House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

Posted:	January 16, 2020 09:46 AM
From:	Representative Cris Dush
To:	All House members
Subject:	Providing for Termination of Susquehanna River Basin Compact

The Susquehanna River Basin Compact Law enacted in 1968, established Pennsylvania’s participation in the interagency, multi state agency charged with managing and monitoring water resources in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. While well-intentioned when passed, the Susquehanna River Basin Compact Law has since created burdens for municipalities in the Susquehanna River Basin and taxpayers throughout the Commonwealth. The initial term of the Susquehanna River Basis Commission is to last one hundred years. I am introducing legislation which will give the Commonwealth some relief long before that deadline, still some decades away. My legislation will require the Governor to negotiate with the other parties to the compact to seek either an early termination of the compact itself or allow for the withdrawal of Pennsylvania as a party to it. These negotiations would continue for five years and require annual reports to the General Assembly of the efforts made to comply with the withdrawal or termination efforts. If no agreement is reached for either an early termination of the compact or Pennsylvania’s withdrawal from it, then notice would be given of the Commonwealth’s intention to terminate at the end of the initial term. Please join me in cosponsoring this legislation to rein in the power of this agency.
View Attachment