September 30, 2026 · FINANCE · 1,572 words · 26 speakers · 66 segments
. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And Hadia will be calling the roll. Chair Samuelson. Here.
Rip Aboney.
Rip Zapita-Fertes.
Vote by designation.
Rip Fleming.
Vote by designation.
Rip Gallagher.
Rip Gaggenauer.
Rip Harris.
Vote by designation.
Rip Krajewski.
Rip Mazako.
Vote by designation. Rip Rapp.
Voting by designation.
Rip Scott.
Vote by designation.
Rip Venkett.
Voting by designation.
Rip Waxman.
Voting by designation.
Rip Webster.
here and also representative Harris is present chair Griner here rip Devenzo
grip Fritz rip Gators rip Johns vote by designation rip Kippard vote by
designation rip goods rip Mako vote by designation rip Rossi here rip Ryan
Kovach rip Stamba vote by designation rip stender vote by designation Thank you All members counted for We have two bills. I'd like to start with the Salisbury bill, House Bill 2639. So the chair calls up House Bill 2639, printers number 3608. And I'd like to call on our senior research analyst, Shannon Snell, for a summary of the legislation.
House Bill 2639 removes financial barriers for nonprofits with less than $250,000 in annual revenue to apply for security grants.
Thank you. And I also, the question before the committee is will the committee report the bill? but we have an amendment, so the chair would like to call up the Representative Rossi amendment, which is A0414. I'm sorry, A4140. And I'd like to call on our senior research analyst, Shannon Snell, for a summary of the bill.
A04140 by Representative Rossi requires an applicant for the security grant who is a tenant of a lease property to have an agreement with the landlord to either return the property to its original state when the lease ends or to leave any security enhancements in place as agreed to with the landlord.
Thank you, and I appreciate Representative Rossi working with us on language. We discussed this at a hearing in June, and some of the comments that you had made that day, we have an amendment.
I look forward to your comments on the amendment today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And why I came up with this amendment is because when we have nonprofits that are churches that would be applying for these grants, often they grow. So they start out with 15 people in a park, and then they move into a lease space. When you're talking about revenues coming in less than $250,000, most of those people are going to rent space until they grow and are profitable to where they can get a bigger space. So as they grow, they have to leave. And then that leaves the landlord with either, you know, an enhancement that they don't want or don't want to have to pay for if it's left. So this just addresses this issue when they apply for these grants, that they have to have an agreement with the landlord that that is wanted and allowed in that property that they would be leasing. So I appreciate you running this amendment, and I ask for your support.
Thank you. Thank you, Representative Rossi. I'd like the record to reflect Representative Cepeda Freitas is present. Any other comments on the Rossi amendment?
Yes.
Are there any negative votes on the Rossi Amendment? It passes unanimously. Now I'd like to discuss the bill as amended. We had that hearing. Representative Salisbury presented this bill to this committee. And we're trying to look for a way to help the small congregations who are applying for these security grants currently. Up to 25,000. There is no match. Up to 75,000. there's a 33% match and above that there's a 50% match. Representative Salisbury, her legislation says under $75,000 there should be no match, making it easier for the small and mid-sized congregations to utilize this funding which is in our state budget I believe the testimony we had in June said this might affect 40 or 41 of the grants that they would no longer have to pay a match and might be available to more congregations around the state. Any other discussion from committee members on House Bill 2639 as amended? Are there any negative votes on House Bill 2639 as amended? House Bill 2639 passes the committee as amended unanimously. The next item on the agenda is House Bill 2706, sponsored by Representative Schusterman. The chair calls up House Bill 2706, printers number 3782. And I'd like to have Shannon Snell, our senior research analyst, read a summary of the bill.
House Bill 2706 increases the amount that certain claimants can receive for the Child Independent Care Enhancement Tax Credit.
Thank you. This bill is to try to keep our state Child Independent Care Tax Credit in line with federal law. As you remember, we expanded our Child Independent Care Tax Credit. We tripled it a couple of years ago to match the federal government. And previously, the federal government had two tiers where folks under 43,000 could claim 35% of their child care expenses, up to a limit. And above 43,000, it's 20% up to a cap on the child care expenses. That was expanded last year. At the federal level, this legislation seeks to say that any change in the federal law would be automatically adhered to by Pennsylvania as we match the federal tax credit. The enhanced federal tax credit from last year would apply to folks who file in Pennsylvania. The fiscal note on this is about $32 million the first year. The whole program is about $219 million fiscal impact for the state of Pennsylvania. Any other discussion from committee members on the Schusterman bill, House Bill 2706?
Yes, Chair Greiner. I understand the maker, you know, what the maker is trying to do here. I would like to see more consistency here. If we're going to try to follow federal law, we should do that for businesses too, in my opinion, to try to encourage economic growth. You know, when you come with a cost of, you know, a couple hundred million dollars ultimately, and we have a structural deficit of $5 billion, I have concerns with this. I think I do understand the reasons why, and I'm glad we did what we did, but I think under the circumstances, I'm going to be voting no for this at this time and moving forward, just so you know that. But I do think if we're serious about following federal law, then we need to do it for businesses, and we need to do it for everybody across the table. That's how I feel. I think, yeah, I mean, I know there's an attempt to do that, and that's great, but we need to do it across the board. So just wanted to make my points and go on record that completely understand, but under the circumstances with the dire streets we are in financially, that I'm going to be a no on this.
Thank you, Chair Greiner.
or any other committee members like to speak on the bill Representative Kutz Thank you Chairman I want to thank the Chairman for discussion about this important issue As families are struggling with affordability right now this is one of the ways that we can certainly help those who have young and growing families, maybe those who also are in stages of life where these expenses for child care are on top of mortgage rates now in 7.5%. So I'll be supporting this bill. I would encourage my colleagues also to do the same. I think we can actually go a step further, and I'm working on legislation to do just that. I know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been receptive to that effort as well. I want to thank the Democratic staff and the Finance Committee as well for your efforts and working on a couple of bills that we're working on. But rather than offering those amendments in committee, We're hoping to bring a bipartisan product to be introduced at a later date. So I want to thank the chairman for that, and I look forward to supporting the bill today.
Thank you. Thank you, Representative Kutz. I do want to note for the record, Representative Jones is present. And I'd like to open it up to any other committee member who wants to speak on the bill, House Bill 2706. Seeing no other members, I'd like to have our legislative fellow, Adia, call a roll call vote on House Bill 2706.
Chair Samuelson?
Yes.
Rip Avoney? Rip Zepeda-Fertes? Rip Fleming?
Yes, by designation.
Rip Gallagher?
Rip Gaggenauer.
Rip Harris.
Rip Krajewski.
Rip Mazako. Yes, by designation.
Rip Rapp. Yes, by designation.
Rip Scott. Yes, by designation.
Rip Vinkit. Yes, by designation.
Rip Waxman. Yes, by designation. Rip Webster.
Chair Greiner. No.
Rip Devenzo.
Rip Frittus.
RIP Gatos? Yes.
RIP Jones? Yes.
RIP Kipfar? No.
RIP Kutz? Yes.
RIP Mako? No.
RIP Rasi? No.
RIP Raincavage? RIP Stamba? No.
RIP Stender? No.
Designation.
Thank you. The votes on the committee are 20 yes and 6 no. House Bill 2706 passes the House Finance Committee and is reported to the floor of the House. I appreciate all the attendance of the members today. We will be having another meeting next week. I have a room reserved for Wednesday, October 7th. But thank you very much for attending today. This meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.