---
type: "Bill"
title: "An act amending Title 67 (Public Welfare) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; in medical assistance hearings and appeals, further providing for definitions; in public welfare generally, providing for adoption opportunities and for family finding and kinship care; establishing the Kinship Care Program and the Subsidized Permanent Legal Custodianship Program; making related repeals; and making editorial changes."
description: "An act amending Title 67 (Public Welfare) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; in medical assistance hearings and appeals, further providing for definitions; in public welfare generally, providing for adoption opportunities and for family finding and kinship care; establishing the Kinship Care Program and the Subsidized Permanent Legal Custodianship Program; making related repeals; and making editorial changes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/pa"
legislature: "Pennsylvania General Assembly"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 856"
citation: "Pennsylvania HB 856 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Boback"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-03-18T04:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2019-06-28T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e5f68e4e-7648-42c4-aea7-f5633b22b94b"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=856"
source_hash: "203fe2734ab7d918da00ced538714bd85a3634789fa740792aec667f05ce35b6"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-pa"]
---

# Pennsylvania HB 856 (2019-2020) — An act amending Title 67 (Public Welfare) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; in medical assistance hearings and appeals, further providing for definitions; in public welfare generally, providing for adoption opportunities and for family finding and kinship care; establishing the Kinship Care Program and the Subsidized Permanent Legal Custodianship Program; making related repeals; and making editorial changes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **House Amendment A00689** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/HA/Public/HaCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sYear=2019&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0856&pn=0970&aYear=2019&an=00689)
2. **Printer's No. 0970** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0856&pn=0970)
3. **Printer's No. 1333** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0856&pn=1333)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE — **196–0** (pass) · lower
- Committee vote (APPROPRIATIONS): Re-Reported as Committed — **24–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Committee vote (HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES): Reported as Committed — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Boback — primary (person)
- Comitta — cosponsor (person)
- D. Miller — cosponsor (person)
- Deluca — cosponsor (person)
- Gillen — cosponsor (person)
- Helm — cosponsor (person)
- Howard — cosponsor (person)
- Kortz — cosponsor (person)
- Longietti — cosponsor (person)
- Petrarca — cosponsor (person)
- Rader — cosponsor (person)
- Toohil — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** PN 0970 Referred to CHILDREN AND YOUTH `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-09T04:00:00+00:00** PN 1333 Reported as amended `committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-04-09T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-04-09T04:00:00+00:00** Laid on the table
- **2019-04-16T04:00:00+00:00** Removed from table
- **2019-04-29T04:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-04-29T04:00:00+00:00** Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-30T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-30T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-05-03T04:00:00+00:00** Referred to HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-04T04:00:00+00:00** Reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-04T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-06-11T04:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-06-11T04:00:00+00:00** Re-referred to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-25T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-26T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-06-26T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in House
- **2019-06-26T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in Senate
- **2019-06-27T04:00:00+00:00** Presented to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-28T04:00:00+00:00** Approved by the Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e5f68e4e-7648-42c4-aea7-f5633b22b94b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Pennsylvania legislature records).