This legislation establishes a new regulatory framework for the PUC, governing electric service to data centers. It creates additional fees and financial obligations and requires data centers to procure a specific amount of 'clean firm energy.' This legislation would introduce significant cost uncertainty, operational risk, and inflexible compliance requirements that could discourage data center investment in Pennsylvania, undermining the Commonwealth’s competitiveness at a critical moment for economic development.

This legislation would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage incrementally to reach $15 by 2029, after which it would increase annually based on inflation.  The bill also sets the tip credit at 60 percent of the regular minimum wage rate, which represents a nearly 320 percent increase in labor costs for many restaurants and others with employees who qualify for the tip credit. 

This legislation would create a statewide paid leave entitlement program and require all employers to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave. This legislation imposes potentially billions in new direct costs, as well as additional indirect costs and administrative burdens on employers, who would be prohibited from continuing their own leave policies that benefit their people while accommodating their own specific workplace and staffing requirements. These impacts will certainly have a unique and significant impact on small businesses. Additional concerns are numerous, including a lack of safeguards to avoid abuse; a new private right of action that will expose employers to lawsuits for even unintentional or clerical errors; and the ability to stack this new entitlement with existing federal and local leave requirements.