PA Tower Legislation SB-884 & HB-1777

[Fansome]

From an ARRL email:

Greetings to all,

   The time has come to be considerably more serious than we have been
over the antenna tower legislation that is pending in the Pennsylvania
Legislature.  At the present time both House Bill 1777 (HB1777) and
Senate Bill (SB884) are presently lying idle in their respective
committees.  Some of the information that we have been given indicates
that progress on this legislation is stalled because of political party
considerations.  We CANNOT CONFIRM NOR DENY this information.  The fact
remains that the legislation is apparently at an impasse.  We need to
get this legislation moving before it dies in Committee.

   What I propose is that everyone contact the members of the involved
committees (see information below) and urge them to approve this
proposed legislation and get it out onto the floor of the general
assembly for a vote.  Senators and Representatives who are also
sponsors of the bills are identified below.  Members of the committee
who are also sponsors should be sent a communication thanking them for
their support in sponsoring the legislation and asking their continued
support.   Once the legislation has been approved by the Senate and
House Committees (Local Government Committee) we will then make contact
with or Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly and urge
their support of the legislation.

   To start with the web site where all of the following information is
available (plus considerably more) is http://www.legis.state.pa.us 
   From that starting point you can find all the information you will
need.  However, what follows is a synopsis of the information that I
compiled.  Please note that at the web site listed above the manner in
which the information is presented differs between the Senate and the
House.

   ---------------------------------------------

PA Senate Bill 884 - SB884
   Sponsors --
   Stewart J. Greenleaf,  (R.) 7th District
   Robert D. Robbins, (R.) 50th , Local Government Committee member
   Jay Costa, (D.) 43rd
   Wayne D. Fontana, (D.)  Local Government Committee member
   Patrick M. Browne, (R.) 16th
J. Barry Stout, (D.) 46th
   Bob Regola, (R.), 39th , Local Government Committee Chairman
   Andrew W. Dinniman, (D.),    19th , Local Government Committee member
(Democarats = 5, Republicans = 4)

PA Senate Local Government Committee --

   Regola, Bob (R.), 39th -- Chairman and SB884 Co-Sponsor   E-Mail --
bregola@pasen.gov
   Eichelberger, John H. (R.), 30th -- Vice Chairman  -
jeichelberger@pasen.gov
   Ferlo, Jim (D.) 38th -- Minority Chairman  - ferlo@pasenate.com
   Scarnatti III, Joseph B. (R.), Ex-Officio - jscasnatti@pasen.gov
Majority Members -
   Waugh, Michael L., (R.) 28th, mwaugh@pasen.gov
   Robbius, Robert D. (R.), 50th, SB884 Co-sponsor, rrobbius@pasen.gov
   Rafferty Jr., John C. (R.) 44th,  jrafferty@pasen.gov
   Brubaker, Michael W., (R.) 36th, mbrubaker@pasen.gov
    Minority Members --
   Williams, Constance H., (D.) 17th, chwilliams@pasenate.com
   Fontana, Wayne D., (D.), 42nd, Fontana@pasenate.com  - SB884
Co-sponsor
   Dinniman, Andrew E., (D.), 19th, andydinniman@pasenate.com , SB884
Co-sponsor
   
*** Please note there a some slight differences in e-mail servers
listed above.  I suspect a few rejects on errors as listed

PA House Bill 1777 -- HB1777
   Sponsors --

   Katharine M. Watson, (R.), 144th District
   Kerry A. Benninghoff, (R.) 171st
   Tom C. Creighton, (R.) 37th
   Gordon Denlinger, (R.), 99th
   Tim Hennessey, (R.), 26th
   Art Hershey, (R.), 13th
   Thaddeus Kirkland, (D.), 159th
   William C. Kortz II, (R.), 38th 
   Bob Mensch, (R.), 147th
   Ron Miller, (R.), 93rd
   Kathy L. Rapp, (R.), 65th
   John D. Siptroth, (D.), 189th
   Rosita C. Youngblood, (D.), 198th
   Mark K. Keller, (R.), 86th
   Kate Harper, (R.), 61st
   Rob W. Kauffman, (R.) 89th
         (Republicans = 12, Democrats = 4)
PA House of Representatives Committee on Local Government --

   *** PLEASE NOTE for the House of Representatives E-mail addresses --
you have to go to the persons name which is hyperlinked to their
personal information page which is hyperlinked to "Click Here for
E-mail" type of setup.  ALSO -- Under committees Districts are not
listed instead they use the county name(s) and "Part" of***

   Majority (Democrats)
Freeman, Robert, Chairman -- NHA (County abbreviation)
Lentz, Bryan R. Secretary -- DEL
Curry, Lawrence H., Chairman for Sub Comm. on Twps. -- PHI
Grucela, Richard T. Chairman for Sub Comm on Counties -- NHA
Harhai, R. Ted, Chariman for Sub Comm on Boroughs -- WES
Casorio, James E. -- WES
Hornaman, John -- ERI
Kessler, David R. -- BER
King, Chris -- BUX
Kula, Deberah -- WES
Leach, Daylin -- MGY
Longietti, Mark -- MER
McIlvaine Smith, Barbara -- CHE
Samuelson, Steve -- NHA
Siptroth, John J. -- PIK -- HB 1777 Co-sponsor
Tangretti, Thomas A. -- WES

   Minority (Republicans)
Saylor, Stan -- Chariman -- YOR
Gingrich, Mauree -- Co-Chair for Boros -- LEB
Hichernell, David S. -- Co Chair for Co's -- DAU & LAN
Keller, Mark K. -- Co Chair for Twps -- PER and HB1777 Co-sponsor
Cutler, Bryan -- LAN
Harper, Kate -- MGY & HB 1777 Co-sponsor
Harris, C. Adam, MIF & SNY
Helm, Susan C., - DAU
Mensch, Bob, - MGY & HB1777 C0-sponsor
Moyer, Jay R., - MGY
Petri, Scott A., BUX
Ross, Chris -- CHE
Steil, David J. -- BUX


Please do all that you can to help get these bills passed and PLEASE
FORWARD THIS INFORMATION TO EVERY HAM IN PA THAT YOU CAN.

   Thank you all for your attention and assistance.
73,
Eric D. Olena, WB3FPL
ARRL Section Manager
Eastern Pennsylvania

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ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section
Section Manager: Eric D. Olena, WB3FPL
wb3fpl@arrl.org

[Pigmeat]

That's nice Al,but what is the legislation for or against?

[Fansome]

From the ARRL website:

The proposed bill would restrict municipalities from adopting "an
ordinance, regulation or plan or take any other action that precludes
Amateur Service communications"

[John Poet]

Seems like there's already a Federal statute that protects amateur radio operators' rights to some sort of antenna tower structures.  Wonder why this is necessary?

[ChrisSmolinski]

PRB-1 does help, but it doesn't go far enough.  Many states are passing laws that offer more protections to hams. The real problem, however, are the protective covenants that many developments have (you know, the ones that tell you which three colors you can paint your house). Often they have blanket prohibitions against antennas. I remember hearing a while back that in some cases, developers did that in exchange for a payment from the cable company. No TV antennas allowed means that you have to buy cable.

[N6PHW]

Every Ham in Pennsylvania:

Work on SB884.  If we can get it passed we'll have what we need.

HB1777 is DEAD.  Don't spend any effort on it.  It's gone, kaput, buried in Appropriations and never to be found again.

SB884 is being held hostage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee for political reasons, and we need to make the Herculean effort to get it out of that Committee and carried to the House floor for the vote.  Our District Representatives and the House Appropriations Committee Chairmen remain our target audience.

Go to http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm to figure out who your state representative is.  The Appropriations Committee co-chairmen are Reps. Dwight Evans and Mario Civera.  It's on the schedule in the PA General Assembly for 7 OCT.  Time is of the essence.

73 de N6PHW Nate

[Fansome]

The following information comes from Representative Kathy Watson's
Office via N3HBT.
     House bill (HB)1777 is going to be held and that the senate bill
884 is going to be voted on by the house on Monday.  If the house
passes it, then the bill will become law with the governor's signature.
 
73,
George, N3HBT
-----
  Last minute contacts with your representative is still possible.
73,
Eric, WB3FPL

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ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section
Section Manager: Eric D. Olena, WB3FPL
wb3fpl@arrl.org

[Fansome]

Makes me proud to have the callsign AL6FAN!!!

TOWER LEGISLATION PASSES-- 
  On Tuesday October 7, 2008 at 6:18 pm.  The Pa. House of
Representatives PASSED SB 884.  The vote was Yes - 196 and No - 1.
Withe the Senate having passed the bill perviously it now goes to the
Governor for his signature.

  Congratulations to ALL!!!
73,
Eric, WB3FPL

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ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section
Section Manager: Eric D. Olena, WB3FPL
wb3fpl@arrl.org

[Fansome]

Anyone wanting a PDF copy of Senate Bill 884 it is now available at
www.epa-arrl.org  .  On first page of that site in the lower right
quadrant click on the bottom line of the announcement. 

     Congratulations to all everyone of you did a lot to get this
passed.  This is not limited to all of those who made contact with
their state legislators but also to those in PA and the entire country
who did so much to heighten the reputation of Amateur Radio.

   The legislation now awaits Governor Rendell's signature.

     Thank you to all.

73,
Eric, WB3FPL

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ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section
Section Manager: Eric D. Olena, WB3FPL
wb3fpl@arrl.org

[Fansome]

To All,
     From senator Greenleaf's Office comes the following
information...
     "Governor Rendell signed SB 884 into law yesterday (October 8th).
It is now Act 88 (see below).  It takes effect in 60 days.  Based on
our calculations the measure would take effect on Monday, December 8th.
 While 60 days actually falls on Sunday, December 7th, the statutory
construction act states that if the 60th day falls on a Sunday, the
bill will take effect on Monday.  - Eric Pauley, Senator Greenleaf's
Office.
---------
  Again Thank You and Congratulations to all.
73,
Eric, WB3FPL