PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 1808 PRINTER'S NO. 2713
No. 1535 Session of 1979
INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. THOMAS, YAHNER, WENGER, KLINGAMAN,
W. W. FOSTER, MADIGAN, GRIECO, STAIRS, WILT, COLE, DeVERTER,
PITTS, STUBAN, CALTAGIRONE AND D. R. WRIGHT, JUNE 21, 1979
AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, JANUARY 21, 1980
AN ACT
1 Providing for a Lands Management Commission within the
2 Department of General Services AGRICULTURE. <--
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Declarations of purpose.
6 Whereas, The Legislature hereby finds and declares that in
7 order to ensure economic and efficient land use, increase and
8 improve production and provide food for residents of State-
9 operated institutions, State-owned lands shall be transferred to
10 the Lands Management Commission as is provided by this act; and
11 Whereas, The Legislature enacted the act of June 15, 1972
12 (P.L.395, No.117), providing for an inventory of all
13 Commonwealth real property, except highway rights-of-way to be
14 prepared by the Department of General Services.
15 Section 2. Definitions.
16 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
17 have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the
1 meanings given to them in this section:
2 "Commission." The Lands Management Commission within the
3 Department of General Services AGRICULTURE which is established <--
4 by this act.
5 "Institution." Any facility operated by the Department of
6 Public Welfare and Department of Justice for care, treatment,
7 confinement or rehabilitation of residents.
8 "Institutional Equipment." Any equipment used for land use
9 production and maintenance, owned by an institution and
10 transferred to the commission as provided in this act.
11 "Institutional farm." Any land owned by the Department of
12 Welfare and Department of Justice which is transferred to the
13 commission as provided in this act and which:
14 (1) is presently operated as a farm;
15 (2) was formerly operated as a farm and remains capable
16 of producing institutional land products; or
17 (3) lies adjacent to any such presently or formerly
18 operated farms.
19 "Institutional land products." Livestock and livestock
20 products and poultry products, fruits and fruit products,
21 vegetables and vegetable products, grains and hays, timber and
22 timber products and the products derived therefrom and other
23 products derived from the business of farming, including such
24 other products as may be manufactured, derived, or prepared from
25 the heretofore mentioned products, raw or processed, which are
26 used as food for man or animals.
27 "Land use facility." Any processing plant, milking stable,
28 institution equipment storage building, barn, silo, grain
29 storage building, swinery or any other building owned by an
30 institution, used in its land-use production and maintenance
19790H1535B2713 - 2 -
1 operations and transferred to the commission as provided in this
2 act.
3 Section 3. Lands Management Commission established;
4 composition; quorum.
5 There is hereby established within the Department of General <--
6 Services AGRICULTURE a Lands Management Commission composed of <--
7 nine members as follows; the Secretary of General Services <--
8 AGRICULTURE, who shall be chairman, THE SECRETARY OF GENERAL <--
9 SERVICES, the Secretary of Public Welfare, the Attorney General,
10 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Chairman of the House <--
11 Agriculture Committee, the Chairman of the Senate Agriculture
12 Committee and three farmers appointed from a list of names
13 submitted to the Governor by chartered farm organizations. The
14 terms of said farmer members shall be for six years. The terms
15 shall be staggered and one member shall be appointed every two
16 years. The initial appointments of farmer members shall be for
17 terms of two, four and six years. No business may be transacted
18 by the commission in the absence of a quorum which consists of
19 five members. The commission shall annually file a report at the
20 end of the fiscal year with the Governor and the members of the
21 General Assembly.
22 Section 4. Powers, duties and responsibilities of the
23 commission.
24 The purpose of the commission is to manage institutional
25 lands for the most efficient production of food products for
26 residents and land maintenance of institutions. The commission
27 shall have full power and authority over institutional farms,
28 including their management, employees, production and any
29 leasing of such farm lands. Revenue derived from the leasing of
30 lands shall be retained by the commission for use in modernizing
19790H1535B2713 - 3 -
1 the farm operation and securing additional equipment for
2 operation of the farms. The commission may seek such technical
3 assistance as it requires from the College of Agriculture of the
4 Pennsylvania State University, the United States Soil
5 Conservation Service, and the United States Agricultural <--
6 Stabilization and Conservation Service, AND THE BUREAU OF <--
7 FORESTRY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
8 RESOURCES. The commission shall promulgate rules and regulations
9 relating to the implementation of this act.
10 Section 5. Appointment of Land Management Director; qualifica-
11 tions; powers and duties.
12 (a) The commission, UPON APPROVAL OF THE SECRETARY OF <--
13 AGRICULTURE, shall appoint a Land Management Director who, in
14 addition to qualifications established by the commission, shall
15 have owned, operated or managed a farm for at least five years
16 within ten years immediately prior to the appointment. The Land <--
17 Management Director is the chief executive officer of the
18 commission and is responsible for conducting the operation of
19 the lands. THE LAND MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR <--
20 CONDUCTING THE OPERATION OF THE LANDS AND SHALL BE SUPERVISED
21 BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. He shall prepare an annual
22 report of the operations, including a list of all receipts and
23 expenditures and shall present it to the commission at the end
24 of each fiscal year.
25 (b) As authorized or directed by the commission, the Land
26 Management Director shall also:
27 (1) Prepare the annual budget request for the operation
28 of the institutional lands and submit it to the commission
29 for approval and submission to the budget office.
30 (2) Receive and approve all requisitions for supplies
19790H1535B2713 - 4 -
1 and equipment.
2 (3) Recruit and approve assistant managers to supervise
3 each institutional operation, IF NECESSARY. <--
4 (4) Implement all orders of the commission.
5 (5) Supervise all other employees of the commission.
6 (6) Transfer supplies, equipment, facilities, food
7 stuffs and produce from one institutional farm to another to
8 promote efficiency and improve land management.
9 (c) From the total amount of products produced on <--
10 institutional farms, the Land Management Director shall provide
11 each of the institutions under the control of the Department of
12 Public Welfare and Department of Justice, at wholesale market
13 cost, a proportionate amount of these products based on the
14 population and dietary needs of each institution and each of
15 these institutions shall use the commodities provided by the
16 Land Management Director for their annual food requirements. By
17 September 30 of each year, each institution shall present to the
18 Land Management Director a requisition request for food products
19 and commodities the institution will need during the next fiscal
20 year.
21 (d) If, during the year, an institution finds that it needs
22 other or additional commodities not included in the requisition
23 request for the year, the institutional superintendent shall
24 forward a supplemental request for the additional or other
25 commodities to the Land Management Director at least 30 days
26 before the Land Management Director is to deliver such other
27 commodities to the institution. An institution may purchase
28 commodities from other sources if the Land Management Director
29 certifies in writing that he will be unable to supply the needed
30 commodities at the time such commodities will be needed by the
19790H1535B2713 - 5 -
1 institution. If institutional farms produce more commodities
2 than can be consumed by the institutions, the Land Management
3 Director first shall sell this surplus to other State agencies
4 which request it at the wholesale market price for the products.
5 Section 6. Transfers to commission; utility continuance.
6 (a) Within six months upon passage of this act, the
7 Department of Public Welfare shall transfer all institutional
8 farms and all easements, mineral rights, appurtenances,
9 institutional equipment, institutional land products,
10 inventories and land-use facilities thereon or attached thereto,
11 to the commission.
12 (b) Any institutional lands heretofore declared surplus by
13 the Department of Public Welfare and Department of Justice shall
14 transfer immediately upon passage of this act to the commission
15 unless said lands are under lease agreements, then shall
16 transfer to the commission immediately upon expiration of said
17 lease.
18 (c) In the event a water supply system, a sewage disposal
19 system or any other utility or service facility involved in the
20 operation of an institution is hereby transferred to the
21 commission, an easement is hereby granted to the institution
22 affected to enable the institution to continue, uninterrupted,
23 the water supply system, the sewage disposal system or the
24 utility or service facility so transferred. If an institutional
25 farm is dependent upon a water supply system, a sewage disposal
26 system or any other utility or service facility located on the
27 property of an institution, an easement is hereby granted to the
28 commission to enable the commission to continue, uninterrupted,
29 the water supply system, the sewage disposal system or the
30 utility or service facility involved.
19790H1535B2713 - 6 -
1 Section 7. Establishment of land use division lines; appeal to
2 commission; remedy.
3 (a) The Land Management Director shall, immediately after
4 being appointed, employ a surveyor to establish the division
5 line between the lands being transferred to the commission and
6 the property remaining under the control and authority of the
7 Department of Public Welfare and Department of Justice. In
8 establishing the division line, the Land Management Director
9 shall cooperate fully with the Secretary of Public Welfare and
10 the Attorney General to ensure that property, essential to their
11 respective institutions, shall not be transferred to the
12 commission. In the event of disagreement over the placement of
13 the division line, the disposition of institutional equipment or
14 the disposition of the land use facilities, the Land Management
15 Director and the department shall, within 60 days, appear before
16 the commission for a hearing on the matter. The commission shall
17 decide the matter in all cases.
18 (b) The property or lands remaining under the control and
19 authority of the Department of Public Welfare and Department of
20 Justice may be maintained by a contractual arrangement between
21 the commission and at the option of the Department of Public
22 Welfare and Department of Justice.
23 Section 8. Transfer of operations.
24 All personnel, allocations, appropriations, agreements,
25 leases, claims, demands and causes of action of any value
26 whether or not subject to litigation on the date of this act,
27 equipment, files, records, classified data files, plans, maps,
28 air photographs, and all other materials which are used,
29 employed, or expended in connection with the duties, powers or
30 functions of the land use operations of the Department of Public
19790H1535B2713 - 7 -
1 Welfare and Department of Justice are hereby transferred by this
2 act to the Lands Management Commission of the Department of
3 General Services AGRICULTURE with the same force and effect as <--
4 if the appropriations had been made to and said items had been
5 the property of the Lands Management Commission of the
6 Department of General Services AGRICULTURE in the first instance <--
7 and if said contracts, agreements, leases and obligations had
8 been incurred or entered into by the Lands Management Commission
9 of the Department of General Services AGRICULTURE. <--
10 Section 9. Effective date.
11 This act shall take effect July 1, 1980.
A26L54RC/19790H1535B2713 - 8 -