PRLA Restaurant & Lodging Matters Winter 2020

24  • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters • Winter 2020 LEGISLATIVE CORNER State Items SECOND HALF OF SESSION HAS BEGUN We are officially half way through the Legislature’s two-year session. Both chambers returned to session this week to discuss legislative priorities for the year. Sen. Scarnati, President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, would like at least a vote in some form on property tax reform. Generally, revenues are coming in close to expectations so there is hope that the budget will be on time. Finally, SB 79, the minimum wage deal continues to languish in the House, as Republicans push back on being forced to support an increase without a better trade for it. Finally, 2020 is a key election year, which means all members of the House and half of the Senate are up for reelection, and you better believe they already have their eyes on what votes they need to make it through their individual primaries and general election. SPEAKING OF MINIMUM WAGE In November, the Senate passed minimum wage legislation (SB 79) by an overwhelming vote of 42-7. The legislation, which stemmed from weeks of closed door negotiations, contains the following provisions: • Increase the minimum wage from $7.25/ hour to $9.50/hour over the course of 2.5 years: » $8/hour on July 1, 2020; » $8.50/hour on January 1, 2021; » $9/hour on July 1, 2021; » $9.50/hour on January 1, 2022. • The tipped wage is preserved at $2.83/hour. • Credit card service charges may no longer be deducted from tips. • The wage is not tied to inflation, so it will not increase automatically, and state preemption is preserved so municipalities may not have a different wage than the state standard. Because of this move by the Senate, the Governor pulled back his proposed overtime regulation in hopes that the House would vote on the bill. So far, the House has refused to vote on the bill. Because of the House’s inaction, the Governor has requested the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) to consider his proposed overtime regulation on January 31. The proposal would increase the salary threshold for exempt employees to $45,500 by January 2022 and then increase it every three years according to inflation. If the House does not act on the minimum wage deal, the overtime rule will take effect. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? By now, PRLA has requested that you reach out to your House members and urge their support of the compromise. Because you all will have done so (fingers crossed), hopefully we are all celebrating this minimum wage compromise and pull back of the overtime regulation! ALCOHOL LEGISLATION The Senate Law & Justice Committee is slated to consider a slew of bills and initiatives before the legislature breaks for budget hearings in February. As of now, the following PRLA priorities are included in the proposed package of bills: • HB 1617 (Staats–R, Bucks): Would allow H licenses in existence before 1949, that have obtained a room exemption, to convert to a Restaurant license for a fee of $30,000. • HB 896 (Regan–R, Cumberland): Would allow licenses that do not receive bids in the PLCB license auction to be sold through a statewide auction. Only one new license could go into a county per year. • Establishment of a decibel level for noise for all licensees, as opposed to the current provision that allows a violation to be given if noise is heard at the property line. • Eliminates the current requirement that all bottles need to be either broken if they are not recycled or defaced if they are. • Allows for the delivery of wine, similar to delivery of beer. • Allows wine sold for off-premise consumption to be sold at a different price than wine sold for on-premise consumption. There is no guarantee that all of these priorities will be considered at the Law & Justice Committee meeting, but they have made the preliminary list for consideration. FOOD SAFETY CERTIFICATION In 2019, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture sent letters to licensed food establishments alerting them to an upcoming food safety certification change. The change would require someone with a certification to be on the premises at all times rather than being accessible at all times. This change requires the Department to go through the regulatory process—a process that takes, in many cases, over a year. As of yet, the Department has not submitted the proposed regulations to make the change so the earliest this would take effect is 2021. STATE LOCAL FEDERAL