PRINTER'S NO. 314
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
339
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY HOHENSTEIN, A. DAVIS, CIRESI, DALEY, DEASY,
DeLUCA, DRISCOLL, GALLOWAY, GUENST, HANBIDGE, HARRIS, HILL-
EVANS, ISAACSON, PASHINSKI, SANCHEZ, SIMS, WARREN AND
WEBSTER, JANUARY 29, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, JANUARY 29, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), entitled
"An act relating to the finances of the State government;
providing for cancer control, prevention and research, for
ambulatory surgical center data collection, for the Joint
Underwriting Association, for entertainment business
financial management firms, for private dam financial
assurance and for reinstatement of item vetoes; providing for
the settlement, assessment, collection, and lien of taxes,
bonus, and all other accounts due the Commonwealth, the
collection and recovery of fees and other money or property
due or belonging to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
including escheated property and the proceeds of its sale,
the custody and disbursement or other disposition of funds
and securities belonging to or in the possession of the
Commonwealth, and the settlement of claims against the
Commonwealth, the resettlement of accounts and appeals to the
courts, refunds of moneys erroneously paid to the
Commonwealth, auditing the accounts of the Commonwealth and
all agencies thereof, of all public officers collecting
moneys payable to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
and all receipts of appropriations from the Commonwealth,
authorizing the Commonwealth to issue tax anticipation notes
to defray current expenses, implementing the provisions of
section 7(a) of Article VIII of the Constitution of
Pennsylvania authorizing and restricting the incurring of
certain debt and imposing penalties; affecting every
department, board, commission, and officer of the State
government, every political subdivision of the State, and
certain officers of such subdivisions, every person,
association, and corporation required to pay, assess, or
collect taxes, or to make returns or reports under the laws
imposing taxes for State purposes, or to pay license fees or
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other moneys to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
every State depository and every debtor or creditor of the
Commonwealth," in miscellaneous limitations and transfers,
further providing for COVID-19 response transfers for
assistance to the Commonwealth's health care system and
providing for COVID-19 response transfers to restricted
account.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 1735-A.1(f) of the act of April 9, 1929
(P.L.343, No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, added March 27,
2020 (P.L.30, No.10), is amended to read:
Section 1735-A.1. COVID-19 response transfers for assistance to
the Commonwealth's health care system.
* * *
(f) Report.--Beginning June 1, 2020, and the first day of
each month thereafter, the Secretary of the Budget shall provide
a report detailing all spending related to the COVID-19 response
the Commonwealth has made during the preceding month, including
any funding made available through the Federal Government, the
Governor's disaster proclamation, an agency budget or the
transfers under this section and section 1738-A.1 . The report
shall include the recipient, the dollar amount and a detailed
explanation of the purpose of the spending. The Secretary of the
Budget shall provide the report to the Majority Leader and
Minority Leader of the Senate, the Majority Leader and Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, the chairperson and
minority chairperson of the Appropriations Committee of the
Senate and the chairperson and minority chairperson of the
Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives.
* * *
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 1738-A.1. COVID-19 response transfers to restricted
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account.
(a) Transfers.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
the Secretary of the Budget may transfer up to $50,000,000 from
the General Fund to the restricted account identified under
section 1735-A.1. The transferred money shall be expended for
the acquisition of medical equipment and supplies for health
care entities to meet urgent patient and staff needs to address
surge demand. Health care entities shall include, but not be
limited to, hospitals, nursing facilities and emergency medical
services.
(b) Authorization.--The Secretary of the Budget shall only
be authorized to make transfers under subsection (a) to the
extent that funding authorized by the General Assembly prior to
the effective date of this section and funding authorized by the
Federal Government are insufficient to meet the needs of the
Commonwealth ' s response to COVID-19.
(c) Notification.--The Secretary of the Budget shall provide
notification to the chairperson and minority chairperson of the
Appropriations Committee of the Senate and the chairperson and
minority chairperson of the Appropriations Committee of the
House of Representatives 24 hours prior to making any transfer
under subsection (a). The notification shall include the dollar
amount to be transferred.
(d) Report.--Information regarding a transfer under
subsection (a) shall be included in the report required under
section 1735-A.1(f).
(e) Expiration.--The authority to transfer money under
subsection (a) shall expire July 1, 2021 .
(f) Definitions.--As used in this section, the term " COVID-
19 " shall mean the novel coronavirus as identified in the
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Governor ' s proclamation of disaster emergency issued on March 6,
2020, published at 50 Pa.B. 1644 (March 21, 2020), and any
renewal of the state of disaster emergency.
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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