The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Pennsylvania House Bill 109 requires cumulative environmental impact reports and public hearings for permits in environmental justice areas
Last action · April 7, 2025: Laid on the table, April 7, 2025Sponsors: Greg Vitali and 49 others
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What This Bill Proposed
Pennsylvania House Bill 109 requires applicants for new or expanded industrial, waste, mining, and energy facilities in designated s to submit cumulative environmental impact reports and participate in mandatory public hearings before the Department of Environmental Protection can issue permits. Beginning 180 days after enactment, the Department may impose additional mitigation measures, conditions, or deny permits based on cumulative impacts.
Residents in overburdened communities gain formal channels to review major facility applications, require local public hearings, and have municipal clerks recommend permit conditions or denials based on cumulative pollution levels.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Permit applicants for major facilities
Applicants must prepare and submit cumulative environmental impact reports and participate in local public hearings when siting or expanding facilities in environmental justice areas.
Residents of environmental justice areas
Residents gain mandatory public hearings, advance public notices, and comprehensive cumulative impact assessments for proposed industrial and waste facilities in their communities.
Municipalities
Municipal clerks receive permit applications and are authorized to recommend conditions, revisions, or disapprovals, requiring state justification if their advice is overridden.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an environmental justice area under this bill?
What must permit applicants submit when applying for a facility in an environmental justice area?
What role do local municipalities play in the permit process?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Tabled in the House.
Procedural history
4 actions- Apr 7, 2025HouseLaid on the table, April 7, 2025
- Apr 7, 2025HouseIntroducedFirst consideration, April 7, 2025
- Apr 7, 2025HouseReported as amended, April 7, 2025
- Jan 14, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION, Jan. 14, 2025
Version history & redline
2 versions on fileLobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 45 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Shift to Cumulative Impact Review
The bill shifts environmental permitting from isolated facility reviews to a cumulative impact assessment framework within designated environmental justice areas.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.palegis.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy65Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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