The Pennsylvania House of Representatives returned to Harrisburg last week, advancing tax policy to help start-ups, new mandates on the food industry, and the establishment of an entity to help facilitate partnerships between correctional institutions and private industry.

Here is a rundown of last week’s legislative action most relevant to employers.

Sale of NOLs (H.B. 1129; Friel)

The House of Representatives voted 198-1 to pass House Bill 1129 on Wednesday.

This legislation would create a program that would allow biotech and tech start-up companies to sell unused Net Operating Losses (NOL) under certain conditions.

The program would promote financial flexibility by allowing companies to leverage NOLs to generate operating capital. More favorable NOL treatment may stimulate investments and promote economic activity in Pennsylvania. While the PA Chamber supports more aggressive NOL reforms, this program could be a valuable tool to support biotech and tech start-up companies.

We supported this bill (CLICK HERE for our memo), which now heads to the Senate.

 

Overregulating the Food Industry (H.B. 1923; Haddock)

The House Labor & Industry Committee voted 14-12 to advance House Bill 1923 on Wednesday.

This legislation proposes mandates on the food processing and meatpacking industries addressing a wide range of employment and workplace policies that would dictate new employee orientation and training; time off; workplace safety committees; response to a public health emergency; and other areas.

While several of the more concerning elements of this bill were amended out, the remaining mandates are still generally duplicative with mandates that exist under other state or federal laws and therefore likely to create compliance complications and expose employers to the penalties and civil actions outlined in the bill.

We opposed this bill (CLICK HERE for our memo), which now goes to the full House.

 

Prison Industry Enhancement Authority (H.B. 2154; Briggs)

The House Judiciary Committee voted 14-12 to advance House Bill 2154 on Wednesday.

This legislation would establish the Prison Industry Enhancement Authority to facilitate joint ventures between correctional facilities and private industry.

The bill has potential to benefit both incarcerated individuals and employers; however, we have expressed concerns with several aspects of the bill including the employment status of participating individuals and liability on employers, among other areas.

We urged lawmakers to amend this bill to address these concerns (CLICK HERE for our memo). The legislation now goes to the full House.