HB 726 — An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, providing for capital investment needs.

PRINTER'S NO.   747

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 726
                                                  Session of
                                                    2025

     INTRODUCED BY WEBSTER, MADDEN, PROBST, HILL-EVANS, OTTEN,
        SANCHEZ, RIVERA, DAVIDSON AND CIRESI, FEBRUARY 25, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 25, 2025


                                       AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
 2      act relating to the public school system, including certain
 3      provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
 4      schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
 5      laws relating thereto," providing for capital investment
 6      needs.
 7      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 8   hereby enacts as follows:
 9      Section 1.     The act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known
10   as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by adding an
11   article to read:
12                               ARTICLE XXVI-M
13                          CAPITAL INVESTMENT NEEDS
14   Section 2601-M.    Definitions.
15      The following words and phrases when used in this article
16   shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
17   context clearly indicates otherwise:
18      "COVID-19."     The novel coronavirus as identified in the
19   proclamation of disaster emergency issued by the Governor on
20   March 6, 2020, published at 50 Pa.B. 1644 (March 21, 2020), and
 1   any renewal of the state of disaster emergency.
 2      "Department."    The Department of Education of the
 3   Commonwealth.
 4      "School entity."    A public school, including a charter school
 5   or cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school,
 6   intermediate unit or area career and technical school operating
 7   within this Commonwealth.
 8   Section 2602-M.    Reporting requirements.
 9      (a)   Authorization.--The department shall conduct a one-time
10   survey of each school entity to determine the amount of current
11   capital investment needs of the school entity. The survey shall:
12            (1)   Include all needs related to physical, digital,
13      sanitary and curricular infrastructure of the school entity,
14      including resilience and climate requirements for energy
15      backup systems, air and temperature conditioning, insulation,
16      air filtration systems and any other environmental management
17      systems.
18            (2)   Include an inventory of all delayed or deferred
19      capital projects of the school entity.
20            (3)   Be based on the best available information provided
21      by the school entity.
22      (b)   Report.--A report by a school entity in response to a
23   survey described in subsection (a) shall be provided to the
24   department and shall include:
25            (1)   A full inventory of all infrastructure costs
26      currently delayed, deferred or predicted through the 2027-
27      2028 school year.
28            (2)   The age and model of any current physical
29      infrastructure replaced since January 2020 or needing to be
30      replaced, in addition to other physical infrastructure

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 1      details, including the full price of purchase or lease of the
 2      infrastructure and the cost of installation of the
 3      infrastructure.
 4          (3)   The full cost or best estimation of the full cost of
 5      other educational infrastructure required for the purposes of
 6      continuing education since January 2020, including laptops,
 7      webcams, additional servers, curriculum adaptation or fees
 8      for services for curriculum adaptation as a result of the
 9      COVID-19 pandemic.
10          (4)   The full cost or best estimation of the full cost of
11      sanitation equipment, sanitation measures and sanitation
12      services purchased by the school entity, including personal
13      protective equipment, classroom and office sanitizers or
14      other sanitation needs.
15          (5)   Major required equipment costing more than $1,000
16      since January 2020, which has already been purchased or
17      leased, including the costs paid to purchase or lease the
18      equipment.
19          (6)   Equipment or infrastructure that has not yet been
20      purchased but that the school entity believes will be needed
21      to provide a safe, effective and sanitary school environment
22      through the end of the 2027-2028 school year.
23   Section 2603-M.   Report to General Assembly.
24      The department shall consolidate the survey results under
25   this article and issue to the General Assembly a detailed report
26   of all current and predicted capital investment and
27   infrastructure needs of school entities throughout this
28   Commonwealth, including all capital costs resulting from the
29   COVID-19 pandemic. The report shall:
30          (1)   Specify the full actual cost or best estimation of

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 1      the full costs of the capital investment needs required for
 2      all the school entities in this Commonwealth.
 3            (2)   Delineate between actual incurred costs that school
 4      entities have already paid, in addition to predicted capital
 5      costs for school entities, through the 2027-2028 school year.
 6   Section 2604-M.    Temporary regulations.
 7      (a)   Promulgation.--To facilitate the prompt implementation
 8   of this article, the department shall promulgate temporary
 9   regulations that shall expire not later than two years after the
10   publication of the temporary regulations in the Pennsylvania
11   Bulletin. The promulgated temporary regulations shall not be
12   subject to any of the following:
13            (1)   Section 612 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,
14      No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929.
15            (2)   Sections 201, 202, 203, 204 and 205 of the act of
16      July 31, 1968 (P.L.769, No.240), referred to as the
17      Commonwealth Documents Law.
18            (3)   Sections 204(b) and 301(10) of the act of October
19      15, 1980 (P.L.950, No.164), known as the Commonwealth
20      Attorneys Act.
21            (4)   The act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633, No.181), known as
22      the Regulatory Review Act.
23      (b)   Expiration.--The authority of the department to
24   promulgate temporary regulations under subsection (a) shall
25   expire six months after the effective date of this subsection.
26   Regulations adopted after this period shall be promulgated as
27   provided by law.
28      (c)   Publication.--The department shall transmit notice of
29   the temporary regulations under this section to the Legislative
30   Reference Bureau for publication in the next available issue of

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1   the Pennsylvania Bulletin no later than 90 days after the
2   effective date of this subsection.
3      Section 2.   This act shall take effect immediately.




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