Sponsored Legislation 

Principles in Use of Stimulus Money – Senate Resolution 10
Senate Resolution 10 seeks to establish guiding principles in the expenditure of federal stimulus money for broadband, including: establish broadband leadership at the state level; leverage existing public and private infrastructure; develop competitive bid processes; address public safety improvements through broadband deployment; and provide appropriate incentives for investment in under and non-served areas.

Bill History: SR 10, introduced last session as SR 133, was unanimously passed by the full Senate and was used by the Communications and Technology Committee as a guiding principle in assessing federal stimulus projects involving broadband and other IT initiatives.

Energy Efficiency in State Government Buildings – Senate Bill 153
Senate Bill 153, a companion bill to Representative Ron Miller's House Bill 179, seeks to make state government a leader in implementing and promoting energy efficiency and using renewable fuels.

The bill would require the Department of General Services (DGS) to establish an energy efficiency savings target for reducing energy use in state government facilities; review and revise procurement policies and procedures to ensure new equipment purchased by the Commonwealth meets certain standards; and increase the number of hybrid and other alternative fuel vehicles within the state fleet.

The bill would also establish a comprehensive energy efficiency program for state buildings and create an Interagency Task Force on Energy to help coordinate state agency actions to reduce energy.

Bill History: Introduced last session as SB 784, the bill died in the Senate State Government Committee.

Cord Blood Banking – Senate Bill 154
To better serve Pennsylvanians in need of transplants, Senate Folmer's Senate Bill 154 would create a state cord blood bank.

The bill is designed to complement the federal Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005.  A Pennsylvania Public Cord Blood Bank would be required to meet the requirements of a qualified cord blood bank under federal law and would have to participate with the national program. As such, the Pennsylvania program would be able to apply for additional federal future funding if any of the federal funding allocated for cord blood band ($15 million a year) would be available.

Bill History: Introduced last legislative session as SB 382, the bill died awaiting action in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.

Securing Loads – Senate Bill 155
During harvest season, many farmers transport harvest forage crops from the field to storage facilities.  Although farmers do their best to secure the load, due to the nature of the material, some loose plant fragments spill onto the roadway during transit.

Senator Folmer's Senate Bill 155 will exempt pieces of forge unintentionally dropped during transportation to not subject farmers to penalties under current law.

Bicycle Safety – Senate Bill 156
Senator Folmer's Bicycle Safety legislation, Senate Bill 156, would require the driver of a motor vehicle who passes a bicycle to pass to the left or to pass at a distance of not less than four feet.

The bill was introduced last session as Senate Bill 776 but died awaiting action by the Senate Transportation Committee.

Exemption from Federal Health Mandates – Senate Bill 220
Despite promises to revamp the nation's health care system through open debate and a transparent process, many of the provisions of the 2010 federal law were uncertain when passed by Congress and signed into law.

Worse, the mandatory requirements to purchase health care have dubious constitutional standing at best.  First introduced last legislative session as SB 1312, Senate Bill 220 is modeled after Virginia law and would prevent Pennsylvanians from being charged a penalty, assessment, fee, or fine as a result of their failure to obtain health insurance coverage.

Senator Folmer believes imposition of mandatory health care is an unconstitutional act by the federal government.  Nowhere mentioned is health care is in the enumerated powers delegated to the federal government, under U.S. Constitution.

Senator Folmer is also concerned how such mandates could have a devastating impact during trying economic times and bankrupt the nation during good economic times.

Proponents argue that, under the new law, will Americans will be covered by health care and have no annual or lifetime limits on care; limits on preexisting conditions would be banned; and gaps in prescriptions would be ceased, yet cost less. Senator Folmer questions the ability of the federal government to undertake such responsibility, citing the government's track record with Social Security and Medicare, which combined have an unfunded liability in the trillions.

Most other states have either filed or proposed similar measures – statutes or constitutional amendments – rejecting health insurance mandates.

Bill History: SB 1312 died awaiting action in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.

Exemptions from advertisement and competitive bid requirements - Senate Bills 285 and 294
Senate Bill 285 is part of a 16-bill package that would increase the bid limit thresholds under the various local government codes.  Currently, when municipalities are planning to purchase items or enter into contracts, even as small as $10,001, they must go through the entire, expensive competitive bidding process, including twice purchasing an advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation.

The $10,000 bid limit threshold has not been changed since 1990, and under Senate Bill 285, the threshold would be increased to $25,000.  In addition, the threshold for telephonic quotes would be changed to $10,000 - $25,000 (currently $4,000 - $10,000).  Finally, in a change adopted last session, the bid limit thresholds would be adjusted every five years based upon the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U), negating the need to regularly address this issue.

REAL ID – Senate Bill 354
Senator Folmer is concerned with personal privacy and the federal government's unfunded mandate of a national identification card, REAL ID. The measure also requires states to share motor vehicle databases, which will in effect, create a single, national database. Digital scans of identification documents, including birth certificates and Social Security cards, would be required to be retained for at least 10 years (or a paper copy for seven years) and Senator Folmer is concerned personal information in such a database could not be kept confidential.

REAL ID also threatens privacy rights by opening the door to the empowerment of the Department of Homeland Security to collect biometric data – including fingerprints and eye scans – as well as placing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in every American's driver's license.

Senator Folmer has proposed Senate Bill 354, a measure to exempt Pennsylvania from compliance. Nearly a dozen states, including South Carolina, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, and Virginia, have already enacted statutes precluding their compliance  of the unfunded federal mandate would come at a price tag of $11 billion to already financially-strapped states.

Senate Bill 354 is part of three-bill personal privacy protection package. Senator John Wozniak has proposed the Identification Card Electronic Swiping Act, Senate Bill 355, which would restrict information that can be made available from driver's licenses for marketing or other purposes beyond law enforcement.  Senator Shirley Kitchen's Right to Body Data Privacy Act, Senate Bill 356, would prohibit government bodies from capturing or releasing biometric data without an individual's approval or knowledge.

Bill History: Introduced last session as Senate Bill 621, the bill was passed by the full Senate, but died awaiting action by the House.

Elimination of Jury Commissioners in the Counties of the 5th Class – Senate Bill 379
This legislation was requested by the Lebanon County Commissioners who believe the cost/benefit of these positions are no longer justified and, as a result, should be eliminated.

If enacted into law, Senate Bill 379 would give Counties of the Fifth Class, such as Lebanon, the option to abolish the positions by either empowering citizens to initiate a referendum or adopt a resolution to place the question on the ballot for the general public to vote whether to eliminate the positions.

Upon approval of such a referendum, the office of Jury Commissioner would expire at the end of the current commissioners' term(s) of office.

Introduced last session as Senate Bill 392, the measure died awaiting action in the Senate Local Government Committee.

Allowing Furloughs for Economic Reasons – Senate Bill 612
Senate Bill 612 would provide school districts more flexibility in controlling costs by allowing the furloughing of teachers for economic reasons. Current law states school districts may only eliminate an entire program (e.g. art or music) rather than the suspension of a single individual.

The bill would also permit economic furloughs of teachers as part of a plan to reduce or control school district costs; and require those school districts that lay off teaching staff to lay off at least an equal percentage proportion of administrative staff, unless the State Board of Education grants a waiver upon a finding that complying with this requirement would cause significant harm to district operations.

Unemployment Compensation Amendments – Senate Bill 789
Pennsylvania's Unemployment Compensation (UC) is now more than $3 billion and growing. Senator Folmer's Senate Bill 789 seeks to ensure workers collecting UC benefits have an attachment to the workforce, and to bring fairness to the law and system.

Specifically, the bill would require 16 times the minimum wage for credit to a benefit week (currently $50); deny benefits for misconduct; relieve employers from charges when employees  collect benefits and work part-time, commit misconduct, or quit a job for reasons not attributable to employment; require an active search for work to continue to receive UC benefits; increase requalification requirements for those fired for misconduct; take benefits for those quitting jobs be attributable to employment; require a week of work for a week of benefits; offset UC benefits against severance pay; an allow telephone hearings to expedite contested benefit awards.

Intermediate Unit Transparency – Senate Bill 933
Senate Bill 933 would require the Department of Education to submit an annual report to the General Assembly regarding contracts with the state's 29 Intermediate Units (IUs).

Specifically, the legislation would require a listing of all contracts executed by the Department with each IU, including the total amount, duration, and purpose of each contract; sources and funding amounts to cover the costs of each contract; a listing of all employees, contractors, and agents covered by the contracts, as well as the duties of each, and the remuneration provided by the contracts; the process by which the respective IU was selected; and evaluation criteria for measuring the effectiveness of each contract.

The legislation comes as a result of Senator Folmer's two-year frustration with the Rendell Administration's failure to make information available regarding contractors, special assistants, and/or employees engaged by IUs at the direction or request of the Department of Education.  Department officials informed Senator Folmer such information was not available.

Folmer made similar requests to each IU and learned there were at least 36 individuals working at the Department of Education who were contract employees through various IUs.

Employment Contracts by public Housing Authorities – Senate Bill 1088
Senate Bill 1088 amends the Pennsylvania Housing Authorities law to limit the use of employment contracts by public housing authorities in Pennsylvania.  The legislation is in response to legislation enacted in 2006 which authorized public housing authorities to enter into employment agreements.

The legislation would not apply to housing authorities located in a city of the first class (Philadelphia), a city of the second class (Pittsburgh), or located in a county of the second class (Allegheny).

Recreational Use of Land and Water Act – Senate Bill 1029
Senate Bill 1029 provides protection against liability for landowners who allow individuals to use land for recreational purposes. Recreational purposes include, among other things, fishing, swimming, picnicking, hunting and nature study.