[PaQSO] PA antenna bills

[CHARLES W MC MULLEN]

I have been reading all the stuff being posted about the antenna bills and had
spent a good bit of time last week researching them and following their
progress.   I'm postng this here in the hope that you may perhaps profit from
my work.  Please feel free to pass it on if you wish to do so.
73, Chuck - K3CM
 
A HISTORY OF THE ANTENNA BILLS
 
HB-1777 was introduced to the House on August 1, 2007 and sent to the House
Local Government Committee.  It essentially required that municipalities comply
with PRB-1 and other Federal  regulations pertaining to the Amateur Radio
Service.  It was amended in committee to remove all references to PRB-1 and all
other Federal regulations but pretty much mirrored the language of PRB-1.  It
was reported to the House on September 17, 2008.  It had been committee for
about 1 year and 2 weeks.  Upon being reported to the House, it was tabled.  On
September 22, it was removed from the table and sent to the Appropriations
Committee.  No furthur action has been taken.
 
SB-884 was introduced to the Senate on June 1, 2007 and sent to the Senate
Local Government Committee.  This bill and HB-1777 were identical twins as they
were  introduced.  SB-884 was amended in committee in two ways.  First, the
references to federal regulations were removed and replaced as they were in
HR-1777, and second, the bill was amended to make it an amendment to Title 53
of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes instead of being a stand-alone bill
like HB-1777.  This made it different bill, unrelated to HB-1777.  It was
reported out of commmitte as amended to the Senate floor for First
Consideration on June 25, 2008.  It had spent about 1 year and 3 weeks in
committee.  The Senate tabled it on July 3.  It was removed from the table on
September 16, read for Second Consideration on September 17, and for Third
Consideration on September 18.  A that time, it was amended on the floor to add
a minimum height for regulation of 65 feet.  A motion to table this amendment
by a Senator from Allegheny County who was strongly opposed failed by a vote of
21-29 and the amendment passed by a vote of 29-21.  The bill  was again read
for Third Condsieration on September 23 and amended without opposition to
require that any regulation of antennas state a clearly defined purpose for the
regulation as a part of the regulation.  The bill was given Third Consideration
and final passage on September 24 by a vote of 49-1.  The bill then moved to
the House of Representatives.   The following actions were taken in the House
on September 24.  The bill was referred to the Local Government Commmittee; it
was reported out of committee to the House floor as committed (i.e. without
amendment), read for First Consideration and tabled; it was removed form the
table and re-referred to the Appropriations Committee.
 
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE (in my opinion)
 
The legislature will meet on October 6, 7, and 8, then recess until next year. 
The session will end and any unpassed legislation will die.  Forget about
HB-1777, it's a dead duck.  There will be three days to get SB-884 out of
Appropriations and passed in the House.  We need to go after our
representatives in the House to get Appropriations to report SB-884 to the
House floor as early as possible on October 6.  Approproiations has a meeting
scheduled for October 6 but no time or agenda is specified.  In particular,
representatives in leadership positions or sitting on Appropriations need to be
strongly urged to get after the chairman to call the meeting and get this bill
moving.  It needs to be read on he House floor two more times before a vote can
be taken.  At each reading it can be moved to the next step, tabled, amended,
or re-referred to committee.  We need to have enough backing for the bill to
prevent anything but the next step to occur.  Tableing or being in committee
for a short time, up to a few hours, would probably not be fatal but would
seriously lessen the chances of passage.  An amendment is certain death.
 

P.S.  I don't think it's a coincidence that both of these bills ended up in the
House Appropriations Committee.
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