Pa. House moves toward vote on gas-drilling bill

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The state House of Representatives is debating a Republican-penned bill to regulate Pennsylvania’s booming natural gas drilling and impose a fee on the industry ahead of a final vote.

A vote today to pass the bill would then force leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Senate to resolve differences between separate bills that passed each chamber this week.

The House bill is similar to a proposal by Gov. Tom Corbett, in that it allows counties to decide whether to levy an impact fee. The impact fee in the House bill also would be about one-third the amount of the fee in the bill that passed the Senate.