1 1 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2 HOUSE VETERANS AFFAIRS & EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS 3 AND HOUSE TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS 4 CAPITOL POST OFFICE LOBBY 5 TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017 6 10:08 A.M. 7 PUBLIC HEARING - EMERGENCY TOWING LIGHTS AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR HEAVY DUTY TOW TRUCK PURSUANT TO HB 1414 8 AND HB 1678 9 VETERANS AFFAIRS & EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMITTEE 10 BEFORE: HONORABLE STEPHEN BARRAR, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE KAREN BOBACK 11 HONORABLE ROSEMARY M. BROWN HONORABLE LYNDA SCHLEGEL CULVER 12 HONORABLE GARY W. DAY HONORABLE FRANK FARRY 13 HONORABLE MARK M. GILLEN HONORABLE KEITH J. GREINER 14 HONORABLE LEE R. JAMES HONORABLE BARRY J. JOZWIAK 15 HONORABLE ZACHARY A. MAKO HONORABLE JIM MARSHALL 16 HONORABLE KATHY L. RAPP HONORABLE FRANCIS XAVIER RYAN 17 HONORABLE WILL TALLMAN HONORABLE CHRIS SAINATO, MINORITY CHAIRMAN 18 HONORABLE RYAN A. BIZZARRO HONORABLE FRANK BURNS 19 HONORABLE DOM COSTA HONORABLE MARIA P. DONATUCCI 20 HONORABLE KEVIN HAGGERTY HONORABLE CAROL HILL-EVANS 21 HONORABLE BILL KORTZ HONORABLE ANITA ASTORINO KULIK 22 HONORABLE ADAM J. RAVENSTAHL HONORABLE PETER SCHWEYER 23 24 25 SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 2 1 TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE 2 HONORABLE LYNDA SCHLEGEL CULVER, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE KATE HARPER 3 HONORABLE DOYLE HEFFLEY HONORABLE JOHN LAWRENCE 4 HONORABLE WILLIAM KELLER, MINORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE WILLIAM KORTZ 5 HONORABLE ED NEILSON HONORABLE MICHAEL SCHLOSSBERG 6 7 COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: 8 ERIC BUGAILE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MAJORITY HOUSE TRANSPORTATION 9 COMMITTEE 10 BETH SICKLER RESEARCH ANALYST, MAJORITY HOUSE TRANSPORTATION 11 COMMITTEE 12 NANCY COLE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, MAJORITY HOUSE 13 TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE 14 GREGORY MORELAND RESEARCH ANALYST 15 MEREDITH BIGGICA 16 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MINORITY HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE 17 KYLE WAGONSELLER 18 RESEARCH ANALYST, HOUSE 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 3 1 I N D E X 2 OPENING REMARKS 3 By Chairman Barrar 4 - 7 By Chairman Sainato 7 4 By Chairman Keller 7 - 8 By Chairman Culver 8 - 9 5 PRESENTATION 6 By Ms. Debbie Abel Mr. John Abel 7 Mr. Ronald Bressler 10 - 15 8 QUESTIONS 15 - 46 9 PRESENTATION By Mr. Bob Pento 10 Mr. Matt Hedge 47 - 52 11 QUESTIONS 52 - 88 12 PRESENTATION By Amanda Henry 13 Ken Lenhart Mike Hippensteel 14 Jeff Walter 88 - 91 15 QUESTIONS 91 - 105 16 PRESENTATION By Lieutenant Brian Ianuzzi 105 - 109 17 QUESTIONS 109 - 116 18 CONCLUDING REMARKS 19 By Chairman Barrar 116 - 117 20 21 22 23 24 25 SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ----------------------------------------------------------- 3 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: First I'd like to ask everyone if 4 had put out some extra packets of testimony. Sean, where are 5 those extra packets at? Okay. We have extras right here. Can 6 we put these out so people can access them? Everyone get their 7 packet. 8 Okay. Good morning, everyone. I would like to ask 9 Subcommittee Chair Lynda Culver if she would lead us in the 10 Pledge of Allegiance. 11 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE RECITED 12 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: Okay. 13 Good morning. I want to thank you all for 14 participating today and, you know, getting up here today. It's 15 an important meeting. 16 And a big thank you to the Fire Commissioner Solobay 17 and his staff for hosting us today. 18 My name is Steve Barrar. I am the Majority Chairman 19 of the Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee. 20 And I would like at this time to ask the Chairmen here to 21 introduce themselves. 22 CHAIRMAN SAINATO: Good morning. I'm Representative 23 Chris Sainato. I'm the Democratic Chair of the House Budget 24 Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee. 25 CHAIRMAN KELLER: Good morning. My name is Bill SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 5 1 Keller. I represent the 184th District in South Philadelphia. 2 I'm the Democratic Chair of the Transportation Committee. 3 CHAIRMAN CULVER: Good morning. Lynda Schlegel 4 Culver, Subcommittee Chair on Highways for the Transportation 5 Committee. 6 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: And I would ask the members and 7 the staff also then to introduce themselves, starting with 8 Sean. 9 MR. HARRIS: Sean Harris, Research Analyst with the 10 Committee. 11 REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: Frank Farry, Representative, 12 Bucks County. 13 REPRESENTATIVE MAKO: Zack Mako, Lehigh and 14 Northampton County. 15 REPRESENTATIVE COSTA: Dom Costa, Allegheny County. 16 REPRESENTATIVE DAY: Gary Day, Lehigh and Berks 17 County. 18 REPRESENTATIVE LAWRENCE: John Lawrence, Chester and 19 Lancaster County. 20 REPRESENTATIVE RYAN: Frank Ryan, Lebanon County. 21 REPRESENTATIVE TALLMAN: Will Tallman, Adams and 22 Cumberland. 23 REPRESENTATIVE HARPER: Kate Harper, Montgomery 24 County. 25 MS. MEREDITH BIGGICA: Executive Director, Minority SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 6 1 House Transportation Committee. 2 MR. MORELAND: Greg Moreland, Research Analyst, 3 Transportation Committee, office of Chairman John Taylor. 4 MR. O'LEARY: Rick O'Leary, Executive Director for 5 Chairman Barrar. 6 REPRESENTATIVE KORTZ: Good morning, everyone. 7 Representative Bill Kortz from Allegheny County, 38th District. 8 REPRESENTATIVE BARBIN: Representative Bryan Barbin 9 representing Cambria and Somerset, the City of Johnstown. 10 REPRESENTATIVE JOZWIAK: Barry Jozwiak, 5th 11 District, Berks County. 12 REPRESENTATIVE HILL-EVANS: Carol Hill-Evans, Berks 13 County. 14 REPRESENTATIVE SACCONE: Rick Saccone, Southern 15 Allegheny and northern Washington County. 16 MS. BRINTON: Amy Brinton, Executive Director for 17 Chairman Sainato. 18 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: Great. Thank you. Anyone else 19 that we missed? Okay. Thank you. 20 Today's public hearing we will be looking at 21 emergency towing in general while focusing on two proposals 22 before the legislature. 23 The purpose of this public hearing is to receive 24 input and information regarding the use of emergency towing 25 lights, House Bill 1414, and Safety Requirements for Heavy-Duty SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 7 1 Tow Trucks, HB1678. It's important to keep Pennsylvania's 2 highways safe and accessible. When accidents occur it's 3 essential to have a safe and efficient cleanup process. Tow 4 trucks are an important --- important element to the process, 5 including heavy-duty tow trucks. 6 As noted above, the focal point of the hearing is to 7 allow for the committee to receive testimony regarding the 8 issues and concerns that have been expressed pertaining to 9 emergency towing, towing lights and safety requirements for 10 heavy-duty tow trucks. 11 Before we begin receiving testimony, I would like to 12 ask our Subcommittee Chairman Culver and Chairman Sainato and 13 also Bill Keller --- Chairman Keller to make some comments. 14 Okay. Chairman Sainato? 15 CHAIRMAN SAINATO: Thank you, Chairman Barrar, for 16 allowing me to be here today. Thank you, Commissioner Solobay 17 for hosting us. 18 As Chairman Barrar said, these are some very 19 important issues I think that both committees, Transportation 20 and Emergency Preparedness, really need to find out. And 21 there's two very important legislations that's been introduced. 22 And I look forward to hearing the testimony today so we can 23 come up with something that will help the residents of 24 Pennsylvania. Thank you. 25 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: Chairman Keller? SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 8 1 CHAIRMAN KELLER: Thank you, Chairman Barrar. I 2 want to thank you for your leadership in bringing this public 3 hearing together. It's the --- what we're supposed to do in 4 the legislature to get input on bills that are pending. I'm 5 excited to hear the testimony. And from the turnout I think 6 it's going to be a good hearing. Thank you. 7 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: Thank you. 8 CHAIRMAN CULVER: I want to thank Chairman Barrar, 9 members, testifiers and guests for joining us all here today 10 and for the Office of Fire Commissioner for hosting us. 11 The towing issue, as well as emergency signals for 12 tow trucks, has been around for a long time and there's been a 13 lot of discussion on it. I have a district with a lot of major 14 traffic routes through it, and towing for many different 15 reasons is always kind of the topic for conversation, whether 16 we're talking the State Police and the consumers of the 17 services. 18 So this is a great time for us to set out these 19 issues. So we're looking forward to hearing from the 20 stakeholders today. And just remember that I think safety on 21 our highways is paramount and I look forward to the discussion 22 on these bills today. And hopefully going back, everybody into 23 this district --- I don't know if anybody realizes how varied 24 and across the state all these members are today and all the 25 committees we all sit on. SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. (814) 536-8908 9 1 So you have a great panel listening to you today and 2 taking back your testimony into the district is going to be 3 helpful as we go forward with these bills, so I thank everybody 4 for being here. 5 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: Great. Thank you. 6 Also, that has just joined us is Representative Lee 7 James. What county, Erie? 8 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES: Venango. 9 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: Venango, okay. Great. 10 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES: It's too far away. 11 CHAIRMAN BARRAR: That's what happened. That's why 12 you're late. 13 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES: It's like an eight-hour 14 drive.