PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 3963 PRINTER'S NO. 4090
No. 2762 Session of 1986
INTRODUCED BY D. R. WRIGHT, MORRIS, SWEET, BALDWIN, COY,
HALUSKA, YANDRISEVITS, COLE, GALLAGHER, LLOYD, KUKOVICH,
TRELLO, COWELL, GEORGE, RUDY, SHOWERS, BOWLEY, BROUJOS, VEON,
D. W. SNYDER, HERMAN, MERRY, FISCHER, DAWIDA, JOSEPHS AND
NOYE, SEPTEMBER 23, 1986
AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, OCTOBER 6, 1986
AN ACT
1 Establishing a Center for Rural Pennsylvania; and making an
2 appropriation allocation.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Establishment of center.
6 There is hereby established the Center for Rural
7 Pennsylvania, which shall be an agency of the General Assembly.
8 Section 2. Board of directors.
9 (a) Members.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall be
10 governed by a board of directors which shall consist of seven
11 members. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall
12 appoint one member from the House of Representatives. The
13 President pro tempore of the Senate shall appoint one member
14 from the Senate. Two members shall be representatives of
15 universities in the State System of Higher Education. One member
16 shall be a representative of the current land grant university's
1 agricultural experimental station. One member shall be the
2 director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development.
3 The last member of the board shall be the Director of the Center
4 for Rural Pennsylvania, as established by this act and he or she
5 shall be selected by the other board members. The director of
6 the center shall be an ex officio member and shall have no vote.
7 (b) Terms.--The term of office of all members of the board
8 shall be two years. Each member shall be eligible to be
9 reappointed to the board.
10 (c) Meetings; quorum.--The board shall meet at least every
11 six months, or as often as it deems necessary. Four members of
12 the board shall constitute a quorum.
13 (d) Expenses.--The members of the board, except for the
14 director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, shall serve
15 without salary or compensation, but shall be entitled to such
16 expenses as are reasonable and necessary to the performance of
17 their duties.
18 Section 3. Duties of the center.
19 (a) Principal duty.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall
20 administer grants to conduct research on matters related to
21 rural problems. The role of the center shall be to facilitate
22 and coordinate basic and applied research and service components
23 for faculty, staff and students of those institutions identified
24 in section 4(a) dealing in issues regarding the welfare of rural
25 Pennsylvania.
26 (b) Regulations.--The board shall adopt regulations
27 concerning the grant program administered by the Center for
28 Rural Pennsylvania.
29 Section 4. Grants.
30 (a) Eligibility.--Grants shall be available only to the
19860H2762B4090 - 2 -
1 qualified faculty members of the various university members of
2 the State System of Higher Education and the current land grant
3 university.
4 (b) Amounts.--No grant shall exceed the sum of $50,000.
5 (c) Subjects.--The subject areas of the grant program are as
6 follows:
7 (1) Rural people and communities.
8 (2) Economic development.
9 (3) Local government finance and administration.
10 (4) Community services.
11 (5) Natural resources and environment.
12 (6) Educational outreach.
13 (7) Rural values and social change.
14 Section 5. Administrative matters.
15 (a) Director.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall be
16 operated by a director, who shall be selected by the board.
17 (b) Duties of director.--The director shall employ such
18 persons as he or she deems appropriate for the administration of
19 the grant programs authorized by this act. The director shall
20 also make such other expenditures as the board deems necessary,
21 providing that not more than 20% of the appropriation in section
22 8 7 shall be used for administrative expenses. <--
23 Section 6. Data base.
24 (a) Creation.--The Center for Rural Pennsylvania shall
25 develop and maintain an appropriate base of knowledge and
26 information about rural conditions and needs. This shall be
27 accomplished through a data base.
28 (b) Major areas.--The data base shall include the following
29 major areas of concern:
30 (1) Agriculture.
19860H2762B4090 - 3 -
1 (2) Economic development indicators.
2 (3) Local government capacity and fiscal stress
3 indicators.
4 (4) Transportation.
5 (5) Sociodemographics.
6 (6) Health care and human services.
7 (7) Environment and natural resources.
8 (8) Education.
9 (9) Condition of the extant local infrastructure of
10 Pennsylvania's communities.
11 (c) Arrangement.--The data will be arranged in such a manner
12 so as to facilitate the monitoring of relationships between and
13 among the various sectors identified for inclusion in the
14 information system.
15 Section 7. Allocation.
16 The sum of $700,000 is hereby allocated from the $2,750,000
17 appropriation to the Department of Commerce for Rural Economic
18 Development in section 208 of the act of July 1, 1986 (P.L. ,
19 No.5A), known as the General Appropriation Act of 1986, for the
20 fiscal year July 1, 1986, to June 30, 1987, to the Center for
21 Rural Pennsylvania to carry out the provisions of this act. Two
22 hundred thousand dollars out of the $700,000 shall be used to
23 create a data base for rural Pennsylvania.
24 Section 8. Effective date.
25 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
I19L24JLW/19860H2762B4090 - 4 -