HARRISBURG — A proposal to require a supermajority vote for Pennsylvania school districts to approve property tax increases is moving through the state Senate along with a massive collection of bills intended to reduce financial burdens on the districts.

The Senate Education Committee approved 18 pieces of legislation during a meeting Monday, including the provision that would require a two-thirds vote from school boards to increase property taxes.

Supporters of the legislation said it would protect taxpayers from the burden of property tax hikes that may be coming as state-level funding for public schools is reduced in next year’s budget. Opponents called it an “undemocratic” bill that unfairly weighted one side of the property tax debate.

The legislation passed the committee with bipartisan support and a 9-2 vote. It will move to the Senate and likely will be assigned to the Senate Finance Committee.

State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Delaware, voted against the bill and said it should not have been considered along with 18 other measures Monday, all of which were aimed at reducing mandates.

“This relieves no one of any mandate,” said Leach. “It’s an extremely anti-democratic process where we give one side of the debate an advantage for all time over the other side of the debate.”

Committee chair Sen. Jeff Piccola, R-Dauphin, acknowledged the bill was not part of the “mandate relief effort,” but that the goal of the legislation remained the same.

“Since it is a taxpayer friendly mandate, I thought I would sneak it into this agenda,” Piccola said of S.B. 527.

Leach said the bill unfairly weighted the property tax debate in favor of those opposing increases by requiring a supermajority, killing the democratic ideal of majority rule.

“A rather small minority of one-third can block the will of the majority,” said Leach. “If we introduced a bill that said you only need a one-third vote to increase school property taxes, you’d probably think that was unfair.”

Under Act 1 of 2006, property tax increases are not allowed to exceed the rate of inflation, but school districts can apply to the state Department of Education for exemptions to the law for multiple reasons, including building projects, pension costs and special education costs. If an exemption is not granted, the tax increase must be approved by a voter referendum, but the exemptions are almost always granted.

Over the first five years of Act 1, school districts have requested a total of 1,345 exemptions, with only 12 turned down.  Those 12 were all voted down by referendum.

Under S.B. 537, the two-thirds majority vote would be required for all property tax increases, even those which are below the rate of inflation.

A separate piece of legislation passed by the Senate Finance Committee on Monday would remove the exemptions from Act 1, requiring all proposed property tax increases that exceed the rate of inflation to be approved with a voter referendum.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association opposes both bills, said spokesperson Beth Winters.

In all, 18 pieces of legislation were considered by the committee Tuesday. Leach claimed some lawmakers did not have time to read all the bills or amendments before the committee meeting.

State Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, said he was glad to see action after years of talking about problems but not solving them, even if he did not support all the bills.

“I’m greatly appreciative that we’re actually doing something,” said Williams. “We’re arguing over failing schools that have been failing for 20 years, and now people are finally paying attention to it.”

Piccola said there had been plenty of time for all members of the committee to consider the legislation.

The only bill rejected by the committee Tuesday was a measure from state Sen. Mike Waugh, R-York, to allow school districts to use a single contractor – known as a prime contractor – for construction projects.

The bill was opposed by trade unions and the Associated Builders and Contractors, a coalition of non-unionized construction shops.

However, the committee did approve legislation to increase the thresholds for no-bid contracts, allowing school districts to avoid competitive bidding for projects.

Under current law, the thresholds for no-bid contracts range from $4,000 to $10,000 depending on the size and type of project. The bill would raise the threshold to $25,000 for most construction projects and $7,000 for maintenance projects.

Piccola said the thresholds had not been updated in decades, and the legislation would allow the thresholds to be adjusted to match inflation every five years.

A bill to exempt school districts from filing some mandatory state reports during years when state-level funding for school districts is decreased also was approved. State Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester, the sponsor of the legislation, said many school districts employ people simply to submit the “hundreds of reports” that must be submitted to the state and federal Department of Education each year.

Leach said the impact of lower state funding would be difficult to ascertain without the reports.

Other bills approved by the committee will remove restrictions on the hiring of school nurses and superintendents, allow exemptions from state mandates for additional training for school administrators and provide alternative certification for teachers when the Department of Education recognizes a shortage of teachers in a particular subject area.

With the exception of the property tax bills, the PSBA is generally supportive of the mandate reform bills, Winters said.