PRINTER'S NO. 3430
No. 2495 Session of 1976
INTRODUCED BY FREIND, ZEARFOSS, W. D. HUTCHINSON AND RYAN,
JUNE 14, 1976
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JUNE 14, 1976
AN ACT
1 Creating the Legislative Investigating Committee, providing for
2 its powers and duties, requiring reports by certain persons
3 and corporations and providing penalties.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. There is hereby created the Joint House-Senate
7 Committee on Investigations, herein called the committee, which
8 shall consist of six members, three from the Senate and three
9 from the House of Representatives. The President pro tempore of
10 the Senate shall appoint the three members of the Senate, two of
11 whom shall be of a different political party from the Governor.
12 The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint three
13 members of the House of Representatives, two of whom shall be of
14 a different political party from the Governor. Members of the
15 committee shall be appointed or reappointed for a term ending
16 the first Tuesday of the next odd-numbered year and until their
17 successors are appointed and qualified. The committee shall have
18 a continuing existence, and may meet and conduct business during
1 sessions of the General Assembly, or any recess thereof, or in
2 the interim between sessions.
3 Section 2. The members of the committee shall be entitled to
4 the same payments, expenses and mileage as are paid to members
5 of the General Assembly serving on other legislative commissions
6 and committees created by statute.
7 Section 3. (a) The committee shall select its officers and
8 make rules and regulations governing its proceedings and
9 investigations.
10 (b) A staff for the committee shall be employed through the
11 legislative management committees of the General Assembly.
12 Section 4. The committee shall have the power and its duty
13 shall be to investigate and review all matters and functions of
14 State Government as the committee shall determine, including but
15 not limited to the awarding of State contracts and political
16 contributions by individuals and organizations having
17 contractual relationships with the Commonwealth.
18 Section 5. (a) In addition to its other duties, the
19 committee shall prepare and maintain a permanent computerized
20 cross-reference of (i) contributors to political parties and
21 candidates, and (ii) recipients of State contracts utilizing the
22 data made available to it pursuant to the requirements of this
23 act.
24 (b) All candidates for public office, political committees
25 and other parties required by Federal or State election laws to
26 file statements of contributions or of expenses with the
27 Commonwealth, a county, the Federal General Accounting Office,
28 the Clerk of the United States Senate, or the Clerk of the
29 United States House of Representatives shall file copies of said
30 statements with the committee.
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1 (c) All individuals having contracts with the Commonwealth,
2 the officers, directors and management or executive consultants
3 of corporations having contracts with the Commonwealth, and the
4 members of any partnership or professional association having
5 contracts with the Commonwealth or any of whose members has
6 contracts with the Commonwealth, shall file with the committee a
7 report of any contribution to any political party or candidate
8 made by such individual, corporate officer, director, or
9 consultant member of such partnership or professional
10 association, or any member of their family during the year in
11 which the contract was awarded and any such contributions made
12 during the next succeeding three years in the year made. The
13 report shall include (i) the name, address and occupation of the
14 contributor, (ii) the date and amount of the contribution, (iii)
15 whether the contribution was made in the form of cash, check,
16 money order, services in kind, or some other manner, and (iv) by
17 whom it was solicited, if anyone, and to whom it was given or
18 by whom it was received. For the purpose of this subsection,
19 "member of their family" shall mean spouse, any unemancipated
20 child, or any member of the same household.
21 (d) All individuals and all officers and directors required
22 to file reports under subsection (c) shall file with the
23 committee identifying data concerning the contracts, including
24 (i) the date of the contract, (ii) the department or agency
25 entering into the contract, (iii) the consideration for the
26 contract, (iv) the term or duration of the contract, and (v) its
27 agency or department identifying number or code.
28 (e) All corporations registered or doing business in the
29 Commonwealth shall identify themselves as Pennsylvania
30 corporations or otherwise, and shall file annually with the
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1 Department of State a current list of all officers, directors
2 and management or executive consultants of the corporation.
3 (f) The Bureau of Corporations shall annually, and at any
4 time when requested by the committee, provide the committee with
5 a current list of corporate officers, directors and consultants.
6 (g) The following corporations having contracts with the
7 Commonwealth, and all partnerships and professional associations
8 having contracts with the Commonwealth, shall, in addition to
9 the requirements of subsection (c) also file with the committee
10 a listing of all contributions by employees and shareholders of
11 the corporation, or employees of the partnership or professional
12 association, at such time and in such manner as otherwise
13 provided in this act:
14 (1) All corporations with fewer than 100 employees, or with
15 fewer than 30 voting shareholders.
16 (2) All corporations in which over 30% of the voting shares
17 are controlled by members of the same family. For the purpose of
18 this subsection, "members of the same family" shall mean members
19 of the same household, any individuals entitled to take under
20 the laws of intestate succession, or any parents-in-law,
21 brothers-in-law, or sisters-in-law.
22 Such corporations, partnerships, or professional associations
23 shall not be required to report contributions made by
24 individuals while not shareholders, members, or employees of the
25 corporation, partnership, or professional association.
26 Section 6. (a) The committee may issue subpoenas, under the
27 hand and seal of the chairman, to compel the attendance of
28 witnesses and the production of any papers, books, accounts,
29 documents, or other materials, and testimony touching matters
30 properly being inquired into by the committee, to administer
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1 oaths, and to cause the deposition of witnesses, either residing
2 within or without the State, to be taken in the manner
3 prescribed by laws for taking depositions in civil actions.
4 (b) Any person who willfully neglects or refuses to comply
5 with any subpoena issued in behalf of the committee, or refuses
6 to testify to any matters regarding which he may be lawfully
7 interrogated, shall be subject to the penalties provided by the
8 laws of the Commonwealth in such cases.
9 (c) Each witness who appears before the committee by its
10 order, other than an officer or employee of the Commonwealth,
11 shall receive for his attendance the fees and mileage provided
12 for witnesses in civil cases in courts of record, which shall be
13 audited and paid out of the General Fund upon the presentation
14 of proper vouchers signed by such witness and approved by the
15 chairman of the committee.
16 Section 7. The committee shall report at least annually the
17 scope of its investigations and the results therefrom, and
18 within 90 days after the completion of any specific inquiry or
19 investigation undertaken by it and authorized pursuant to
20 section 4.
21 Section 8. (a) Any willful failure to comply with the
22 provisions of section 5(b), (c), (d), (e) and (g) shall be
23 punishable as a misdemeanor of the third degree. Each such
24 willful violation shall constitute a separate offense. Upon
25 conviction, the offender shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not
26 more than $1,000 for each such separate offense, no portion of
27 which shall be suspended, or be sentenced to a term of
28 imprisonment, the maximum of which is not more than one year for
29 each separate offense, or both for each separate offense.
30 (b) In addition to penalties provided elsewhere in this act
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1 or in the statutes of the Commonwealth, any offender, upon
2 conviction for a violation of this act, shall be prohibited from
3 entering into any contractual relationship with or in any way
4 transacting business with, or entering into any commercial,
5 industrial, or financial relationship with the Commonwealth or
6 any of its subdivisions, agencies, boards, departments,
7 authorities and commissions.
8 Section 9. All acts or parts of acts are hereby repealed in
9 so far as inconsistent with the provisions of this act.
10 Section 10. This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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