PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 551                        PRINTER'S NO. 791

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


HOUSE BILL

No. 494 Session of 1973


        INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. O'CONNELL, O'BRIEN, SHUPNIK, R. MUSTO,
           HASAY, USTYNOSKI, WORRILOW, KESTER, GEKAS, DININNI,
           ZIMMERMAN, LETTERMAN, GRIECO, NOYE, W. D. HUTCHINSON AND
           KLINGAMAN, FEBRUARY 26, 1973

        AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF
           REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, APRIL 2, 1973

                                     AN ACT

     1  Providing for grants to individual non-farm owners of homes or
     2     personal property damaged or destroyed by certain floods;
     3     establishing the amount of the grants and making an
     4     appropriation.

     5     The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     6  hereby enacts as follows:
     7     Section 1.  Upon receipt and approval of a sworn application
     8  by a non-farm owner of a home or personal property damaged or
     9  destroyed by the floods of September, 1971 or June, 1972, the
    10  Office of the Governor may make a grant to cover a portion of
    11  the loss on the following basis:
    12     (1)  The total loss of both real and personal property
    13  combined may be ascertained in accordance with the amount
    14  approved by a Small Business Administration or Farmers Home
    15  Administration Disaster Loan as provided in U.S. P.L.92-385
    16  known as the Civil Disaster Relief Act of 1970 but shall not
    17  include any pre-flood indebtedness which has been consolidated


     1  with the property loss, nor shall it include any loss covered by
     2  an insurance policy, as any business loss as defined by the
     3  Small Business Administration.
     4     (2)  An adjusted loss shall be ascertained by deducting the
     5  amount of the Federal forgiveness from the figure arrived at in
     6  clause (1).
     7     (3)  For the first five thousand dollars ($5,000) of the
     8  adjusted loss, the grant shall be twenty-five per cent thereof.
     9     (4)  For the second five thousand dollars ($5,000) of the
    10  adjusted loss, the grant shall be fifteen per cent thereof.
    11     (5)  For the third five thousand dollars ($5,000) of the
    12  adjusted loss, the grant shall be ten per cent thereof.
    13     (6)  For the balance of the adjusted loss the grant shall be
    14  five per cent thereof but the total grant shall not exceed three
    15  thousand dollars ($3,000).
    16     (7)  Six per cent shall be added to all grants.
    17     Section 2.  If real property was condemned under eminent
    18  domain proceedings and where measure of damages is calculated
    19  under section 602 of the act of June 22, 1964 (P.L.84, No.6),
    20  known as the "Eminent Domain Code," said real property shall not  <--
    21  be taken into consideration in ascertaining the amount of the
    22  grant OWNER SHALL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE GRANT PROVIDED in       <--
    23  section 1 hereof.
    24     Section 3.  The owner making application for a grant shall,
    25  in his application, authorize the Commonwealth to apply the
    26  grant to any monthly obligation that he may have on account of a
    27  Small Business Administration or Farmers Home Administration
    28  loan until such time as the amount of the grant has been
    29  expended or the loan repaid, whichever shall first occur. If the
    30  loan is repaid prior to the expenditure of the entire amount of
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     1  the grant, or there is no indebtedness, the balance thereof
     2  shall be paid to the owner.
     3     Section 4.  All grants under this act shall be administered
     4  by the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs, and all
     5  applications for grants shall be submitted to that department
     6  within one hundred twenty days after the effective date of this
     7  act. If sufficient funds are not allocated herein, distribution
     8  of grants shall be on a pro rata basis. ANY FUNDS UNENCUMBERED    <--
     9  OR UNEXPENDED AFTER ALL CLAIMS UNDER THIS ACT HAVE BEEN FINALLY
    10  DETERMINED SHALL BE RETURNED TO THE EMERGENCY DISASTER RELIEF
    11  FUND FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF THE FLOOD OF JUNE 1972
    12  AND THE STORM OF SEPTEMBER 1971.
    13     Section 5.  A sum not to exceed forty million dollars
    14  ($40,000,000) may be allocated by the Governor for the purpose
    15  of administering and implementing this act from funds made
    16  available under the Emergency Disaster Relief Act of July 7,
    17  1972 (No.18-A).
    18     Section 6.  Any person making a false claim under the
    19  provisions of this act shall be subject to a penalty in the
    20  amount of three times the amount of the grant with interest at
    21  the rate of six per cent from the date of the grant. Such a
    22  penalty may be enforced by the Commonwealth in an assumpsit
    23  action and collected in the manner that other debts due and
    24  owing the Commonwealth are collected.
    25     Section 7. This act shall take effect immediately.




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