Dermody says House Dems still oppose impact fee legislation

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

June 21, 2011 | 5:27 PM

Frank Dermody (Official photo)

If an impact fee is going to become law within the next few weeks, two things need to happen: Governor Corbett will need to OK it, and House Democrats will need to get on board, and stop pushing for a broader severance tax.
A brief interview with House Minority Leader Frank Dermody indicates Democrats won’t be doing that any time soon. “What [Republicans] want to do is get away as cheaply as possible and wash their hands of [the impact fee/tax issue],” he said.
A growing number of House Republicans are now supporting an impact fee, whether it’s Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati’s bill, or the measure introduced last week by House Republican Marguerite Quinn. But with a solid chunk of fiscally conservative Republicans against any sort of tax increase, a bill would need Democratic support to pass the House.
Dermody has two problems with the Senate impact fee: its distribution and rate. While SB 1100 would send money to environmental cleanup efforts across the state, it would limit local impact money to counties and municipalities where drilling is actually taking place. Dermody and other Democrats – not to mention several Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi – want every county and township and county to get a slice of the pie.
Dermody said Democrats also want a volume-based fee, rather than a flat $40,000 to $10,000 assessment. And while the leader didn’t mention local zoning ordinances in our interview, many Democrats have made it clear they’re firmly opposed to language barring municipalities from receiving fee money, if they pass drilling ordinances that go beyond language drafted by the Public Utility Commission.
Can an impact fee become law without House Democratic support? “I don’t think so,” said Dermody. “We are for a reasonable Marcellus Shale tax, but to do something just to get out of down is not something we support.”
We’ll soon have a clearer picture of what House Republicans support. Walking into caucus this afternoon, Majority Leader Mike Turzai said the GOP “may” begin discussing a fee proposal behind closed doors today or tomorrow.