Act 12 originated as HB1326 in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  It passed through the legislative process pretty quickly.  The key events were:

 

#1 - The bill was introduced by Representative Robert Godshall on June 11, 2015.  On the same day it was referred to the Consumer Affairs Committee. 

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#2 - Only 13 days later on June 24, 2015, the Consumer Affairs Committee voted 13 ‑ 0 to approve the bill.  This seems unusually quick, but Robert Godshall was the chairman of the committee.  The committee chairs have a lot of control over what the committee processes.  So that bill flew through. 

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#3 - The bill next went to the House Appropriations Committee.  Four months later, on October 20, 2015, that committee also approved the bill 36 ‑ 0.

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#4 - On the same day that the bill was approved by the Appropriations Committee, the full House voted on the bill.  It passed 176 ‑ 21. 

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#5 - The bill was sent to the PA Senate and assigned to the Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure Committee.  After five months, on March 15, 2016, the committee voted to approve the bill 13 ‑ 0.

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#6 - Just seven days later, on March 23, 2016, the full Senate voted to approve the bill 48 ‑ 0.

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#7 - Governor Wolf signed the bill and it became law on April 14, 2016.

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Subsequently, the Big Water companies started their acquisition binge in Pennsylvania.