PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 403, 1811, 2943 PRINTER'S NO. 3105
No. 370 Session of 1987
INTRODUCED BY BOWLEY, BORTNER, YANDRISEVITS, PRESSMANN, DeWEESE,
TRELLO, COY, OLASZ, HOWLETT, ARTY, MICHLOVIC, COLAFELLA,
DALEY, REBER, McHALE, TIGUE, LLOYD, CAPPABIANCA, FOX,
STABACK, DOMBROWSKI, BELFANTI, KOSINSKI, RAYMOND, HALUSKA,
PUNT, CARLSON, BLAUM, KUKOVICH, BELARDI, LEVDANSKY,
CALTAGIRONE, MARKOSEK, VEON, PETRONE, PETRARCA, HARPER,
SERAFINI, MAIALE, CIVERA, BUNT, CAWLEY, JOSEPHS, WOZNIAK,
FISCHER, FREEMAN, MAINE, KASUNIC, RUDY AND LETTERMAN,
FEBRUARY 11, 1987
AS AMENDED ON THIRD CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
APRIL 12, 1988
AN ACT
1 Providing for the establishment and operation of a Statewide
2 disaster assistance program and fund; and imposing additional
3 powers and duties on the Pennsylvania Emergency Management
4 Agency.
5 TABLE OF CONTENTS
6 Section 1. Short title.
7 Section 2. Findings and legislative intent.
8 Section 3. Definitions.
9 Section 4. Individual aid program.
10 Section 5. Rules and regulations.
11 Section 6. Penalty.
12 Section 7. Creation of fund.
13 Section 8. Severability.
14 Section 9. Repeals.
15 Section 10. Applicability.
1 Section 11. Effective date.
2 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
3 hereby enacts as follows:
4 Section 1. Short title.
5 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pennsylvania
6 Disaster Assistance Act.
7 Section 2. Findings and legislative intent.
8 (a) Findings.--
9 (1) Often individuals and political subdivisions which
10 have suffered losses due to natural or man-made disasters
11 have received inadequate or no Federal or State financial
12 assistance to aid in the restoration of homes and public
13 facilities.
14 (2) There is a need to establish a State-funded disaster
15 assistance program to aid Pennsylvania's citizens and
16 political subdivisions that suffer losses during Federal
17 declared disasters.
18 (3) It is in the public interest pursuant to section 17
19 of Article VIII of the Constitution of Pennsylvania to
20 provide additional aid to individuals and political
21 subdivisions to supplement the compensation which they
22 receive from private insurance and the Federal Government.
23 (b) Legislative intent.--It is the intent of the General
24 Assembly to provide for comprehensive disaster assistance
25 programs which will provide a mechanism for financial assistance
26 to individuals, families and political subdivisions in the event
27 a natural or man-made disaster has occurred.
28 Section 3. Definitions.
29 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
30 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
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1 context clearly indicates otherwise:
2 "Adjusted loss." The total eligible loss excluding:
3 (1) Any amount received by or due the applicant from
4 private insurance and Federal or State-subsidized funds,
5 including, but not limited to, Small Business Administration
6 loans, Federal Emergency Management Agency benefits and the
7 Individual and Family Grant Program grants.
8 (2) An amount for which the applicant would have been
9 eligible from Federal or State-subsidized funds had the
10 applicant applied for or accepted the assistance.
11 "Agency." The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
12 "Disaster." A man-made or natural disaster.
13 "Family." An individual or a group of two or more
14 individuals related by birth, marriage or adoption and residing
15 together in their primary residence at the time of the disaster.
16 "Federal declared disaster." Those disasters designated as
17 such by the President, by the Small Business Administration
18 (physical disaster declaration), or by the United States
19 Secretary of Agriculture.
20 "Fund." The Pennsylvania Disaster Assistance Fund.
21 "Homeowner." The legal owner at the time of the disaster of
22 residential property located in a disaster area.
23 "Man-made disaster." An industrial, nuclear or
24 transportation accident, explosion, conflagration, power
25 failure, natural resource shortage or other condition, except
26 enemy action, resulting from man-made causes, such as oil spills
27 and other injurious environmental contamination, which threatens
28 or causes substantial damage to property, human suffering,
29 hardship or loss of life.
30 "Natural disaster." A hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high
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1 water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, landslide,
2 mudslide, snowstorm, drought, fire, explosion or other
3 catastrophe which results in substantial damage to property,
4 hardship, suffering or possible loss of life.
5 "Owner-occupied primary residence." A residence which was
6 the principal residence of its legal owner at the time of the
7 disaster.
8 "Political subdivisions." All counties, cities, boroughs,
9 incorporated towns, townships, school districts and municipal
10 authorities created under the act of May 2, 1945 (P.L.382,
11 No.164), known as the Municipality Authorities Act of 1945.
12 "Public facility." A publicly owned flood control,
13 navigation, irrigation, reclamation, public power, sewage
14 treatment and collection, water supply and distribution,
15 watershed development, or airport facility; a bridge, street,
16 road or highway which is not a subject of Federal aid; any other
17 public building, structure, or system, and any park.
18 "Recreation purposes." Real or personal property, or both,
19 used for the purpose of entertainment or amusement.
20 "Tenant." One who, at the time of the disaster, was renting
21 as his primary residence a premises located in a disaster area.
22 Section 4. Individual aid program.
23 (a) General rule.--Disasters may occur within the
24 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which cause sufficient damage to
25 qualify for a Federal Declared Disaster Declaration under the
26 Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-288, 42
27 U.S.C. § 5121). This declaration may initiate aid for
28 individuals, businesses and local governments through the
29 Federal Individual and Family Grant Program, the Public
30 Assistance Program, and the Small Business Administration's low-
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1 interest loan program. When a Federal declaration of disaster
2 has been issued, the Commonwealth shall provide those State
3 matching funds that are required by either Federal law or
4 regulation from sources other than the Pennsylvania Disaster
5 Assistance Fund. All moneys received from the Federal Government
6 for the purpose of disaster relief assistance or for damages
7 caused by the disaster are hereby appropriated to the
8 departments, boards, commissions or agencies designated by the
9 Governor.
10 (b) Establishment of aid program.--In order to provide funds
11 for the Governor, in accordance with 35 Pa.C.S. Ch. 73 Subch. A
12 (relating to the Governor and disaster emergencies) to alleviate
13 the hardships and repair the damage caused by the disaster, the
14 following supplemental grant program is established to assist
15 victims of these disasters.
16 (c) Individual.--The agency shall administer a grant program
17 which provides emergency funds to residents of counties stricken
18 by disasters which were the subject of a Federal declaration of
19 disaster.
20 (d) Individual eligibility.--An applicant's request for
21 funding shall be subject to the following evaluation:
22 (1) Upon receipt and approval of a sworn application by
23 a homeowner for nonbusiness or nonfarm real property damaged
24 or destroyed, or a homeowner or tenant of premises he rents
25 as his primary residence for personal property damaged or
26 destroyed in a Federal declared disaster, the agency may make
27 an individual grant to cover a portion of the adjusted loss.
28 (2) For the purpose of this subsection, total eligible
29 loss shall be the loss from damage to an owner-occupied
30 primary residence and the loss from damage to personal
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1 property, including clothing, household furnishings and
2 appliances, incurred by a homeowner in his owner-occupied
3 primary residence or incurred by a tenant in premises he
4 rents as a primary residence. Eligible loss shall not include
5 an item used principally for recreational purposes.
6 (3) An applicant whose previous year's income does not
7 exceed 300% of the previous year's poverty income guidelines
8 using gross income before taxes shall be eligible to
9 participate in this grant program. The applicant, in order to
10 be eligible for this program by reason of a loss in a
11 federally declared disaster, must have registered at a
12 disaster assistance center, unless extenuating circumstances
13 prevented registration. Extenuating circumstances shall be
14 determined by the agency on an individual case-by-case basis.
15 The determination shall be subject to appeal to the
16 Commonwealth Court.
17 (4) The amount of the grant shall be determined in
18 accordance with the following schedule:
19 (i) 50% of the first $5,000 of adjusted loss.
20 (ii) 25% of the second $5,000 of adjusted loss.
21 (iii) 10% of the remaining adjusted loss.
22 (iv) No grant shall exceed $12,500.
23 (e) Limitation on eligibility.--If the real property is
24 condemned under eminent domain proceedings and the measure of
25 damage is calculated under section 602 of the act of June 22,
26 1964 (Sp.Sess., P.L.84, No.6), known as the Eminent Domain Code,
27 the property owner shall not be eligible for a grant under
28 subsection (d) for property for which compensation is granted in
29 the eminent domain proceedings.
30 (f) Administration.--The agency shall administer the grant
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1 program in the following manner:
2 (1) Grants under this section shall be administered by
3 the agency in prompt fashion.
4 (2) Applications shall be made available to disaster
5 victims within 60 days of the Federal declaration of
6 disaster.
7 (3) If sufficient funds are not appropriated,
8 distribution of the grants shall be on a pro rata basis.
9 (4) Funds for this grant program shall come from
10 appropriations to the Pennsylvania Disaster Assistance
11 Program FUND. <--
12 Section 5. Rules and regulations.
13 The agency shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary
14 to carry out the provisions of this act and cause them to be
15 published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Regulations shall be
16 subject to review pursuant to the act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633,
17 No.181), known as the Regulatory Review Act.
18 Section 6. Penalty.
19 A person making a false claim under the provisions of this
20 act shall be subject to a penalty in the amount of three times
21 the amount of the loan GRANT with interest of 6% from the <--
22 effective date of the loan GRANT. This penalty may be enforced <--
23 by the Attorney General in an assumpsit action and collected in
24 the manner that other debts due and owing the Commonwealth are
25 collected.
26 Section 7. Creation of fund.
27 (a) Creation of Pennsylvania Disaster Assistance Fund.--
28 There is hereby created a special fund to be known as the
29 Pennsylvania Disaster Assistance Fund which shall be only
30 available for the purposes of this act or such other disaster
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1 assistance as the General Assembly may, from time to time,
2 appropriate funds.
3 (b) Nonlapsing appropriation.--Appropriations to the fund
4 shall not lapse to the General Fund if not used during the
5 fiscal year.
6 Section 8. Severability.
7 The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of
8 this act or its application to any person or circumstance is
9 held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions
10 or applications of this act which can be given effect without
11 the invalid provision or application.
12 Section 9. Repeals.
13 All acts and parts of acts are repealed insofar as they are
14 inconsistent with this act.
15 Section 10. Applicability.
16 This act shall apply to disasters occurring in this
17 Commonwealth on or after the effective date of this act which
18 were the subject of a Federal disaster declaration.
19 Section 11. Effective date.
20 This act shall take effect immediately.
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