Agenda
2025 Legislative Agenda
Fund the Creation of a Hardwood Utilization Group for Unserved Areas
PFPA requests $270,000 to create a fourth Hardwood Utilization Group to cover 33 unserved counties in southern Pennsylvania. The three existing HUGs (the Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group, Keystone Wood Products Association and the Northern Tier Hardwood Association) provide outstanding education, outreach and support to the supply chain across northern Pennsylvania. A new HUG for southern Pennsylvania will enhance the economic power of forest products by bringing wood supply and manufacturing to the table with the statewide industry.
Status
The Hardwood Research and Promotion line item was funded at a level of $725,000 in the enacted 2024-25 budget proposal. This request for a total appropriation of $995,000 will enable the creation of a fourth HUG while maintaining support for the existing HUGs and the HDC.
Details
- The HDC and the 3 HUGs provide outreach and education that enhances the value of PA’s 2 million+ acres of public lands while supporting a supply chain consisting of over 60,000 jobs across 67 counties with an annual $39 billion economic impact.
- Southeastern PA has the highest concentration of forest products jobs in the Commonwealth, mainly in wood product manufacturing. Southwestern PA has an abundance of supply. Both areas – as well as the statewide supply chain – will benefit from the new HUG.
Penn State Forestry Curriculum
The availability of secondary education in the forest products curriculum is crucial for our industry. PFPA is committed to ensuring that Penn State continues to develop valuable industry professionals.
Status
In Penn State’s Commonwealth Campus Closure announcements, two schools listed offer technology programs that have led to more degrees in Forestry.
Details
- PFPA advocates for the statewide availability of forestry curriculum.
- In the event of closures at DuBois or Mont Alto campuses, PFPA recommends relocating the Wildlife Technology and Forest Technology Associate of Science degrees to another campus within the region.
Rebuilding the Workers’ Comp Marketplace
Workers’ Compensation Insurance provides important protection for workers and their families. PFPA seeks solutions that improve the affordability and availability of coverage to protect loggers.
Status
PFPA is working with loggers, the insurance industry and agency partners to advance a multifaceted effort to improve safety, to lower rates and expanded availability.
Details
- PFPA seeks a decrease in the minimum payroll threshold for sole proprietors to reduce barriers to entry into the workers’ comp marketplace. Current thresholds require many loggers to pay premiums based on a higher salary than they make.
- PFPA supports language to require payouts to be based on premiums paid to prevent further distortion of the marketplace.
- PFPA is working with insurance providers to facilitate the recognition of SFI’s Qualified Logging Professional (QLP) certification in insurance safety calculations. Initial conversations suggest that insurance companies will find tangible value in the safety training that SFI provides to loggers.
Forest Products: the World’s Greenest Building Material
PFPA seeks to raise awareness of the benefits of forest management and working forests. Timber harvests improve habitat and forest health and provide building materials that store carbon while making room for new growth that accelerates sequestration.
Details
- Wood is the greenest, most renewable building material.
- Timber harvests improve health and habitat on public and private lands. PFPA urges DCNR to increase timber output to balance age class diversity and provide steady supplies.
- Timber harvesting converts mature trees into products that store carbon while making room for young growth that improves habitat and more rapidly absorbs carbon from the air.
Keep Wood as a Tier I Alternative Energy
By-products from pulping and wood manufacturing provide clean energy to our grid. Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s) also help support low-grade markets. The Governor’s Energy Plan proposes to move these credits from Tier I to a new Tier III category that would devalue wood REC’s. PFPA opposes this change.
Status
The PA Renewable Energy Sustainability Standard (PRESS) Act has been introduced in both chambers as companion bills: House Bill 2277 (Rep. Otten) and Senate Bill 1190 (Sen. Santersiero).
Details
- Sustainable forestry depends upon forest regeneration, which is made possible when sunlight reaches the ground. Low-grade markets such as paper and biomass enable harvesting that optimizes regeneration. Paper mills generate electricity from pulp by-products, providing a clean, renewable, carbon-neutral energy source. Maintaining current law regarding the renewable energy generated from pulp and paper processes is essential to maintaining a healthy, sustainable supply chain and marketplace.
Pennsylvania’s Forest Products Industry is an economic driver in all 67 counties! From sustainable forestry in rural PA to manufacturing in the southeast, our supply chain truly brings all regions of the Commonwealth together!
Details
- The top six counties for forest products jobs in Pennsylvania are: Lancaster, Montgomery, York, Berks, Bucks, and Philadelphia!