Lawmakers advanced legislation this week to refund Pennsylvanians in the Delaware River watershed who lose out on fracking royalties as part of a general pushback on the river’s federal governance.

Since the 1960s, the Delaware River Basin Commission — an interstate compact between Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — has managed the water quality and use of the winding river system that stretches from the Catskill Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.

A bill to slash the size of the state House of Representatives moved forward in the Senate Wednesday.

Rep. Jerry Knowles' (R-Schuylkill) HB 153, a constitutional amendment which would cut the House from 203 members to 151, passed the Senate State Government Committee with only one dissenting vote.

Lobbyists were banned, diversity reinforced and a three-year registration minimum added to the Senate’s prime redistricting bill Monday as it was prepared for a final vote by lawmakers.

The bill, SB 22, would set up a redistricting commission made up of eleven citizens who apply to the Department of State, are vetted, and then picked by majority and minority legislative leaders to draw Pennsylvania’s congressional and state legislative maps.

A bill that expands criminal trespass into a felony when on pipelines, chemical plants, refineries and other similar industrial or transportation related infrastructure passed the Senate Tuesday.

Introduced by Sen. Mike Regan (R-Cumberland), SB 652 adds four new crimes to state law, three of which are first degree felonies that can come with a minimum fine of $5,000 to $10,000 depending on the charge.

With a little more than two months left to pass a bill and start the long, winding road to a constitutional amendment, Senate leadership now appears fully in on passing a bill to change how the state conducts redistricting.

“We want to be done by June, before we leave,” Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said yesterday, adding: “It won’t be exactly Senate Bill 22 — we will amend it, I'm sure — but we’ll definitely keep the same spirit and same direction that SB 22 goes in, making an independent commission.”