SENATE AMENDED
PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 557 PRINTER'S NO. 1827
No. 503 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. BONETTO, LETTERMAN, ARTHURS, KOLTER,
STOUT, DAVIS, TAYLOR, BRUNNER, LINCOLN AND DeMEDIO,
FEBRUARY 19, 1975
SENATOR LYNCH, TRANSPORTATION, IN SENATE, AS AMENDED,
JUNE 24, 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
1 of this act shall be paid into the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund of the
2 State Treasury; and such moneys, paid into said fund, are hereby
3 specifically appropriated for the purposes hereinafter set
4 forth.
5 The moneys so paid into the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund, except
6 those that are refunded as hereinafter provided, shall be paid
7 to the respective counties of this Commonwealth, less such
8 amounts as represent the difference between the annual fees
9 prescribed in sections 709 and 710 of "The Vehicle Code" and
10 those fees charged pursuant to section 710.1 of "The Vehicle
11 Code" for annual registration of each motor vehicle operated by
12 mass transportation systems, on the first day of June and
13 December of each year, in the ratio that average return made
14 during the three (3) preceding years to each county bears to the
15 average amount returned to all counties for the three preceding
16 years: Provided, That the distribution of tax to the counties
17 from the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund that is payable the first day of
18 August, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, shall be made
19 under the provisions of the acts of Assembly repealed by this
20 act. Such amounts as represent the difference between the annual
21 fees prescribed in sections 709 and 710 of "The Vehicle Code"
22 and those fees charged pursuant to section 710.1 of "The Vehicle
23 Code" shall be paid into the Motor License Fund.
24 All moneys received by the counties hereunder shall be
25 deposited and maintained in a special fund designated as the
26 "County Liquid Fuels Tax Fund" into which no other moneys shall
27 be deposited and commingled, except in any county which does not
28 have sufficient money in such special fund to provide for
29 payments designated in the current annual budget for payment
30 from such special fund for the purposes of construction,
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1 reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads, highways and
2 bridges, property damages, compensation of viewers for services
3 in eminent domain proceedings involving roads, highways and
4 bridges, AND FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTION, OPERATION AND <--
5 MAINTENANCE OF PUBLICLY OWNED FERRYBOAT OPERATIONS, interest and
6 principal payments on road, [or] bridge OR FERRYBOAT OPERATION <--
7 bonds, or sinking fund charges for such bonds becoming due
8 within the current calendar year and for the acquisition,
9 maintenance, repair and operation of traffic signs and traffic
10 signals, and for the erection and maintenance of stop and go
11 signal lights, blinkers or other like traffic control devices.
12 The county, for the purpose of such payments and such payments
13 only, may borrow and place in such special fund moneys, not in
14 excess of the liquid fuels tax funds to be received during the
15 current calendar year, and all such loans shall be repaid from
16 such special fund before the expiration of the current calendar
17 year and not thereafter. Moneys so received and deposited shall
18 be used only for the purpose of construction, reconstruction,
19 maintenance, and repair of roads, highways and bridges,
20 including the payment of property damage and compensation of
21 viewers for services in eminent domain proceedings involving
22 such roads, highways and bridges, now due or hereafter to become
23 due, occasioned by or the relocation or construction of highways
24 and bridges, AND FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTION, OPERATION <--
25 AND MAINTENANCE OF PUBLICLY OWNED FERRYBOAT OPERATIONS, and for
26 the payment of interest and sinking fund charges on bonds issued
27 or used for highways and bridge purposes AND PUBLICLY OWNED <--
28 FERRYBOAT OPERATIONS, or on so much of any bonds as have been
29 used for such purposes and for the acquisition, maintenance,
30 repair and operation of traffic signs and traffic signals for <--
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1 the construction, operation and maintenance of ferryboat
2 operations and all payments made by any county, either directly
3 or indirectly, prior to the first day of January, one thousand
4 nine hundred and forty-six, for any or all such purposes are
5 hereby validated: Provided, That no expenditures from the county
6 liquid fuels tax fund shall be made by the county commissioners
7 for new construction on roads [or], bridges or publicly owned
8 ferryboat operations without first having obtained the approval
9 of the plans for such construction from the Department of
10 [Highways] Transportation: And provided further, That the county
11 commissioners shall not allocate moneys from the county liquid
12 fuels tax fund to any political subdivision within the county,
13 until the application and the contracts or plans for the
14 proposed expenditures have been made on forms, prescribed,
15 prepared, and furnished, and first approved by the Department of
16 [Highways] Transportation. The county commissioners of each
17 county shall make to the Department of [Highways]
18 Transportation, on or before the fifteenth day of January for
19 the period ending December thirty-first of each year, on forms
20 prescribed, prepared, and furnished by the Department of
21 [Highways] Transportation, a report showing the receipts and
22 expenditures of such moneys received by the county, from the
23 Commonwealth under the provisions of this section. Copies of
24 such report shall be transmitted to the department and to the
25 Department of the Auditor General for audit. Upon the failure of
26 the county commissioners to file such report, or to make any
27 payments, allocations or expenditures, in compliance with the
28 provisions of this section, the department shall withhold
29 further payments to the county out of the Liquid Fuels Tax Fund
30 until the delinquent report is filed, transmitted, or said
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1 moneys allocated, or said expenditures for the prior twelve
2 months are approved by the Department of [Highways]
3 Transportation.
4 * * *
5 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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