Quick hits: Pennsylvania news in brief for Friday, April 23
Committee approves bill to offer paper application process for business licenses
A bill from state Rep. Clint Owlett intended to make it easier for people to do business in Pennsylvania has been approved by the House Professional Licensure Committee.
House Bill 855 would require the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs (BPOA) to provide a paper application option to become licensed for business in Pennsylvania.
Currently, all applicants use the online PALS licensing system. The BPOA only offers exemptions for religious reasons.
“Not all of our citizens can or want to process their professional licenses online, and they should not have to,” Owlett said.
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania reported that 15% of people residing in Owlett’s 68th Legislative District do not own computers, and the statewide rate is 12%.
House approves bill to make the Treasury Department’s Transparency Portal permanent
The House unanimously approved legislation by Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover, to secure the Treasury Department’s Transparency Portal from being discontinued.
House Bill 48 would secure the Transparency Portal as a permanent means for taxpayers to gain insight into the state’s spending.
“It is vital for taxpayers to know how every cent they send to the state is appropriated,” Grove said. “Oversight through the public eye is the best way to protect taxpayers’ dollars from being misspent.”
The portal includes analysis of the general fund, daily updated revenue and expenditures, short- and long-term investments, analysis of appropriations for Commonwealth programs, and other data.
Bill to help save patients who leave drug treatment facilities early unanimously passed in the House
Legislation known as Heather’s Law, named after a woman who suffered a fatal overdose within 12 hours of checking herself out of an addiction recovery facility, was unanimously passed in the House to help families battling addiction.
House Bill 944, co-authored by Reps. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer, and Eric Nelson, R-Westmoreland, will require that a patient’s emergency contact be notified if they sign themselves out of an addiction treatment facility against medical advice.
“Requiring facilities to notify emergency contacts when patients discharge themselves against medical advice doesn’t guarantee a successful outcome, but it opens a window for lifesaving intervention by giving family members a chance to get their loved ones back to a safe place,” Longietti said.
State police confiscate more than $17.7 million in illegal drugs in the first quarter of 2021
The Pennsylvania state police confiscated $17,784,894 worth of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamines, and other illicit drugs between Jan. 1 and March 31 of this year.
Police seized 361 pounds of methamphetamines, 253 pounds of cocaine, and 58 pounds of heroin and fentanyl from Pennsylvania communities.
As a part of the ongoing effort to curb Pennsylvania’s opioid epidemic, 65 prescription drug take-back boxes are located at police stations across the commonwealth to provide a safe method of disposal 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The drug take-back program collected 924 pounds of prescription drugs and other medications.
– The Center Square
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