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House Bill 2832


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you beat me to posting this morning, i received this from org president last night.

A cooresponding bill for non-school sports and recreation has now been introduced.  It is PA House Bill 2832.  It is due to be voted on as soon as September 15.  We need it to pass with veto-proof majorities as well.  According to the bill's sponsor, it will be modified to include indoor sport specific language.  If you want to play hockey with full rosters, please contact your legislators for passage of HB2832 in the interests of non-school indoor sports activity operating at 50% capacity instead of a 25 max gathering limit!

You can find your representatives here: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm

Make sure they hear us!

 

so in answer to your question, it is supposedly going to be modified by the sponsor.

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From Darcee Purvis to PAHL Organizations:

Over the last week I have spent a good bit of time going over again in detail the Covid documents that are ruling our activity right now.  I have also had multiple conversations with Mid Am leadership concerning the same, and concerning some upcoming legislation, PA HB2832.  

What is abundantly clear is that the documents that have been put out over the last couple months are inconsistent and poorly written.  Because of that the result is that we end up bound to follow the most restrictive interpretation to be compliant.  So Mid Am has continued to say that the 25 max limit ordered by the governor must be adhered to in order for our games to be sanctioned.  This is how their legal council has continued to interpret the restrictions.  It is the same on the eastern side of the state in the Atlantic District.  I have pushed and prodded to change the interpretation, but without success.  So a different plan of action is needed while we wait for the Governor to change his mind.

Recently legislation was passed in the PA House that can unencumber youth sports under the jurisdiction of a school district.  That legislation is in the PA Senate now, awaiting passage there.  It passed through the Appropriations Committee today, 19-5, and will advance to the full Senate for consideration. 

There is new legislation that will be considered next week when the PA House is back in session (9/15) that will go the next step to aid the operation of youth sports in an indoor venue.  That is PA HB2832 (see attached) which will "provide for event venue indoor space operation" and be subject to "Limitation.--An event venue may not use more than 50% of the event venue's seating capacity during operation".  I have been told by Mid Am leadership that if this bill passes and is not opposed by the governor, then Mid Am will sanction our games with full rosters, to the extent that the full rosters and staff, plus permitted spectators, plus anyone else in the building, does not exceed 50% of the building capacity as noted in the bill.  This also has been run past their legal council.

In the case of all of our rinks, that should be more than sufficient to play our games with full rosters and a reasonable number of spectators, appropriately social distanced and masked, etc. 

 

There is always the possibility that something else could happen in the meantime to remove restrictions.  Today, the governor loosened up on restaurants, moving to 50% from 25%.  However, we don't want to stop moving and trying to enact change while we wait.

 

ACTION ITEM

Please have your membership email/call their PA legislators once again to push for the approval of PA HB2832 (attached).  They need to hear from their constituents that this is an important bill to the operation of youth amateur sports in an indoor venue.  We need this to pass with a veto proof majority.  Contact everyone in your district, republicans and democrats.  We want the kids to be able to play and we want the parents to be able to watch. 

 

Find your legislator:

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm

Contact house legislators:

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/contact.cfm?body=H

 

I know everyone is grasping at straws to get things opened up.  Trying to fit our sport into other interpretations that will let us play right now like we want.  Please, patience.  

We still have 6 weeks before we are slated to begin PAHL game play for the regular season.  That is a lot of time for change to happen.  

We meet again next Tuesday.  At that time we will discuss what happens through this week, and we can talk about other contingency planning.  The Ex Board will be meeting again this weekend to go over the backup Plan for the 25 max, and will also discuss other contingency options. 

Thanks. 

Darcee

Darcee Purvis
Executive Director, PAHL
pahlconnect@pahockey.com
724-853-2474 (H)

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I'm also going to post this here, it is a quote from what I posted in the Wolf thread but also relevant to this:

 

Quote

https://www.pennlive.com/sports/2020/09/pa-gov-tom-wolf-plans-to-veto-bill-that-lets-schools-decide-whether-to-hold-sports-and-set-attendance-limits.html?outputType=amp

If the numbers are correct from this article about the Senate and the one I read about the House, the legislature has enough votes to override his veto. The question is do they have the fortitude?

 

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26 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

I bet some of the legislature chickens out and doesn't override the veto but we will see. 

That could always happen. One thing that is true, Wolf does not want to give the republicans or the legislators a win on anything. Right  before 2787 was up for vote he came out and said spectators can now goto events but they need to abide by the limits set forth. 2832 goes to committee, wolf comes out and says restaurants can possibly goto 50% capacity. I just saw him on the news this afternoon talking about the veto of 2787, unfortunately I could hear it all at work. 

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41 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

I bet some of the legislature chickens out and doesn't override the veto but we will see. 

I guarantee you, and I have a fair share of experience in state politics, that some of the Dem representatives voted yes to assuage their voters. They are being arm twisted and promised to change their votes right now. 

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1 hour ago, Novos51 said:

I guarantee you, and I have a fair share of experience in state politics, that some of the Dem representatives voted yes to assuage their voters. They are being arm twisted and promised to change their votes right now. 

It's not "arm twisting". It a representative democracy, and politicians should vote what the constituents want, not what they may personally want. Glad to see it maybe actually panning out that way. 

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6 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

It's not "arm twisting". It a representative democracy, and politicians should vote what the constituents want, not what they may personally want. Glad to see it maybe actually panning out that way. 

Agreed.

Only on this thread could bi-partisan support of this bill be passed off as “arm twisting“ and Democrats “promised to change their votes right now.”  @Novos51 I am sure you have proof of that or some insider information to back such a claim?  

Politicians that don’t answer to their constituents get voted out of office. 

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13 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

It's not "arm twisting". It a representative democracy, and politicians should vote what the constituents want, not what they may personally want. Glad to see it maybe actually panning out that way. 

Wow. That's a weird take. Shouldn't they vote based on what they feel is the right thing to do? Vote based what the constituents want if you're only interest is getting reelected. Unfortunately, I think that they mostly do just that.

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2 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

It's not "arm twisting". It a representative democracy, and politicians should vote what the constituents want, not what they may personally want. Glad to see it maybe actually panning out that way. 

Pretty sure he meant the governor was doing the arm twisting and we will see the true results when the veto override vote comes up.  

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2 hours ago, Quinlan2020 said:

Wow. That's a weird take. Shouldn't they vote based on what they feel is the right thing to do? Vote based what the constituents want if you're only interest is getting reelected. Unfortunately, I think that they mostly do just that.

Unfortunately they are going to vote not to override the veto because wolf threatens to withhold local funding from the Dems who vote against him. Let's see...

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4 hours ago, Quinlan2020 said:

Wow. That's a weird take. Shouldn't they vote based on what they feel is the right thing to do? Vote based what the constituents want if you're only interest is getting reelected. Unfortunately, I think that they mostly do just that.

Not weird at all. The vote of a congressman, senator, state rep, whatever is supposed to represent the will of the majority of constituents of that politician. 

For example: if there's a vote on abolishing daylight savings time... The majority of my constituents want to abolish it. I personally love it and want to keep it as is. My duty as a representative is to vote to abolish it, as my obligation is to the people I represent, not to my individual self. 

This is why it's important to contact your government representatives and make your will known. About anything important. 

When you vote, of course you keep in mind who will most likely hold the same personal opinion as you do. But in the end if these representatives are doing their job correctly, ultimately it shouldn't matter what party they are. If they don't put personal feelings aside and they vote against the interests of the people they're obligated to, how the next election goes for them works itself out. That's why it's important to vote- if the overwhelming majority voted instead of writing it off as "it doesn't matter", the country would be a lot different than what it is right now. 

It's also important that you vote, as they look at what areas have big turnout and which ones have low turnout. This oftentimes- rightfully or wrongly- determines who gets their roads paved, who gets their streetlights fixed, etc. But that's another topic. 

My point is that improvement from the disaster that is America right now will only happen  when people forget about focusing on someone kneeling for an anthem, or wasting their time focusing on whatever circus act the president committed today, and put that thought and energy into learning more about politics and civics than most politicians do, and using that to their advantage. 

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9 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

Not weird at all. The vote of a congressman, senator, state rep, whatever is supposed to represent the will of the majority of constituents of that politician. 

For example: if there's a vote on abolishing daylight savings time... The majority of my constituents want to abolish it. I personally love it and want to keep it as is. My duty as a representative is to vote to abolish it, as my obligation is to the people I represent, not to my individual self. 

This is why it's important to contact your government representatives and make your will known. About anything important. 

When you vote, of course you keep in mind who will most likely hold the same personal opinion as you do. But in the end if these representatives are doing their job correctly, ultimately it shouldn't matter what party they are. If they don't put personal feelings aside and they vote against the interests of the people they're obligated to, how the next election goes for them works itself out. That's why it's important to vote- if the overwhelming majority voted instead of writing it off as "it doesn't matter", the country would be a lot different than what it is right now. 

It's also important that you vote, as they look at what areas have big turnout and which ones have low turnout. This oftentimes- rightfully or wrongly- determines who gets their roads paved, who gets their streetlights fixed, etc. But that's another topic. 

My point is that improvement from the disaster that is America right now will only happen  when people forget about focusing on someone kneeling for an anthem, or wasting their time focusing on whatever circus act the president committed today, and put that thought and energy into learning more about politics and civics than most politicians do, and using that to their advantage. 

it's frightening that this (9th grade civics) needs to be explained.

it's even more frightening that we have a governor who's response to a bi-partisan bill supported by the state representatives constituents enough to flip some votes to make it supposedly veto proof is "The Legislature should stop wasting time and pass the governor’s plan to help Pennsylvanians.”

so basically, eff you people of PA, do what i say. maybe if Wolf would stop wasting time vetoing the people's desires and creating a system of protections based on logic, the legislature could spend more time looking at his plan.

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10 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

Not weird at all. The vote of a congressman, senator, state rep, whatever is supposed to represent the will of the majority of constituents of that politician. 

For example: if there's a vote on abolishing daylight savings time... The majority of my constituents want to abolish it. I personally love it and want to keep it as is. My duty as a representative is to vote to abolish it, as my obligation is to the people I represent, not to my individual self. 

This is why it's important to contact your government representatives and make your will known. About anything important. 

When you vote, of course you keep in mind who will most likely hold the same personal opinion as you do. But in the end if these representatives are doing their job correctly, ultimately it shouldn't matter what party they are. If they don't put personal feelings aside and they vote against the interests of the people they're obligated to, how the next election goes for them works itself out. That's why it's important to vote- if the overwhelming majority voted instead of writing it off as "it doesn't matter", the country would be a lot different than what it is right now. 

It's also important that you vote, as they look at what areas have big turnout and which ones have low turnout. This oftentimes- rightfully or wrongly- determines who gets their roads paved, who gets their streetlights fixed, etc. But that's another topic. 

My point is that improvement from the disaster that is America right now will only happen  when people forget about focusing on someone kneeling for an anthem, or wasting their time focusing on whatever circus act the president committed today, and put that thought and energy into learning more about politics and civics than most politicians do, and using that to their advantage. 

That is not the way it was designed to work but it is the way most politicians often operate. They are suppose to be smart enough to gather more information than the common citizen so they can make a decision that will most benefit their constituents.  It does not always translate to what the constituents want the decision to be. I, personally, wish that my taxes would go down. Maybe they should. Most would want that to happen. I'm not qualified to weigh the benefits of that vs the negative effects it may have. Elected officials are supposed to be leaders as opposed to followers.

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34 minutes ago, Quinlan2020 said:

That is not the way it was designed to work but it is the way most politicians often operate. They are suppose to be smart enough to gather more information than the common citizen so they can make a decision that will most benefit their constituents.  It does not always translate to what the constituents want the decision to be. I, personally, wish that my taxes would go down. Maybe they should. Most would want that to happen. I'm not qualified to weigh the benefits of that vs the negative effects it may have. Elected officials are supposed to be leaders as opposed to followers.

THIS GUY GETS IT.  100%.

Side note- Here in TX, rinks are pretty much wide open and I know of 3 teams that have had COVID outbreaks already and a 29 yr old 16UAA coach died from a drug OD trying to fight it on his own.  Got an email yesterday that one of the teams my son played against this past weekend now has positive tests.  If things continue like this, hockey will get shut down here, believe me.  When one of these kids' grandmother dies, it's going to be really sad.  So, our Republican Gov. is opening shit up and believe me, our hospitalization numbers and our daily death count are way higher than PA.   

Does that mean I think a 25 person cap, regardless of Sq Ft. is reasonable? Of course not.  You should totally fight that. My kid played this past weekend, despite the risks I'm well aware of.  But, don't assume that the legislators just have it out for you.  The reason you don't know of many cases up there is likely BECAUSE of the restrictions.  To say "nobody is even getting it, why all the rules?" is actually backwards in this case.

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5 hours ago, champeen said:

THIS GUY GETS IT.  100%.

Side note- Here in TX, rinks are pretty much wide open and I know of 3 teams that have had COVID outbreaks already and a 29 yr old 16UAA coach died from a drug OD trying to fight it on his own.  Got an email yesterday that one of the teams my son played against this past weekend now has positive tests.  If things continue like this, hockey will get shut down here, believe me.  When one of these kids' grandmother dies, it's going to be really sad.  So, our Republican Gov. is opening shit up and believe me, our hospitalization numbers and our daily death count are way higher than PA.   

Does that mean I think a 25 person cap, regardless of Sq Ft. is reasonable? Of course not.  You should totally fight that. My kid played this past weekend, despite the risks I'm well aware of.  But, don't assume that the legislators just have it out for you.  The reason you don't know of many cases up there is likely BECAUSE of the restrictions.  To say "nobody is even getting it, why all the rules?" is actually backwards in this case.

Well said. Also worth keeping in mind is this: while the virus is a real threat, how my family is handling it is by being very cautious. Hockey is probably not the greatest idea... but you have to decide what things are high risk/low risk, and is something worth a risk or not. But still be cautious. For sanity's sake. My son eats, sleeps, and breathes hockey. Is that worth the risk in our case? We think so. Sitting down to eat in Red Lobster? Not so much. 

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12 hours ago, Danner27 said:

Any news on the “veto override” today ? 

He hasn't vetoed it yet. He will likely sit on it for 10 days to get as many votes lined up as possible and it doesn't become law til he signs it or the veto gets override so that buys him more time.  In other news here is a strategy, just claim you don't have the capacity to police people and let whoever the hell you want in https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/09/12/high-school-football-fans-in-stands-week-1/

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Perhaps I am missing some of the more salient points of the entire discussion specific to Hockey.

As I understand it so far, none of the current legislation helps the cause of attendance at Hockey. The bills we have discussed as nauseum deal with the ability of school districts to dictate attendance numbers at venues under their control. Again, I could be wrong, but I believe only SSA has their own on campus ice sheet. All other school districts can dictate how many fans, personnel, players can attend but in the end, we are still beholding to the dictates of the rinks that we play in.

As I said, I may be wrong.

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that’s correct. and as much as i agree that so many of these restrictions are arbitrary and ridiculous i don’t get why so much energy is going in to the current bill. without it, schools get to decide and can have fans up to the limits. NO -wolf is not going to allow a school district to decide limits are more than 25/250. and if this bill does go through then the real bill that matters (indoor limits increase to % of capacity rather than 25) will get pushed aside bc i don’t think two in a row will go through. if they were going to buck the system it should be for 2832 bc it would help schools as well 

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1 hour ago, hockey2020 said:

that’s correct. and as much as i agree that so many of these restrictions are arbitrary and ridiculous i don’t get why so much energy is going in to the current bill. without it, schools get to decide and can have fans up to the limits. NO -wolf is not going to allow a school district to decide limits are more than 25/250. and if this bill does go through then the real bill that matters (indoor limits increase to % of capacity rather than 25) will get pushed aside bc i don’t think two in a row will go through. if they were going to buck the system it should be for 2832 bc it would help schools as well 

My feelings exactly, 2787 opened doors in general, now the democrats are re thinking their votes per the veto override. 2832 will never make it, it completely goes against the governor.   

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