October 19, 2026 · LABOR AND INDUSTRY · 1,668 words · 6 speakers · 22 segments
Order. Lizzie, please call the roll.
Dawkins. Here. Brennan. Here. Donahue. Here. Jeralt. Here. Goganauer. Here by designation. Green. Here. Haddock. Here by designation. Ingalls. Here. Kincaid. Here. Kradewski. Here. Mirsky. Here. O'Mara. Here by designation. Scott. Here by designation. Young. Here. James. Here by designation. Anderson. Here. Barger. Here by designation. Cooper. Here. Diorci. Here by designation. Fink. Designation. Gleim. Here. Jones. Here by designation. Rosal. Present. Reichard. Here by designation. Rossi. Here. Rowe. Here.
Quorum is present. Thank you. And I'd like to welcome one of our members back Now in leadership, Representative Rowe, so welcome back. I would like to start off by calling up Senate Bill 1328, printer's number 1983, introduced by Senator Barlotto. Oh, sorry. Ryan, please.
Senate Bill 1328, printer's number 1983, creates a freestanding act to require all utility and electrical work sites and their contractors or subcontractors to have at least one AED and at least two employees trained in CPR and AED use present at each work site. Thank you.
I would now like to recognize the co-sponsor of this legislation, Senator Pesatano. Please come forward for brief remarks and welcome back to El-Di. Thank you. Good morning. This does bring back a lot of memories, this room. and this committee. I was proud to serve on this committee for a number of years with many of the folks in the room. And I made a joke last week when we were upstairs that you guys have better lights over here in the house. It's just brighter over here. It's like happier. I don't know. The Senate is very dingy and dark. And so it's good to be it's good to be over here with you guys and the good lights and the good air. I won't say about you, Jimmy, but maybe some of the other No, thank you guys for considering this bill today, Senate Bill 1328, sponsored by Senator Bartolotta and myself. This is an important workplace safety issue. Line workers have some of the most dangerous working conditions, and being exposed to electricity at very high voltages can easily result in cardiac arrest events, and having AEDs and CPR training will save lives. And so we grateful for the committee for bringing this bill up and hopefully I can get across the finish line onto the governor desk before the end of the session and will result in safer workplaces for thousands of line workers across the Commonwealth And happy to answer your questions but hope to have the committee support for this bill today Thank you. And the question is, will this committee report the bill? Are there any questions or comments? I now like to recognize Representative Blount.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this bill is very well intended. And we've checked with a lot of the traditional utility companies, and most of them are already doing this. already have this. They also have the training as well. Some of them, however, have indicated that 60 days is a pretty tight timeline to make sure that they're adhering to everything in the policy. If you can imagine, they would require probably a little more time than that. I do have some questions about the language on the bill. The definition of utility includes any entity engaged in the generation, transmission, or distribution of electric power, as well as any contractors or subcontractors acting on their behalf. The definition of worksite includes any location where line work or electrical work is performed for a utility in connection with the generation, transmission, or distribution of electric power. The language sounds like it covers somewhat more than the traditional electric utilities and municipalities who offer electric services. So my question was, would this bill extend to small, renewable electric generation projects like residential solar panels or include, let's say, manure digesters on farms who do sell back and generate their own electricity? Do you know?
I don't.
Go ahead, Ryan. Go ahead.
So under the definition of utility, it's any of the following employers of line workers. So if those entities aren't employing line workers, they would not fall under this bill.
Okay.
The plain language of the bill does seem to include any type of work site related to any type of generation project. So I do want to maybe tighten up that language a little bit or make it more clear what the intent of the bill is.
And then the other question is, could a homeowner who's engaged in generation of electric power through rooftop solar panels be considered a utility under the bill and have to provide AEDs and training to anyone that's coming to their home to install, maintain, or repair the solar panels?
Based on the definition of alignment that's written in the bill, that would not be an individual who wants to put up solar on their homes.
Okay So I just wanted to note that I going to vote no on the bill today and ask for a couple of amendments Just tighten up that language under the definition of a utility Ask for a little more time, an extension of the 60 days, and then there is a typo in the bill that we could also just fix for the floor, if that's okay. But I just believe that words in policy and in law matter, and I think that everybody that's known me over the last few years knows that I'm a stickler on policy to try to make sure that the intent is there and correct. I do believe that the bill is unintentionally broad. So for that reason, I will be a no on the bill, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
I now recognize Representative Brennan.
I want to thank Chairman Dawkins for bringing up this really, really important piece of workplace safety legislation. I've spent a lot of time working on trying to have AEDs more accessible for our young people, for our state buildings, and this is an area of such high risk. These cardiac arrests are 90% fatal, 90% fatal when they happen outside of a hospital and certainly in the workplace. You're going to see those fatality rates. And the rates of success in treating these folks is exponential with the application of AED and even more so with first aid. These numbers jump up. So, like, this piece of the legislation saves lives. And we need to make sure. It's great that many employers are doing this, but I think that's the exact reason that we should be doing this is to make sure that every employer is caring about the lives of their employees. And one of the problems that we have is we have these horrible, horrible statistics of 90% fatalities, but then we have these great results that can be reached if you have an AED. But unfortunately, they're only being used about 6% of the time. Now, that's the reason we need to change this. This is a very targeted bill to pick an industry that is most affected by these deaths. And I'm so happy we're bringing this up. I thank Chairman Dawkins again. and thank Senator Piscatano, Senator Bartolotta, for bringing this up. I urge a yes vote.
Thank you. Any other member like to be recognized on the bill? Representative Rowe.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be very brief. Do we know what the number is of AEDs that we're talking about here? Because I know a lot of these entities are already doing this, but are we talking about dozens that are going to be needed when this bill is enacted? Are we talking about hundreds? Are we talking about thousands? And the reason I'm asking is I've purchased AEDs for my business in the past, and we've actually been waitlisted just to purchase one. So I didn't know if we're talking about thousands of AEDs that are suddenly being required to be found within 60 days. Will that even be possible? I just think the 60 window is a little concerning unless we only talking about a couple of dozen Does anybody know what number we actually talking about So we don have the exact number but we will get that information for you Representative Thank you Chairman
Anyone else like to be recognized on the bill? Seeing none, I would like to thank the prime sponsor and the co-sponsor for introducing this important bill, and I urge members to support it. I believe it is a common sense, low-cost legislation that will potentially, you know, save lives, as one of my members already made note to. And with that, I'll have Lizzie Caldero.
Dawkins.
Yes. Brennan. Yes. Donahue. Yes. Jeralt. Yes. Goganauer. Yes, by designation. Green. Yes. Haddock. Yes. Ingalls. Yes. Kincaid. Yes. Kudrowski. Yes. Mirsky. Yes. O'Mara. Yes, by designation. Scott? Yes, by designation. Young? Yes. James? Yes, by designation. Anderson? No. Barger? No, by designation. Cooper? Yes. Diorci? No, by designation. Fink? No, by designation. Klein? No. Jones? No, by designation. Rosal? Yes. Reichard? No, by designation. Rossi? No. Roe? No.
The bill passes. Thank you. Senate Bill 1328 is favorably reported as committed. And this may be our last L&I meeting for this session. If it is, I just want to thank all the members for a wonderful, spirited L&I season, as always. I look forward to doing it all again in a few months. But maybe we'll have another one, but I'm not sure yet what the schedule looks like for the rest of the week. But again, all seriousness, I do thank the committee, both sides. I think this is what democracy looks like when we have the opportunity to kind of debate issues. And we don't always get the outcomes that we want, but I do appreciate the sentiment that we try. So thank you with that. I see no other business for this committee, and we are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.