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
Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
act relating to the public school system, including certain
provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
laws relating thereto," providing for capital investment
needs.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known
as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by adding an
article to read:
ARTICLE XXVI-M
CAPITAL INVESTMENT NEEDS
Section 2601-M. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this article
shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"COVID-19." The novel coronavirus as identified in the
proclamation of disaster emergency issued by the Governor on
March 6, 2020, published at 50 Pa.B. 1644 (March 21, 2020), and
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any renewal of the state of disaster emergency.
"Department." The Department of Education of the
Commonwealth.
"School entity." A public school, including a charter school
or cyber charter school, private school, nonpublic school,
intermediate unit or area career and technical school operating
within this Commonwealth.
Section 2602-M. Reporting requirements.
(a) Authorization.--The department shall conduct a one-time
survey of each school entity to determine the amount of current
capital investment needs of the school entity. The survey shall:
(1) Include all needs related to physical, digital,
sanitary and curricular infrastructure of the school entity,
including resilience and climate requirements for energy
backup systems, air and temperature conditioning, insulation,
air filtration systems and any other environmental management
systems.
(2) Include an inventory of all delayed or deferred
capital projects of the school entity.
(3) Be based on the best available information provided
by the school entity.
(b) Report.--A r eport by a school entity in response to a
survey described in subsection (a) shall be provided to the
department and shall include:
(1) A full inventory of all infrastructure costs
currently delayed, deferred or predicted through the 2027-
2028 school year.
(2) The age and model of any current physical
infrastructure replaced since January 2020 or needing to be
replaced, in addition to other physical infrastructure
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details, including the full price of purchase or lease of the
infrastructure and the cost of installation of the
infrastructure.
(3) The full cost or best estimation of the full cost of
other educational infrastructure required for the purposes of
continuing education since January 2020, including laptops,
webcams, additional servers, curriculum adaptation or fees
for services for curriculum adaptation as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
(4) The full cost or best estimation of the full cost of
sanitation equipment, sanitation measures and sanitation
services purchased by the school entity, including personal
protective equipment, classroom and office sanitizers or
other sanitation needs.
(5) Major required equipment costing more than $1,000
since January 2020, which has already been purchased or
leased, including the costs paid to purchase or lease the
equipment.
(6) Equipment or infrastructure that has not yet been
purchased but that the school entity believes will be needed
to provide a safe, effective and sanitary school environment
through the end of the 2027-2028 school year.
Section 2603-M. Report to General Assembly.
The department shall consolidate the survey results under
this article and issue to the General Assembly a detailed report
of all current and predicted capital investment and
infrastructure needs of school entities throughout this
Commonwealth, including all capital costs resulting from the
COVID-19 pandemic. The report shall:
(1) Specify the full actual cost or best estimation of
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the full costs of the capital investment needs required for
all the school entities in this Commonwealth.
(2) Delineate between actual incurred costs that school
entities have already paid, in addition to predicted capital
costs for school entities, through the 2027-2028 school year.
Section 2604-M. Temporary regulations.
(a) Promulgation.--To facilitate the prompt implementation
of this article, the department shall promulgate temporary
regulations that shall expire not later than two years after the
publication of the temporary regulations in the Pennsylvania
Bulletin. The promulgated temporary regulations shall not be
subject to any of the following:
(1) Section 612 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,
No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929.
(2) Sections 201, 202, 203, 204 and 205 of the act of
July 31, 1968 (P.L.769, No.240), referred to as the
Commonwealth Documents Law.
(3) Sections 204(b) and 301(10) of the act of October
15, 1980 (P.L.950, No.164), known as the Commonwealth
Attorneys Act.
(4) The act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633, No.181), known as
the Regulatory Review Act.
(b) Expiration.--The authority of the department to
promulgate temporary regulations under subsection (a) shall
expire six months after the effective date of this subsection.
Regulations adopted after this period shall be promulgated as
provided by law.
(c) Publication.--The department shall transmit notice of
the temporary regulations under this section to the Legislative
Reference Bureau for publication in the next available issue of
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the Pennsylvania Bulletin no later than 90 days after the
effective date of this subsection.
Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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