Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed a new budget bill Friday which included a prohibition on regulation of single-use plastics by municipalities.

The bill, SB 712, had the provisions added late Wednesday in an attempt to force the Governor’s hand or risk losing a $34 billion budget. The three paragraph amendment delegates the Independent Fiscal Office to study the economic impact to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its industries of any regulation of various types of single use plastics. The bill then delegates the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the Environmental impact of any such regulation on residents of the Commonwealth. The following paragraph then states until reports from both Independent Fiscal Office and the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee are received neither the General Assembly nor any local government body or agency may enact any restriction of plastics. The bill specifically identifies “SINGLE-USE PLASTICS, REUSABLE PLASTICS, AUXILIARY CONTAINERS, WRAPPINGS OR POLYSTYRENE CONTAINERS.”

Senate Republican Leader Jake Corman of Centre County advocated for the provision because his district contains both a plastics manufacturer and a municipality attempting to ban plastic. The bill is similar to a 2017 bill that was vetoed by the governor. With the governor’s signature, the bill now takes effect July 1 and the Committee and Independent Fiscal Office will have up to one year until July 1, 2020 to submit their reports.