Dear PAOLMA Members,

Late this afternoon the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee considered various bills and voted some of them out of the Committee. As you know, HB 2433, which had passed the House of Representatives last week, was on the Committee agenda for consideration today. The bill was passed over and not considered by the Committee today.

However, the reason HB 2433 was passed over in committee was because HB 2388 (Rep. Natalie Mihalek-R-Allegheny County) was considered and an amendment was offered to it by the Committee Chairman, Senator Tom Killion (R-Delaware County). HB 2388 in its original form included the same language as HB 2433 did in terms of providing a blanket industry waiver from the March 19, 2020 DCED Business Closure Order.

In HB 2388 the blanket waiver applied only to vehicle dealers (like HB 2433, HB 2388 has already passed the House of Representatives). The original language in HB 2388 also required the vehicle dealers receiving the blanket waiver to adhere to CDC and mitigation guidelines just as was required in HB 2433 for messenger services.

The amendment by Chairman Killion added vehicle-related businesses, lawn and garden center services, cosmetology, salon and barbershop services, messenger and agent services, animal grooming services and certain manufacturing operations to the blanket industry waiver and health mitigation language already contained in HB 2388 for vehicle dealers.

As a result, our focus has now turned to supporting HB 2388 as the legislation which will provide a blanket industry waiver for messengers if enacted into law. HB 2388 was read on the Floor of the Senate today on first consideration, should be read on second consideration tomorrow, and may be scheduled for a final Senate vote on Wednesday. Because the bill was amended in the Senate after having passed the House, HB 2388 under any circumstance, must return to the House if it passes the Senate so that the House can consider the newly amended bill and decide whether to concur in the amendment language that was added to the bill in the Senate.

As of now, PAOLMA should be supporting HB 2388 (Mihalek-R-Allegheny

County) because it does for the messenger industry what HB 2433 also does. HB 2433 is probably not going forward for the remainder of the

2020 legislative session as it’s language and intent is moving forward in HB 2388.

We will be communicating with all Senators in support of voting “YES”

and passing HB 2388—hopefully in a final vote this week. We will keep monitoring the progress of HB 2388 and keep you apprised of its status and developments surrounding it.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need further information about these bills.

Bob Taylor

215-801-2295