{"id":146940,"date":"2026-03-24T13:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/146940\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:34:07","slug":"pennsylvania-bill-to-preserve-tree-canopies-advances-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/146940\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania bill to preserve tree canopies advances committee"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WHTM)\u2013 Legislation introduced by lawmakers to help preserve a healthy tree canopy in Pennsylvania communities advanced from the House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee.<\/p>\n

House Bill 2161<\/a>, proposed by State Rep. Abigail Salisbury (D-Allegheny), aims to require electric utilities that cut down a tree to offer to plant a new one within two years in a location of the municipality\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI introduced this bill after residents and environmental advocates in our district expressed concerns that trees were being removed entirely, instead of simply being pruned or trimmed,\u201d Salisbury said. \u201cMaintaining a healthy tree canopy is essential for communities because it reduces stormwater runoff and air pollution, provides shade that lowers energy costs, raises property values and increases pedestrian traffic for local businesses, among other benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill has garnered the support of other State Representatives.<\/p>\n

According to the memo<\/a>, the loss of trees can be detrimental to communities, but proper tree and vegetation maintenance ensures that power lines are safe and helps reduce power outages.<\/p>\n

The bill would allow municipalities to work with electric utilities to help with proper vegetation management and also require them to plant a new tree in a location of the municipality\u2019s choosing if they cut one down.<\/p>\n

Salisbury said the bill would align tree removal by utility companies with existing regulations that require them to repair damage caused by work that requires excavation or other projects that involve breaking into streets and sidewalks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonday\u2019s committee action moved us a step closer to making sure those benefits continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill was sent to the full House for consideration.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WHTM)\u2013 Legislation introduced by lawmakers to help preserve a healthy tree canopy in Pennsylvania communities advanced from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25205,10583,66972,66973,66971,28,30,29,34391,5382,62704],"class_list":["post-146940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-abigail-salisbury","tag-electric-utilities","tag-environmental-advocates","tag-house-environmental-and-natural-resource-protection-committee","tag-legislation-introduced","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-state-representatives","tag-tree","tag-tree-canopy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}