Both the House and Senate will return to session this week. The PA Chamber is monitoring the following legislation with the potential to impact the state’s business community.

House

S.B. 838 would update and improve Pennsylvania’s probation law by: incentivizing individuals on probation to pursue education and job training programs; limiting when a technical violation may result in the revocation of one’s probation; and directing courts to take probationers’ work schedules into consideration when scheduling confinement.

H.B. 636 would classify “advertising, displaying or offering a price for goods or services that does not include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes imposed by a government entity” as an unfair method of competition under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.

H.B. 1481 would reverse nearly 90 years of national and state precedent by providing that individuals who voluntarily go on strike are eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.

H.B. 1378 would prohibit the use of computer software to purchase items over the internet in bulk for the purpose of resale and not personal use. The legislation creates a new private right of action and allows for statutory damages of $1,000 per sale in addition to actual damages.

H.B. 1658 would prohibit a reseller from advertising or offering for sale tickets for events that they do not already possess. The bill creates a new private right of action and allows for statutory damages of $1,000 per ticket in addition to actual damages

H.B. 1466 would provide for a legal motion to dismiss a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit. A SLAPP suit purports to protect First Amendment rights against a lawsuit aimed at protecting a company’s interest.

Senate

H.B. 689 would expand Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law to provide for the automatic sealing of certain nonviolent drug-related felonies if the individual has remained crime-free for 10 years.

S.B. 69 would create a pilot program, spearheaded by the Departments of Labor & Industry; Health; Community and Economic Development; Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, to connect individuals in drug recovery with occupations through local workforce development boards.

S.B. 596 would establish an office of Organized Retail Crime Theft in the Attorney General’s office and lower the monetary thresholds for second and third-degree felony retail thefts.

S.B. 577 would make several amendments to the Construction Workplace Misclassification, including severe penalties against employers for even unintentional violations of the Act, the threat of permanent debarment from commonwealth contracting opportunities, and new opportunities for trial lawyers to sue construction companies.