PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 1275, 1838 PRINTER'S NO. 4248
No. 1158 Session of 1993
INTRODUCED BY COLAFELLA, MICOZZIE, COLAIZZO, REINARD, DeLUCA,
ROONEY, GLADECK, CESSAR, JOSEPHS, GODSHALL, TRELLO, ULIANA,
GIGLIOTTI, GEIST, CIVERA AND DURHAM, APRIL 19, 1993
AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, OCTOBER 3, 1994
AN ACT
1 Providing for automobile theft prevention; establishing the
2 Automobile Theft Prevention Authority and providing for its
3 powers and duties; and creating the Automobile Theft
4 Prevention Trust Fund.
5 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6 hereby enacts as follows:
7 Section 1. Short title.
8 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Automobile
9 Theft Prevention Act.
10 Section 2. Purpose of act.
11 The purpose of this act is to establish, coordinate and fund
12 activities in this Commonwealth to prevent, combat and reduce
13 automobile theft, to improve and support automobile theft law
14 enforcement and administration and to improve and support
15 automobile theft prosecution.
16 Section 3. Definitions.
17 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
18 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
1 context clearly indicates otherwise:
2 "Authority." The Automobile Theft Prevention Authority
3 established under this act.
4 "Automobile." A private passenger four-wheel motor vehicle,
5 except recreational vehicles not intended for highway use, which
6 is insured.
7 "Board." The board of directors of the Automobile Theft
8 Prevention Authority.
9 "Fund." The Automobile Theft Prevention Trust Fund created
10 under section 6.
11 Section 4. Automobile Theft Prevention Authority.
12 (a) Establishment.--There is hereby established a body
13 corporate and politic to be known as the Automobile Theft
14 Prevention Authority. The purposes, powers and duties of the
15 authority shall be vested in and exercised by the board of
16 directors thereof as provided for in this act.
17 (b) Composition.--The board of the authority shall consist
18 of seven members, composed and appointed in accordance with the
19 following:
20 (1) The Attorney General OR HIS DESIGNEE. <--
21 (2) Three representatives of insurers authorized to
22 write automobile insurance doing business in this
23 Commonwealth.
24 (3) Three at-large members who are not employed by the
25 insurance industry.
26 (c) Appointment.--With the exception of the Attorney
27 General, all board members shall be appointed by the Governor
28 from names jointly submitted to the Governor by the Insurance <--
29 Federation of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Association of
30 Mutual Insurance Companies. FROM NAMES SUBMITTED TO THE GOVERNOR <--
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1 BY THE PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-CAR THEFT COMMITTEE.
2 (d) Terms.--With the exception of the Attorney General,
3 members of the board shall serve for terms of four years. No
4 appointed member shall be eligible to serve more than two full
5 consecutive terms.
6 (e) Compensation.--Members of the board shall serve without
7 compensation, except that members of the board shall receive
8 reimbursement for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred <--
9 in connection with their duties, in accordance with the rules of
10 the Executive Board BOARD. <--
11 (f) Quorum and meetings.--A majority of the members of the
12 board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business
13 at a meeting or the exercise of a power or function of the
14 authority. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, action
15 may be taken by the board at a meeting upon a vote of the
16 majority of its members present in person or through the use of
17 amplified telephonic equipment, if authorized by the bylaws of
18 the board AND PROVIDED A QUORUM IS PRESENT BY SUCH MEANS. The <--
19 board shall meet at the call of the chairperson or as may be
20 provided in the bylaws of the board. The board shall meet at
21 least quarterly. Meetings of the board may be held anywhere
22 within this Commonwealth. The board shall elect its own
23 chairperson.
24 Section 5. Powers and duties.
25 The authority shall have the powers necessary and convenient
26 to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this
27 act and the purposes of the authority and the powers delegated
28 by other laws, including, but not limited to, the power to:
29 (1) Employ administrative, professional, clerical and
30 other personnel as may be required and organize the staff as
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1 may be appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this act.
2 (2) Have a seal and alter the same at pleasure, have
3 perpetual succession, make, execute and deliver contracts,
4 conveyances and other instruments necessary or convenient to
5 the exercise of its powers and make and amend bylaws.
6 (3) Procure insurance against any loss in connection
7 with its property, assets or activities.
8 (4) Apply for, solicit, receive, establish priorities
9 for, allocate, disburse, contract for, administer and spend
10 funds in the fund, and other funds that are made available to
11 the authority from any source consistent with the purposes of
12 this act.
13 (5) Make grants to and provide financial support for
14 government agencies, community, consumer and business
15 organizations consistent with the purposes of this act.
16 (6) Invest any money held in the fund and any funds held
17 in reserve or sinking funds, and any money not required for
18 immediate use or disbursement, at its discretion and to name
19 and use depositories for its money.
20 (7) Assess the scope of the problem of automobile theft,
21 including identification of those areas of this Commonwealth
22 where the problem is greatest, and review State and local
23 criminal justice policies, programs and plans dealing with
24 automobile theft.
25 (8) Develop and sponsor the implementation of Statewide
26 plans, programs and strategies to combat automobile theft,
27 improve the administration of the automobile theft laws and
28 provide a forum for identification of critical problems for
29 those persons dealing with automobile theft.
30 (9) Coordinate the development, adoption and
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1 implementation of plans, programs and strategies relating to
2 interagency and intergovernmental cooperation with respect to
3 automobile theft law enforcement.
4 (10) Promulgate rules or regulations related to the
5 expenditure of moneys held in the fund in order to assist and
6 support those agencies, units of government and other
7 organizations charged with the responsibility of reducing
8 automobile theft or interested and involved in achieving this
9 goal.
10 (11) Audit at its discretion the plans and programs that
11 it has funded in whole or in part in order to evaluate the
12 effectiveness of the plans and programs and withdraw funding
13 should the authority determine that a plan or program is
14 ineffective or is no longer in need of further financial
15 support from the fund.
16 (12) Report annually, on or before the first day of
17 April falling after this act has been effective for at least
18 12 months, and annually thereafter on the same schedule, to
19 the Governor and the General Assembly on the authority's
20 activities in the preceding period. The report shall be
21 available for public inspection.
22 Section 6. Automobile Theft Prevention Trust Fund.
23 (a) Creation.--A separate account in the State Treasury is
24 hereby established to be known as the Automobile Theft
25 Prevention Trust Fund. The fund shall be administered by the
26 authority. All interest earned from the investment or deposit of
27 moneys accumulated in the fund shall be deposited in trust in
28 the fund.
29 (b) Funds.--All moneys deposited into the fund shall not be
30 considered general revenue of this Commonwealth, but shall be
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1 used only to effectuate the purposes of this act as determined
2 by the authority and shall be subject to audit by the Auditor
3 General.
4 (c) Assessment.--Prior to the first day of April following
5 the effective date of this act and prior to the first day of
6 April of each year thereafter so long as this act shall remain
7 in effect, each insurer engaged in the writing of automobile
8 insurance coverages, as a condition of its authorization to
9 transact automobile insurance business in this Commonwealth,
10 shall pay into the fund in trust an amount equal to the product
11 obtained by multiplying $4,000,000 by a fraction, the numerator
12 of which is the total private passenger and commercial
13 automobile physical damage insurance premiums written in this
14 Commonwealth by that insurer during the preceding calendar year
15 and the denominator of which is the total private passenger and
16 commercial automobile physical damage insurance premiums written
17 in this Commonwealth by all insurers in the same period.
18 Assessments made under this section shall not be considered
19 burdens and prohibitions under section 212 of the act of May 17,
20 1921 (P.L.789, No.285), known as The Insurance Department Act of
21 one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one.
22 (d) Base amount.--In succeeding years the authority may vary
23 the base amount of $4,000,000, provided, however, that any
24 increase which on an annual basis exceeds the increase in the
25 Consumer Price Index for this Commonwealth must be approved by
26 five of seven members of the board.
27 (e) Expenditures.--Moneys in the fund shall be expended by
28 the authority for the following purposes:
29 (1) To effectuate the powers, duties and
30 responsibilities of the authority as set forth in section 5.
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1 (2) To provide financial support to law enforcement,
2 correctional agencies and prosecutors for programs designed
3 to reduce automobile theft and to improve the administration
4 of automobile theft laws.
5 (3) To provide financial support for other governmental
6 agencies, community, consumer and business organizations for
7 programs designed to reduce automobile theft and to improve
8 the administration of automobile theft laws.
9 (4) To provide financial support to programs designed to
10 inform owners of automobiles about the costs of automobile
11 theft to individuals and to society and to suggest methods
12 for preventing automobile theft.
13 (5) To provide financial support for reward programs
14 leading to the arrest and conviction of persons and
15 organizations engaged in automobile theft.
16 (6) To provide financial support for other plans,
17 programs and strategies consistent with the purposes of this
18 act.
19 (f) Dissolution.--In the event that the trust fund is
20 discontinued or the authority is dissolved by operation of law,
21 any balance remaining in the fund, after deducting
22 administrative costs for liquidation, shall be returned to
23 insurers in proportion to their financial contributions to the
24 fund in the preceding calendar year.
25 Section 7. Immunity.
26 In the absence of malice, no board member and no employee,
27 agent or designee of the authority shall be subject to civil or
28 criminal liability for receiving or disclosing information
29 related to automobile theft or the activities of the authority.
30 In the absence of malice, persons or organizations shall not be
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1 subject to civil or criminal liability for providing information
2 to the authority or its employees relating to automobile theft.
3 This section does not abrogate or modify in any way any common
4 law or statutory privilege or immunity heretofore enjoyed by any
5 person.
6 Section 8. Expiration.
7 This act shall expire December 31, 1998 1999, unless <--
8 otherwise provided for by act of the General Assembly.
9 Section 9. Repeals.
10 All acts and parts of acts are repealed insofar as they are
11 inconsistent with this act.
12 Section 10. Effective date.
13 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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