Rep. Rob Mercuri

Maddy summaryThis bill updates the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency Law to strengthen financial oversight of the state's housing finance agency. It requires the Auditor General to examine the agency's financial records by June 30, 2025, and every year after that date. Additionally, the agency must submit an annual financial report to the Governor, the Auditor General, and both houses of the state legislature within 60 days of each fiscal year's end. These changes aim to ensure transparency and accountability in how the agency manages funds for low- and moderate-income housing projects.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Pennsylvania schools to provide instruction on the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations. It mandates that the State Board of Education conduct a study every five years starting in the 2024-2025 school year to assess how widely these topics are taught across the state. Based on the study's findings, the board must create rules requiring all schools to offer this instruction if fewer than 90% of schools are currently doing so. The report generated by this study will be sent to state leaders and include recommendations for improving how the subject is taught.

Maddy summaryThis bill modifies Pennsylvania's tax laws to exempt first-time home buyers from state realty transfer taxes and grants local governments the authority to impose their own real estate transfer taxes. Under the new state provision, individuals who have never owned a single-family home in any state can avoid the transfer tax when purchasing such a property, provided that all buyers listed on the deed are first-time purchasers. Conversely, the bill allows specific local entities, such as cities, boroughs, and school districts, to vote on whether to levy a local transfer tax on property transactions within their boundaries. If a local government chooses to enact this tax, the exemption for first-time home buyers will not apply to that local levy.

Maddy summaryHB 2279 establishes the Grow Pennsylvania Merit Scholarship Program to provide tuition discounts for students attending specific in-demand occupations such as agriculture, engineering, and nursing. The bill defines key terms for the State System of Higher Education, including "in-demand occupation" as a job requiring high skills and offering family-sustaining wages, and creates new categories for university consolidations like the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. By amending the Public School Code of 1949, the legislation sets the legal framework and definitions necessary to administer this new scholarship initiative.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a Taxpayer Dividend Program in Pennsylvania to refund a portion of state budget surpluses to resident individual taxpayers. The program would distribute funds from the General Fund and the Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund to individuals who filed and paid taxes for the 2023 tax year. Money taken from the General Fund is limited to the existing surplus, while withdrawals from the Rainy Day Fund require a two-thirds legislative vote and must leave at least 6% of the fund's value intact. The Department of Revenue is tasked with identifying eligible recipients and processing payments, with the goal of returning accumulated surplus money rather than using it for expanded government spending.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Pennsylvania's public funds to evaluate geopolitical risks, such as war or terrorism, when deciding whether to invest in assets located in or connected to foreign countries. To implement this, public funds must create a specific investment policy outlining how they will assess these risks and must continue to follow existing laws regarding prudent investing and previous divestiture mandates. Additionally, the bill mandates that these funds publish an annual report by December 31 of each year listing all their investments held in foreign countries on their public websites.