After years of debate on the issue, both the state House and Senate will vote on Marcellus Shale impact fee bills this week. The Senate will likely approve its measure this afternoon or evening. A House vote could come as early as Wednesday. (The chamber is debating the measure now, but has more than 100 amendments to sort through.)
As state representatives raise points of order, and debate the germaneness of amendments, you may wonder how this week’s Capitol votes will impact you and your community. The answer is, like all things Marcellus Shale, complicated. It will, and it won’t.
Why it won’t matter: even though Republicans control both legislative chambers, there are major differences between the House and Senate impact fees. Chief among them: the Senate measure’s impact fee lasts twice as long as the House’s, and is imposed and collected by the state. The Corbett Administration-backed House bill empowers counties to set their own rates, up to an initial $40,000-per-year ceiling.
What the House and Senate are effectively doing this week is punting their bills across the rotunda. Senate leaders don’t like the House bill, and the House leaders don’t like the Senate bill. So, neither of these measures will be voted into law as they’re currently written.
However…
This week’s votes set the table for serious two-chamber negotiations on what a final impact fee would look like. Until now, there’s been minimal House-to-Senate conversation on Marcellus Shale matters. Once the House has a Senate bill and the Senate has a House bill, leaders can get together and work out a compromise. Once an agreement is reached, it could be amended into one of those two bills, and advanced.
What would that compromise look like? You can reasonably view the House’s ten-year fee as a floor, and the Senate’s twenty-year structure as a ceiling. There’s less room for compromise on whether the state or counties implement the fee. Governor Corbett will likely be a key factor here. If he insists on a county-level collection, that could tip the scales in favor of the House bill’s format, which the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has begrudgingly supported.
Another major sticking point among Republicans: the best way to restrict municipalities’ drilling ordinances. Governor Corbett and House GOP leaders want to nullify all local zoning. (Corbett has argued this simply enforces the Oil and Gas Act’s initial goal.) The Senate’s bill is much more cautious. It would allow municipal leaders to pass whatever regulations they see fit, but give drillers the power to appeal regulations. If the Attorney General deems a local law too strict or unreasonable, the municipality wouldn’t receive any impact fee money.
Follow StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Twitter feed for updates on this afternoon’s House and Senate debate.