HB 2161 — An Act amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in service and facilities, providing for tree removal agreements.
Congress · introduced 2026-01-28
Latest action: — Laid on the table, March 23, 2026
Sponsors
- Abigail Salisbury (D, PA-34) — sponsor · 2026-01-28
- Ben Waxman (D, PA-182) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Robert Freeman (D, PA-136) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Tarah Probst (D, PA-189) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Danielle Friel Otten (D, PA-155) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Carol Hill-Evans (D, PA-95) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Joseph C. Hohenstein (D, PA-177) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Christopher M. Rabb (D, PA-200) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
- Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz (D, PA-129) — cosponsor · 2026-01-28
Action timeline
- · house — Referred to ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION, Jan. 28, 2026
- · house — Reported as committed, March 23, 2026
- · house — First consideration, March 23, 2026
- · house — Laid on the table, March 23, 2026
Text versions
No text versions on file yet — same ingest as the action timeline populates these. Each version has direct links to the XML / HTML / PDF at govinfo.gov.
Bill text
Printer's No. 2804 · 3,059 characters · source document
Read the full text
PRINTER'S NO. 2804
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 2161
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY SALISBURY, WAXMAN, FREEMAN, PROBST, OTTEN, HILL-
EVANS, HOHENSTEIN, RABB AND CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, JANUARY 28, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE
PROTECTION, JANUARY 28, 2026
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, in service and facilities, providing
3 for tree removal agreements.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 66 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 1513. Tree removal agreements.
9 (a) Agreements.--On or after the effective date of this
10 subsection, if a public utility determines that the removal of a
11 tree is necessary for the public utility to provide adequate and
12 reliable service to the public and that the tree is the property
13 of a city, municipality or municipal authority, the public
14 utility shall offer to enter into an agreement with the city,
15 municipality or municipal authority that owns the tree requiring
16 the public utility to plant a tree in replacement of the tree
17 removed. As a condition of the agreement, the public utility
18 shall plant the replacement tree within two years of the removal
1 of a tree by the public utility. A city, municipality or
2 municipal authority shall not be obligated to accept the public
3 utility's offered agreement upon the removal of a tree.
4 (b) Replacement tree size.--If a city, municipality or
5 municipal authority accepts the public utility's offered
6 agreement, the public utility shall replace any tree over a
7 five-inch caliper utilizing the caliper inch replacement method
8 as follows:
9 (1) Each tree marked for removal is measured at the
10 standardized height and assigned a diameter at breast height
11 value.
12 (2) The assigned diameter at breast height value is then
13 halved.
14 (3) The halved value shall be the number of two-inch
15 replacement balled and burlapped trees necessary to replant.
16 (4) Appropriate replacement species and planting
17 locations shall be determined by the city, municipality or
18 municipal authority.
19 (c) Replacement fee.--A city, municipality or municipal
20 authority may request a replacement fee, equal to the assessed
21 value of the tree by a certified arborist, from the public
22 utility for the purpose of planting a tree, in lieu of planting
23 a tree.
24 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
20260HB2161PN2804 - 2 -Connected on the graph
Outbound (1)
| date | type | to | amount | role | source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | referred_to_committee | Pennsylvania House Environmental And Natural Resource Protection Committee | — | pa-leg |
The full graph
Every typed relationship touching this entity — 1 edge across 1 category. Grouped by what the connection is; the heaviest few are shown, with a link to the full list.
Committees
→ Referred to committee 1 edge
Who matters
Members ranked by combined influence on this bill: role (sponsor 5 / cosponsor 1), capped speech count from the Congressional Record, and recorded-vote engagement.
| # | Member | Role | Speeches | Voted | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abigail Salisbury (D, state_lower PA-34) | sponsor | 0 | — | 5 |
| 2 | Ben Waxman (D, state_lower PA-182) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 3 | Carol Hill-Evans (D, state_lower PA-95) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 4 | Christopher M. Rabb (D, state_lower PA-200) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 5 | Danielle Friel Otten (D, state_lower PA-155) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 6 | Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz (D, state_lower PA-129) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 7 | Joseph C. Hohenstein (D, state_lower PA-177) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 8 | Robert Freeman (D, state_lower PA-136) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
| 9 | Tarah Probst (D, state_lower PA-189) | cosponsor | 0 | — | 1 |
Predicted vote
Aggregated from: actual roll-call votes (when present) → sponsor → cosponsor → party median (predicts YES when ≥25% of the caucus sponsored/cosponsored). Each row labels its confidence tier so you can see why a position was predicted.
0 predicted yes (0%) · 543 predicted no (100%) · 0 unknown (0%)
By party: · R: 0 yes / 277 no · D: 0 yes / 263 no · I: 0 yes / 3 no
Activity
Every typed-graph event involving this entity, newest first. Each row is one edge in the influence graph; click the date to jump to its provenance.
- 2026-05-20 · was referred to Pennsylvania House Environmental And Natural Resource Protection Committee · pa-leg