PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 900 PRINTER'S NO. 2097
No. 797 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. LAUDADIO, ZORD, GREEN, GREENFIELD,
LETTERMAN, PETRARCA, HASKELL, FISHER, MANMILLER, M. E.
MILLER, LEVI AND MRS. GILLETTE, MARCH 18, 1975
AS AMENDED ON THIRD CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JULY 23, 1975
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 22, 1937 (P.L.1987, No.394), entitled,
2 as amended, "An act to preserve and improve the purity of the
3 waters of the Commonwealth for the protection of public
4 health, animal and aquatic life, and for industrial
5 consumption, and recreation; empowering and directing the
6 creation of indebtedness or the issuing of non-debt revenue
7 bonds by political subdivisions to provide works to abate
8 pollution; providing protection of water supply; providing
9 for the jurisdiction of courts in the enforcement thereof;
10 providing additional remedies for abating pollution of
11 waters; imposing certain penalties; repealing certain acts;
12 regulating discharges of sewage and industrial wastes;
13 regulating the operation of mines; and placing
14 responsibilities upon landowners and land occupiers,"
15 changing provisions relating to penalties.
16 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
17 hereby enacts as follows:
18 Section 1. Sections 602 and 605, act of June 22, 1937
19 (P.L.1987, No.394), known as "The Clean Streams Law," amended
20 July 31, 1970 (P.L.653, No.222), are amended to read:
21 Section 602. Penalties.--(a) [Any] Without regard to intent,
22 knowledge, recklessness or negligence any person or municipality
23 who violates any provision of this act, [or] any rule or
1 regulation [or] of the department, any order of [the board or
2 any order of] the department, or any condition of any permit <--
3 issued pursuant to this act is [guilty of a summary offense and, <--
4 upon] absolutely liable for a summary offense. Upon conviction, <--
5 such person or municipality shall be subject to a fine of not
6 less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand
7 dollars ($1,000) for each separate offense, and, in default of
8 the payment of such fine, [the] a person[, or if such person be
9 a partnership, then the members thereof, or if such person be a
10 corporation or association, then the officers, members, agents,
11 servants or employes thereof,] shall be imprisoned in the county
12 jail for a period of sixty days.
13 (b) Any person or municipality who intentionally, knowingly, <--
14 recklessly WILFULLY or negligently violates any provision of <--
15 this act, any rule or regulation of the department, any order of
16 the department, or any condition of any permit issued pursuant
17 to the act is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second THIRD degree <--
18 and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less
19 than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) nor more than
20 twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each separate offense
21 or to imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more
22 than one year, or both.
23 (c) Any person or municipality who, after a conviction [in a
24 summary proceeding] OF A MISDEMEANOR for any violation within <--
25 [two years] ONE YEAR as above provided, WILFULLY OR NEGLIGENTLY <--
26 violates any provision of this act, [or] any rule or regulation,
27 [or] of the department, any order of [the board or any order of]
28 the department, or any condition of any permit issued pursuant
29 to this act is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first SECOND <--
30 degree and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not
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1 less than [one hundred dollars ($100)] two thousand five hundred
2 dollars ($2,500) nor more than [five thousand dollars ($5,000)]
3 fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each separate offense or to
4 imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than
5 one year, or both. [In the case of a partnership the members
6 thereof, and in the case of a corporation or an association the
7 officers, members, agents, servants or employes thereof, may be
8 subject to any such sentence of imprisonment.]
9 [(c)] (d) Each day of continued violation of any provision
10 of this act, [or] any rule or regulation, [or] of the
11 department, any order of [the board or any order of] the
12 department, or any condition of any permit issued pursuant to
13 this act shall constitute a separate offense [under subsections
14 (a) and (b) of this section].
15 (e) The maximum fines specified under this section are
16 established pursuant to requirements set forth by the United
17 States Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with the
18 "Federal Water Pollution Control Act" (33U.S.C.§1251 et seq.).
19 Section 605. Civil Penalties.--In addition to proceeding
20 under any other remedy available at law or in equity for a
21 violation of a provision of this act, [or a] rule, [or]
22 regulation, [of the board or an] order of the department, or a
23 condition of any permit issued pursuant to this act, the [board]
24 department, after hearing, may assess a civil penalty upon a
25 person or municipality for such violation. Such a penalty may be
26 assessed whether or not the violation was wilful. The civil
27 penalty so assessed shall not exceed ten thousand dollars
28 ($10,000) [plus five hundred dollars ($500) for each day of
29 continued violation] per day for each violation. In determining
30 the amount of the civil penalty the [board] department shall
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1 consider the wilfulness of the violation, damage or injury to
2 the waters of the Commonwealth or their uses, cost of
3 restoration, and other relevant factors. It shall be payable to
4 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and shall be collectible in any
5 manner provided at law for the collection of debts. If any
6 person liable to pay any such penalty neglects or refuses to pay
7 the same after demand, the amount, together with interest and
8 any costs that may accrue, shall be a lien in favor of the
9 Commonwealth upon the property, both real and personal, of such
10 person but only after same has been entered and docketed of
11 record by the prothonotary of the county where such is situated.
12 The [board] department may, at any time, transmit to the
13 prothonotaries of the respective counties certified copies of
14 all such liens, and it shall be the duty of each prothonotary to
15 enter and docket the same of record in his office, and to index
16 the same as judgments are indexed, without requiring the payment
17 of costs as a condition precedent to the entry thereof.
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