House Bill 1950 Passes and Local Control is a Thing of the Past

Tonight the GOP passed HB 1950, a bill that gives a laughable (1 percent Impact Fee) and hands control of zoning over to the GOP in Harrisburg. That was a big sticking point of the bill for those who opposed it. On his FaceBook page yesterday, Jesse White said

Just finished a 4 hour caucus on HB 1950, the Marcellus Shale Impact Fee bill being pushed by Gov. Corbett. Serious statewide pushback against eliminating local ordinances is clearly making this a very tough vote for many colleagues (and rightfully so

I will give Jesse White and a few others in Harrisburg credit, they are looking out for the citizens of the state and not the gas companies and the few making money off of this. They are trying to be fair about it.

It seems the Governor and the members of the GOP don’t care what the citizenry of the state cares about. Especially when it comes to Hydraulic Fracturing and education.

When it came to this bill, the majority of voters were against it even though the GOP and “Your Friends At Range” would have you believe the opposite. Municipalities were against it because the loophole will now exist for the drilling companies to call the shots.

No matter how you look at it, this Bill is a joke. It does not help the local governments as Corbett said it would. With the (1 percent Tax) or (FEE as the GOP is calling it) so that it can’t be said they broke their word and added anew tax. If they would have done the right thing and set the “Fee” at 5.8 Percent like West Virginia did it might have helped more than the Drilling companies.

ABA