"Broad Parameters" of Impact Fee Not Specific Bill

State Senate Republicans will unveil their plan for a natural gas drilling impact fee in Pennsylvania on Thursday, but the proposal is far from complete.

Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati said he'll release an outline of an impact fee but not an actual bill -- on a Thursday morning conference call.

"It will be, the broad parameters of what we're looking at, and certainly trying to answer as many specific answers as we can. We're obviously putting it out for feedback. It's not a bill. It's a proposal and a concept at this point. Why not introduce the bill itself this week? The purpose of it is, basically, to get input and feedback before we put it in bill form. A lot of moving parts to it," Scarnati reasoned.

The fee would reimburse local governments for increased services and infrastructure repairs caused by natural gas drilling. Senate Republicans also want the fee to fund environmental cleanup efforts, even though Governor Corbett is leery of anything beyond impact payments to municipalities and counties.

The bill may not win support of environmentally-friendly Democrats, despite the fact the broader severance tax they'd prefer will likely never come to a vote in the Republican-controlled House or Senate.
"No," said Allegheny County Senator Jim Ferlo, when asked whether he would vote for an impact fee. "Because the issue, it should be some level of statewide uniformity. The state should be collecting it. The industry should have a common obligation or responsibility across the state. Our proposal is that it be a statewide, uniform collection. And it has to be something greater than the minimal, minimalist approach that Senator Scarnati and others have."

Scarnati is hoping to pass the bill alongside the state budget in May or June.

State Senator Would Halt Tax Code Change

A measure in the Pennsylvania Senate would stop a 2009 business tax code amendment before it goes into effect.

The upcoming change to the state’s Sales and Use Tax would double the amount of business tax collections in a year, requiring businesses to file for taxes twice a month.

Senator Jim Ferlo says while that’s not a problem for big companies with plenty of resources, small companies that do their own accounting will see a sharp rise in “administrative costs.”

Ferlo says his new bill to stop this change would maintain the current method of filing taxes once a month.

“It does mean that the Revenue Department has to wait longer, longer being a month’s period of time, in order to receive the receipts of that revenue for investment and for obligations the state has incurred,” says Ferlo. “We are continuing to be in a financial dilemma, but I don’t know that that burden should rest solely on the shoulders of the small business community.”

The Highland Park Democrat says he’s heard outcry from several small businesses in his district, like The Original Mattress Factory and 43rd Street Concrete. His bill is currently in committee.