Despite Concerns, $290 Electric Vehicle Fee Proposal Advances in Pennsylvania

Although a bill that creates an electric vehicle fee in Pennsylvania cleared a House committee on Monday, it’s unlikely to pass in its current form.

Senate Bill 656, sponsored by Sen. Greg Rothman, R-New Bloomfield, would replace the alternative fuel tax with a $290 EV fee paid at the time of vehicle registration. Owners would also have the option of enrolling in a monthly payment plan. 

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Legalization of Esports Betting Proposed in Pennsylvania

A state lawmaker is urging colleagues to support a bill he is drafting to legalize esports betting in Pennsylvania. 

Representative Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) began circulating a memorandum last week making the case for legitimating video-game betting in the Keystone State, observing that the esports business took in $1.1 billion worldwide in 2022 and is predicted to soon realize a $1.8-billion global value. Neilson ascribes much of the recently increased enthusiasm around esports to the lifestyle constraints imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. 

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Bill Proposed to Compensate the Wrongfully Convicted in Pennsylvania

Two Pennsylvania state legislators on Friday proposed a law to facilitate compensation for those who the commonwealth imprisons based on wrongful convictions. 

Representatives Frank Ryan (R-Palmyra) and Regina Young (D-Philadelphia) plan to introduce the legislation to bring Keystone State policy into line with 38 other states that indemnify exonerated people. 

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Pennsylvania House Passes Bill to Create Natural Gas Task Force

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week passed legislation empaneling a task force to study ways to position Philadelphia as a leading exporter of natural gas to markets around the globe.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia), received the support of all Republicans in attendance but only 13 of the chamber’s Democrats. Among those Democrats were several representing areas above the Keystone State’s vast Marcellus Shale natural-gas deposit but also some legislators from the state’s southeast, including Reps. Tina Davis (D-Levittown), John Galloway (D-Fairless Hills), Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) and Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia).

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