As the legislature’s summer recess winds to a close, bills introduced earlier in the session should get further consideration. In the Senate, one bill might have a major effect on how Pennsylvanians purchase and adopt new pets.
 
Sen. Thomas Killion (R-Delaware) introduced “Victoria’s Law” in February, which would ban the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits from breeding mills. Pet stores would only be allowed to sell animals obtained from an animal-care facility or rescue organization, which must be displayed next to each individual cage in the store.

With the 2019-20 school year underway, some families face a familiar battle: waking up teens for early school day starts. A study commissioned by the state Senate could bring an armistice for high schoolers who dread those early alarms.
 
The Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission is currently investigating whether students would benefit from later start times at secondary schools. The study was launched by Senate Resolution 417, which passed last fall.

Lawmakers shared concerns about the lack of regulation for ongoing and future pipeline projects in Pennsylvania during Tuesday’s joint hearing with the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

“We have to protect our citizens,” Sen. Tommy Tomlinson (R-Bucks) said. “Safety is paramount.”

The Senate State Government Committee on Monday unanimously advanced a vehicle bill for any redistricting plan that may or may not be agreed to in the coming days.

 

The positioning of the bill on Monday was said to be important due to the tight timeline given by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the order they issued just a week ago giving the General Assembly until February 9, 2018, to get to the governor a new map based on the criteria used for the drawing of state legislative districts, in order to prevent the court from using a newly-appointed special master to draw a court-approved map based on non-partisan criteria.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Wednesday announced it has suspended Sunoco’s permit to build out the Mariner East II pipeline after repeated violations following the restart of the project in August following a prior temporary suspension.

 

According to the order, issued by DEP on Wednesday, the suspension will last until Sunoco can prove to DEP that it has implemented policies to remedy permit violations.