesday to reinstate the local share tax on casino revenues, a month after it was struck down by the state’s highest court because it treated the state’s 10 largest casinos differently. A lawyer for Mount Airy Casino said the new provision is also unconstitutional.
Police shootings
Legislation heading to Wolf’s desk would restrict situations in which police officers are identified while they are being investigated for firing a weapon or using force that results in death or serious injury. The bill passed the House on Thursday, 151-32, less than a day after it passed the Senate. Wolf is not saying whether he’ll sign it, although it passed both chambers by veto-proof majorities.
Opioid addiction
Wolf said he will sign a five-bill package sent to his desk Wednesday that is designed to fight addiction to powerful prescription painkillers. The bills include limits on opioid quantities prescribed in emergency rooms and urgent care clinics and to minors, and a requirement that prescribers check the state’s drug monitoring database every time before they prescribe opioids, instead of just for first-time patients.
One bill in the package stalled in the Senate, a House bill that would have required insurers to cover prescriptions for abuse-resistant painkillers and for prescribers to distribute Department of Health-provided educational materials with opioid prescriptions about the risks associated opioids.
Public pensions
A major proposal appearing dead without a vote Thursday would have scaled back traditional pension benefits for newly hired state government and public school employees in favor of plans that rely in part on a 401(k)-style benefit.
