Legislation
HB 264 passed the Senate unanimously today and is headed to the Governor for his signature. The bill, introduced by Representative Mako, amends the Municipality Authorities Act by establishing best financial practices, specifically monies collected by the authority are deposited into a designated account, remitted in the name of the authority or designated recipient (not the name of an individual) and the bill also requires an authority to establish procedures for the billing and collection of monies.  In addition the bill extends the time requirement for submission of an authority’s annual financial report to the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).  No matter when an authority’s fiscal year ends, it has 180 days to submit the report to DCED.

The House Local Government Committee held an informational meeting on April 10th to discuss a package of municipal debt reform bills:

HB 320 by Representative Frank Ryan
HB 882 by Representative Barbara Gleim,
HB 883 by Representative Andrew Lewis,
HB 884 by Representative Natalie Mihalek and
HB 885 by Representative Valerie Gaydos, including legislation on banning swaps.

PMAA is currently neutral on these bills and the House Local Government Committee plans to consider them on April 17^th.

Local Government Day/Week
HR 168 by Representative Dan Moul and SR 66  by Senator Scott Martin recognizing April 10^th 2019 as “Local Government Day” and April 7^th to 13^th 2019 as “Local Government Week” in Pennsylvania were adopted in the House and Senate this week.