The Senate Judiciary Committee met to consider bills.

[larrymeyer]

The Senate Judiciary Committee met to consider bills.

SB 1150 Browne - (PN 1557) Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) further providing for cruelty to animals by prohibiting the use of live animals or fowl for targets at trap shoots or block shoots. The bill provides for definitions penalties. - The bill was passed over.


House Judiciary

HARRISBURG - (3/18/08, 10:00 a.m., Room G-50, Irvis Office Building)

The House Judiciary Committee met to consider two bills.

HB 1543 Solobay - (PN 1948) Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) by adding a criminal history record would be expunged when an individual who is the subject of the information petitions for expungement of the information and the individual has been free of arrest or prosecution following final release from confinement or supervision for a certain time period, based on the grading of the offense. This provision would not apply to certain individuals, including those who have been convicted of an offense punishable by imprisonment of more than two years or a violation relating to simple assault. Expungement would be prohibited for an offense relating to indecent exposure. - The bill was amended and held over.

A06082 by Marsico, stipulates that a Megan's Law offense cannot be expunged. The amendment was unanimously adopted.
Chairman Caltagirone's six amendment package was described by Counsel Bill Andring as a set of changes designed to fill various holes in the expungement statute.

A06090 by Caltagirone, clarifies the effect of expungement and stipulates any person who divulges expunged information is guilty of a summary offense. The amendment was held over.

Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) questioned, "why not say what we mean," and wondered what happens if an expungement is conducted incompletely. Andring explained that in drafting the amendment, appropriate language was lifted directly from the substance abuse act. He added it addresses more than just answering questions on an application. Rep. Harper contended she does not think the amendment addresses the problem of how a person should fill out a job application, and suggested the intention of the amendment should be made more explicit. Andring pointed out pertinent lines in the legislation he feels clearly convey its intent.
Annemarie Kaiser, Director of Legislative Affairs for the Office of the Attorney General (AG), remarked the AG's office shares the concerns of the District Attorneys, and is concerned that the current law from which the amendment draws its language was written in 1972 and is not that clear.

Mary Jo Mullen, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, commented that although the DAs support the bill, they would like an exception for hiring public safety officials. She also stated the effect on federal applications is unclear.
Chairman Caltagirone decided to hold over A06090 to further work on it with the AG's office and the DA association.

A06092 by Caltagirone, provides for the expungement of court docket information. The amendment was held over.

Concerned about "criminalizing innocent people," Rep. John Pallone (D-Westmoreland) stated that even information expunged tomorrow would have been available today and yesterday. He asserted there is "no way" to completely erase a person's history. Andring emphasized the intent of the legislation is not to regulate knowledge, but to regulate the custodians of records, the actual term for which in the legislation is "repository." He clarified expungement would not apply to investigative information. Rep. Pallone commented again that he believes expunged information will nevertheless end up "everywhere." Mullen commented the DA's Association believes the language of the amendment would restrict all court documents, not just the docket. She stated the sealed files may be needed at some future date. Andring remarked there is a provision that a court may keep basic information on an expunged individual. Mullen remarked there may be a need for clarification to limit only the restriction of court dockets rather than other court documents. Rep. Gabig commented he is not sure the amendment is a good idea without further clarification.

Acknowledging the continuing contention surrounding discussion of the amendments, Chairman Caltagirone noted he had tried to compile them into a single omnibus amendment, but it resulted in "chaos." Rep. Gabig stated the amendments "are more complex than the bill," and asked whether the various organizations involved are for or against them.

Chairman Caltagirone elected to postpone the meeting and continue working on refining the amendments, possibly attempting to combine them again into an omnibus.

The remaining four amendments were passed over.
A06093
A06095
A06224
A06225

Mike Howells, PA Legislative Services

[larrymeyer]

SB 1150: Browne Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) further providing for cruelty to animals by prohibiting the use of live animals or fowl for targets at trap shoots or block shoots. The bill provides for definitions penalties.
This is the pigeon shoot bill. It was passed over in committee this morning, which means it was taken of the table and no vote was cast. It could still be brought back up in the future.

HB 1845 & Amendments: Amends Title 18 (Crimes & Offenses) further providing for possession of firearms with altered manufacturer's numbers by increasing the grading of the offense to a felony of the second degree (from a misdemeanor of the first degree). Additionally, the legislation deletes language creating a presumption that possession of a firearm upon which any identification mark is changed, altered, removed or obliterated is be prima facie evidence that the possessor made the change or alteration and language providing for appellate review in instances where the identification mark is changed.
House Bill 1845 was scheduled for final consideration this week. It provides for enhanced penalties for possession of a firearm with altered manufacturer's (serial) number as well as increased penalties for altering or obliterating marks of identification on firearms. The original bill was not controversial but several amendments filed late last week were.

Two of the amendments are pro-gun and ones we SUPPORT:

The first amendment (A05131) is Rep. Cappelli’s bill – HB 641 – the Castle Doctrine that has been bottled up in the Judiciary Committee.

The second amendment (A05706) is Rep. Stevenson’s – HB 1029 – that will allow holders of a valid Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) PA License to Carry a Firearm to bypass (as an exception to) the PA Instant Check when purchasing a firearm.

We do NOT SUPPORT the other amendments, one of which was reporting lost & stolen firearms.

The House debated the "Reporting Lost & Stolen" amendment till 11:00 last night. It was mostly a speech by Rep. Parker (Phila.) about why this was needed and how it was not an infringement on our rights to buy a firearm. A few other representatives spoke against it, then Rep. Cutler asked to have the amendment withdrawn saying it was unconstitutional based on court rulings that said a convicted felon could not be charged for not reporting, because he would be incriminating himself.

Before Rep. Cutler finished, and any votes could be taken, discussion was cut off because of their rule to end session by 11:00pm.

They were to pick up where they left off at 11:00am this morning. (7 more amendments were filed on the bill last night.) However, when they got to the floor at 11:00, the Democrats were short by about 8 legislators, as they were all in Philly for the Obama rally this morning. When the Republicans made a motion to bring a bill up for vote, the Democrats had to quickly recess for some emergency. They kept everyone waiting around all day to give the 8 missing members a chance to return. When that didn't happen, they eventually recessed for the day.

They do not return for session until March 31st.

Rumor was that they didn't have the votes to pass their amendments, so they were going to try to table any further votes on amendments so we couldn't get any of our amendments voted on either. We'll have to wait till they return to see what develops.

Thanks to the NRA and John Hohenwarter for working with us on these issues! And thanks to everyone who took the time to contact their legislators on these issues.
MZ