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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 1, 2022 12:07 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Christopher M. Rabb |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Updating the Pennsylvania Soil & Plant Amendment Acts |
| Historically, the requirements of the Pennsylvania Fertilizer Act and the Pennsylvania Soil & Plant Amendment Act have been aligned, which has allowed industry to easily comply with both laws as well as the Department of Agriculture to develop regulatory programs that mirrored each other. On July 11, 2022, SB251 was signed into law as Chapter 68 under Act 83, which updated the PA Fertilizer Law. Changes in Act 83 were made to modernize product registration and tonnage reporting for fertilizer. These changes have caused the fertilizer program to be different than the soil & plant amendment program. This legislation seeks to amend Chapter 69 of the Act of December 13, 2001 (P.L. 876, No. 97), known as the Soil and Plant Amendment Act. These updates will realign the product registration process and tonnage reporting with that of fertilizer. Unlike fertilizer, there are no fee increases being proposed in this amendment, only improvements to the process. Furthermore, the recommended amendments change registration requirements so that a company who paid the registration fee under the fertilizer law does not have to pay the feed under the soil and plant amendment law; however the product would still need to be registered to show that it is a dual-purpose product. Further, the proposed amendments remove the small package tonnage designation for soil and plant amendments, which aligns with the fertilizer law that was passed on July 11, 2022. It also removes the double tonnage reporting requirement for products that are registered as both a fertilizer and a soil & plant amendment. Please join in supporting this modest, but important effort to improve this statute. |
Introduced as HB295