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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Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 0747: P.L.30, No.14