PRINTER'S NO. 557
No. 503 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY BONETTO, LETTERMAN, ARTHURS, KOLTER AND STOUT,
FEBRUARY 19, 1975
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, FEBRUARY 19, 1975
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 21, 1931 (P.L.149, No.105), entitled, as
2 amended, "An act imposing a State tax, payable by those
3 herein defined as distributors, on liquid fuels used or sold
4 and delivered within the Commonwealth, which are practically,
5 and commercially suitable for use in internal combustion
6 engines for the generation of power; providing for the
7 collection and lien of the tax, and the distribution and use
8 of the proceeds thereof; requiring such distributors to
9 secure permits, to file corporate surety bonds and reports,
10 and to retain certain records; imposing duties on retail
11 dealers, common carriers, county commissioners, and such
12 distributors; providing for rewards; imposing certain costs
13 on counties; conferring powers and imposing duties on certain
14 State officers and departments; providing for refunds;
15 imposing penalties; and making an appropriation," providing
16 for additional uses of fuel tax funds.
17 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
18 hereby enacts as follows:
19 Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 10, act of May 21, 1931
20 (P.L. 149, No.105), known as "The Liquid Fuels Tax Act," amended
21 March 5, 1970 (P.L.139, No.56), is amended to read:
22 Section 10. Disposition and Use of Tax.--(a) One-half cent
23 per gallon of the permanent tax collected under the provisions
24 of this act shall be paid into the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund of the
25 State Treasury; and such moneys, paid into said fund, are hereby
1 specifically appropriated for the purposes hereinafter set
2 forth.
3 The moneys so paid into the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund, except
4 those that are refunded as hereinafter provided, shall be paid
5 to the respective counties of this Commonwealth, less such
6 amounts as represent the difference between the annual fees
7 prescribed in sections 709 and 710 of "The Vehicle Code" and
8 those fees charged pursuant to section 710.1 of "The Vehicle
9 Code" for annual registration of each motor vehicle operated by
10 mass transportation systems, on the first day of June and
11 December of each year, in the ratio that average return made
12 during the three (3) preceding years to each county bears to the
13 average amount returned to all counties for the three preceding
14 years: Provided, That the distribution of tax to the counties
15 from the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund that is payable the first day of
16 August, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, shall be made
17 under the provisions of the acts of Assembly repealed by this
18 act. Such amounts as represent the difference between the annual
19 fees prescribed in sections 709 and 710 of "The Vehicle Code"
20 and those fees charged pursuant to section 710.1 of "The Vehicle
21 Code" shall be paid into the Motor License Fund.
22 All moneys received by the counties hereunder shall be
23 deposited and maintained in a special fund designated as the
24 "County Liquid Fuels Tax Fund" into which no other moneys shall
25 be deposited and commingled, except in any county which does not
26 have sufficient money in such special fund to provide for
27 payments designated in the current annual budget for payment
28 from such special fund for the purposes of construction,
29 reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads, highways and
30 bridges, property damages, compensation of viewers for services
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1 in eminent domain proceedings involving roads, highways and
2 bridges, interest and principal payments on road or bridge
3 bonds, or sinking fund charges for such bonds becoming due
4 within the current calendar year and for the acquisition,
5 maintenance, repair and operation of traffic signs and traffic
6 signals, and for the erection and maintenance of stop and go
7 signal lights, blinkers or other like traffic control devices.
8 The county, for the purpose of such payments and such payments
9 only, may borrow and place in such special fund moneys, not in
10 excess of the liquid fuels tax funds to be received during the
11 current calendar year, and all such loans shall be repaid from
12 such special fund before the expiration of the current calendar
13 year and not thereafter. Moneys so received and deposited shall
14 be used only for the purpose of construction, reconstruction,
15 maintenance, and repair of roads, highways and bridges,
16 including the payment of property damage and compensation of
17 viewers for services in eminent domain proceedings involving
18 such roads, highways and bridges, now due or hereafter to become
19 due, occasioned by or the relocation or construction of highways
20 and bridges and for the payment of interest and sinking fund
21 charges on bonds issued or used for highways and bridge
22 purposes, or on so much of any bonds as have been used for such
23 purposes and for the acquisition, maintenance, repair and
24 operation of traffic signs and traffic signals for the
25 construction, operation and maintenance of ferryboat operations
26 and all payments made by any county, either directly or
27 indirectly, prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine
28 hundred and forty-six, for any or all such purposes are hereby
29 validated: Provided, That no expenditures from the county liquid
30 fuels tax fund shall be made by the county commissioners for new
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1 construction on roads [or], bridges or publicly owned ferryboat
2 operations without first having obtained the approval of the
3 plans for such construction from the Department of [Highways]
4 Transportation: And provided further, That the county
5 commissioners shall not allocate moneys from the county liquid
6 fuels tax fund to any political subdivision within the county,
7 until the application and the contracts or plans for the
8 proposed expenditures have been made on forms, prescribed,
9 prepared, and furnished, and first approved by the Department of
10 [Highways] Transportation. The county commissioners of each
11 county shall make to the Department of [Highways]
12 Transportation, on or before the fifteenth day of January for
13 the period ending December thirty-first of each year, on forms
14 prescribed, prepared, and furnished by the Department of
15 [Highways] Transportation, a report showing the receipts and
16 expenditures of such moneys received by the county, from the
17 Commonwealth under the provisions of this section. Copies of
18 such report shall be transmitted to the department and to the
19 Department of the Auditor General for audit. Upon the failure of
20 the county commissioners to file such report, or to make any
21 payments, allocations or expenditures, in compliance with the
22 provisions of this section, the department shall withhold
23 further payments to the county out of the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund
24 until the delinquent report is filed, transmitted, or said
25 moneys allocated, or said expenditures for the prior twelve
26 months are approved by the Department of [Highways]
27 Transportation.
28 * * *
29 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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