By Peter Hall | Senior Reporter

By Ian Karbal

Members of the Pennsylvania state House voted unanimously Monday to pass a bill that would regulate natural leaf kratom products and ban the sale of synthetic compounds derived from the substance.

“This legislation is not about pretending that kratom is risk-free,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bridget Kosierowski (D-Lackawanna). “It is about acknowledging the reality that kratom is already here, and establishing rules that make the marketplace more transparent and accountable. We should not have to choose between doing nothing and criminalizing use. There is a responsible middle ground we can establish.”

Kratom is an intoxicating substance that can be purchased at gas stations, smoke shops and corner stores across Pennsylvania and much of the country. In recent years, its popularity in America has exploded, as has the number of states that regulate its sale.

By Peter Hall

A state lawmaker sponsoring two bills that he said would save skill games while providing new revenue for tax relief and more blamed Democratic House leaders Monday for inaction on the topic.

At the start of the General Assembly’s last session week before midterm elections, Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) said he offered to work with Democrats to amend his legislation to also provide additional funding for public transportation agencies.

“But their leadership’s stubborn insistence that any action on skill games must originate in the Senate … stands in the way,” Diamond said at a state Capitol news conference with business owners who rely on the income skill games generate.

By Lisa Sorg of Inside Climate New

More than 20 states, including North Carolina, New York, California and Pennsylvania, as well as several cities, are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its repeal of most greenhouse gas emissions standards for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. The agency’s proposal would also thwart future administrations from reinstating the rule.

The state attorneys general, all of them Democrats, filed the lawsuit Oct. 1 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs are asking the court to review the proposed rescission.

In a press release, New York Attorney General Letitia James said the coalition is arguing that the administration’s actions are “clearing the way for millions of additional tons of greenhouse gas emissions that will worsen extreme heat, deadly storms, flooding, and wildfires.” The coalition includes Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver and New York City.

By Christine Condon of Maryland Matters

Democratic leaders in Pennsylvania, Maryland and other states have long called for PJM Interconnection, which administers the regional electric grid, to give more weight to state voices in its decision-making.

But at the conclusion of PJM’s process to reevaluate its governance structure late last month, the lawmakers leading the charge were dissatisfied with the result. Critics said that while PJM members would give states some additional say, they kept most of the decision-making authority for themselves.

“The fact that companies that benefit from the current rules get to write and approve their own reform highlights the broken system Marylanders are footing the bill for,” said Rhyan Lake, a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore (D).

“FERC [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] gave clear direction to PJM and its members to give states a real voice, but PJM’s members responded with a term sheet that stifles the states by handing those same members a veto over any proposal the states bring forward,” Lake’s statement said. “Maryland strongly rejects this move, and the PJM Board and FERC should too.”

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