Junk fees, corporate taxes and boot camps: 5 bills advanced by PA lawmakers this week

As Pennsylvania gets closer to missing its annual June 30 budget deadline for the fourth straight year, lawmakers have kept busy by passing a flurry of bills in the meantime. 

This week, Harrisburg legislators moved legislation seeking to address the growing prevalence of junk fees, approved a bill that would overhaul the state’s corporate tax system and worked to save a state boot camp currently slated for closure. Below, City & State examines those bills – and others – that lawmakers voted on this week. 

Closing the ‘Delaware Loophole’

Democrats and progressive activists have long called for the state to enact combined reporting for corporate taxes, a system that aims to prevent large corporations from shifting income to states like Delaware, which doesn’t collect a tax on income tied to intangible assets, including trademarks and patents. Critics call this gap the “Delaware Loophole,” since corporations can set up holding companies in Delaware that the company or subsidiaries pay for the use of intellectual property, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. This week, lawmakers in the state House voted 104-99 to pass House Bill 1610 from state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler that would implement combined reporting in Pennsylvania; the bill would also exempt overtime pay and tip income from Pennsylvania’s personal income tax. The bill now awaits consideration from the state Senate.

An update to the state’s overdose tracking law

Both chambers of the General Assembly recently approved legislation from state Sen. Doug Mastriano that would build upon a law enacted in 2022 that established an overdose information network in the commonwealth that tracks known and suspected overdoses within state borders. The state House passed Mastriano’s Senate Bill 89 this week with a unanimous vote; the legislation would require emergency medical service providers who encounter known or suspected overdoses to report the incident to the state network within 72 hours. Mastriano said in a statement that the update to the law “arms our law enforcement and health care personnel with more information that will aid them in fighting the heroin and opioid epidemic Pennsylvania continues to face.” The Senate voted to concur with amendments made in the House, and the bill now awaits Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature. 

Junk fee transparency

House Bill 1216, a bill supported by Fiedler and Democratic state Sen. Nick Pisciottano that targets junk fees – the often unexpected and mandatory fees added to the price of a good or service at checkout – passed the House with a 108-95 vote this week and now awaits Senate consideration. The bill, if signed into law, would require food delivery companies, hotels, Airbnbs and other lodging platforms, as well as ticket sellers, to prominently display all mandatory fees and charges prior to purchase. Fiedler said in a statement that it’s “more than frustrating to be scouring for hours to plan your family vacation only to get to the checkout page to see the price skyrocket. Whether it’s a special occasion like a concert or a trip, we all deserve better treatment from these corporations.”

Saving Quehanna Boot Camp

Following news that the state Department of Corrections is planning to close two Pennsylvania prisons, lawmakers have joined together to try and save at least one of the facilities. SCI Rockview in Centre County and Quehanna Boot Camp in Clearfield County are both slated for closure, but the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation this week that seeks to keep Quehanna Boot Camp open and reform the law governing the state’s boot camp programs. Quehanna Boot Camp is a six-month, military-style program designed for those with drug and alcohol treatment needs – a program that GOP state Sen. Wayne Langerholc touted as having been tremendously successful. “This was born out of that announcement to potentially close Quehanna. We want to, obviously, push back – but we also want to provide realistic alternatives to keep this program open because what they do there is phenomenal,” he said.

Ensuring coverage for breast cancer diagnostic imaging

The state Senate this week unanimously passed Senate Bill 88, which would require health insurance policies in the commonwealth to cover mammographic examinations, supplemental breast screenings for individuals with an average or higher risk level, as well as diagnostic breast examinations for covered individuals. The proposal would build on a 2023 law that required insurers to cover one breast screening per year for women at high risk of breast cancer, and is sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a breast cancer survivor, and state Sen. Frank Farry, whose wife is battling breast cancer. Farry said in a statement that the legislation will increase access to vital services that could save lives. “Early detection saves lives, and this bill brings us another step closer to making that a reality for everyone,” he said.