PRINTER'S NO. 3681
No. 329 Session of 1992
INTRODUCED BY ARMSTRONG, TRELLO, PITTS, BILLOW, FARGO, BELFANTI,
RAYMOND, LUCYK, KING, STAIRS, ARGALL, BROWN, CLARK, GERLACH,
HERSHEY, ANDERSON, DEMPSEY, NICKOL, VROON, SAURMAN, JOHNSON,
TULLI, GLADECK, FLICK, SERAFINI, FAIRCHILD, D. W. SNYDER,
HASAY, GALLEN, CIVERA, HERMAN, LAWLESS, TOMLINSON, HESS,
SEMMEL, LEH, M. N. WRIGHT, CLYMER, PHILLIPS AND CESSAR,
MAY 20, 1992
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MAY 20, 1992
A RESOLUTION
1 Amending House Rule 19(a).
2 RESOLVED, That House Rule 19(a) be amended to read:
3 RULE 19 (a)
4 Fiscal Notes
5 (1) No bill, except a General Appropriation bill or any
6 amendments thereto, which may require an expenditure of
7 Commonwealth funds or funds of any political subdivision or
8 funds of an emergency services provider extending coverage to a
9 political subdivision or which may entail a loss of revenues
10 overall, or to any separately established fund shall be given
11 second consideration reading on the calendar until it has first
12 been referred to the Appropriations Committee for a fiscal note,
13 provided however that the Rules Committee may by an affirmative
14 vote of three-quarters of the entire membership to which such
15 committee is entitled:
1 (a) Waive the recommittal to the Appropriations
2 Committee and provide that the fiscal note be attached to the
3 bill while on the active calendar. The providing of such note
4 shall be a priority item for the Appropriations Committee; or
5 (b) Waive the necessity of a fiscal note on any bill
6 which it deems to have a deminimus fiscal impact or which
7 merely authorizes, rather than mandates, an increase in
8 expenditures or an action that would result in a loss of
9 revenue.
10 (2) Nothing herein shall preclude any member from moving, at
11 the proper time, the recommittal of any bill to the
12 Appropriations Committee for a fiscal note.
13 (3) The Appropriations Committee shall be limited in its
14 consideration of any such bill to the fiscal aspects of the bill
15 and shall not consider the substantive merits of the bill nor
16 refuse to report any such bill from committee for reasons other
17 than fiscal aspects. The fiscal note shall accompany the bill
18 and provide the following information in connection with the
19 Commonwealth [and], its political subdivisions and emergency
20 services providers extending coverage to a political
21 subdivision:
22 (a) The designation of the fund out of which the
23 appropriation providing for expenditures under the bill shall
24 be made;
25 (b) The probable cost of the bill for the fiscal year of
26 its enactment;
27 (c) A projected cost estimate of the program for each of
28 the five succeeding fiscal years;
29 (d) The fiscal history of the program for which
30 expenditures are to be made;
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1 (e) The probable loss of revenue from the bill for the
2 fiscal year of its enactment;
3 (f) A projected loss of revenue estimate from the bill
4 for each of the five succeeding fiscal years;
5 (g) The line item, if any, of the General Appropriation
6 Bill out of which expenditures or losses of Commonwealth
7 funds shall occur as a result of the bill;
8 (h) The recommendation, if any, of the Appropriations
9 Committee and the reasons therefor relative to the passage or
10 defeat of the bill; and
11 (i) A reference to the source of the data from which the
12 foregoing fiscal information was obtained, and an explanation
13 of the basis upon which it is computed.
14 (4) No bill which may result in an increase in the
15 expenditure of Commonwealth funds shall be given second
16 consideration reading on the calendar until the Appropriations
17 Committee has certified that provision has been made to
18 appropriate funds equal to such increased expenditure. Whenever
19 the Appropriations Committee cannot so certify, the bill shall
20 be returned to the committee from which it was last reported for
21 further consideration and/or amendment.
22 (5) No amendment to a bill, concurrences in Senate
23 amendments, or adoption of a conference report which may result
24 in an increase in the expenditure of Commonwealth funds [or
25 those], funds of a political subdivision or funds of an
26 emergency services provider extending coverage to a political
27 subdivision or which may entail a loss of revenues in addition
28 to that originally provided for in the bill prior to the
29 proposed changes nor any bill requiring a fiscal note for which
30 re-referral to the Appropriations Committee has been waived by
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1 the Rules Committee shall be voted upon until the day following
2 the distribution of a fiscal note to the members with respect to
3 such changes or to such bill showing the fiscal effect of the
4 changes with respect to the bill, and containing the information
5 set forth by subsection (3) of this rule.
6 (6) In obtaining the information required by these rules,
7 the Appropriations Committee may utilize the services of the
8 Budget Bureau and any other State agency as may be necessary.
9 (7) Any bill proposing any change relative to the retirement
10 system of the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof,
11 funded in whole or in part out of the public funds of the
12 Commonwealth or any political subdivision, shall have attached
13 to it an actuarial note. Except for the provisions pertaining to
14 the content of fiscal notes as set forth in paragraphs (a)
15 through (i) of subsection (3), all the provisions pertaining to
16 and procedures required of bills containing fiscal notes, shall,
17 where applicable, also be required for bills containing
18 actuarial note. The actuarial note shall contain a brief
19 explanatory statement or note which shall include a reliable
20 estimate of the financial and actuarial effect of the proposed
21 change in any such retirement system.
22 (8) The term "emergency services provider" shall mean a fire
23 company, an ambulance service or a rescue squad.
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