PRINTER'S NO. 302
No. 285 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY FEE, PIEVSKY, DOMBROWSKI, LAUGHLIN, MANDERINO,
COLAFELLA, CLARK, PRATT, IRVIS, D. R. WRIGHT, VEON, BOWSER,
O'DONNELL, STUBAN, BALDWIN AND SHOWERS, FEBRUARY 11, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, FEBRUARY 11, 1985
AN ACT
1 Creating a special fund in the Treasury Department for use in
2 attracting major industry into this Commonwealth;
3 establishing a procedure for the appropriation and use of
4 moneys in the fund; and making an appropriation.
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 Sunny Day
9 Fund Act.
10 Section 2. Findings and declaration of policy.
11 (a) Findings.--It is hereby determined and declared as a
12 matter of legislative finding and intent:
13 (1) That involuntary unemployment and its resulting
14 burden of indigency falls with crushing force upon the
15 unemployed worker and upon counties, cities, boroughs and
16 other local governmental jurisdictions, reducing their tax
17 base and impairing their financial ability to support
18 education and other governmental services.
1 (2) That the problem of unemployment, and its
2 debilitating effects, has not been eliminated since the
3 increased level of the economy has not reached all areas of
4 this Commonwealth, nor has the economy of this Commonwealth
5 as a whole reached the level of the national economy.
6 (3) That the present and prospective health, safety,
7 morals, right to gainful employment and general welfare of
8 the people of this Commonwealth requires, as a public
9 purpose, the promotion and development of large new
10 industrial, manufacturing or research and development
11 enterprises.
12 (4) That while the Commonwealth has recently put in
13 place the best set of programs for small business available
14 in any state, there is no program or programs available which
15 has enough resources available to attract firms with large
16 numbers of new jobs available.
17 (b) Declaration of policy.--It is, therefore, declared to be
18 the policy of the Commonwealth to promote the health, safety,
19 morals, right to gainful employment and general welfare of the
20 inhabitants by the creation of a special account in the Treasury
21 Department, to be known as the Sunny Day Fund, which shall exist
22 for the public purpose of alleviating unemployment by attracting
23 large industrial, manufacturing or research and development
24 plants into this Commonwealth.
25 Section 3. Definitions.
26 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
27 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
28 context clearly indicates otherwise:
29 "Fund." The Sunny Day Fund created by this act.
30 "Industrial enterprise." An enterprise other than a
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1 mercantile, commercial or retail enterprise which, by virtue of
2 its size, requires substantial capital and which, by its nature,
3 will create substantial employment opportunities.
4 "Manufacturing enterprise." An enterprise which is engaged
5 in the giving of new shapes, new qualities or new combinations
6 to matter by the application of processes which will generate
7 substantial employment.
8 "Research and development enterprise." An enterprise for the
9 discovery of new and the refinement of known substances,
10 processes, products, theories and ideas, which will create
11 substantial employment opportunities.
12 Section 4. Operation of fund.
13 (a) Source of funds.--There is hereby created a special fund
14 in the Treasury Department to be known as the Sunny Day Fund.
15 Moneys to be deposited in the fund shall be appropriated by the
16 General Assembly, and any interest income derived from those
17 moneys shall be deposited into the fund. Moneys in the fund
18 shall remain until appropriated and expended as specified in
19 subsection (b).
20 (b) Use of funds.--Moneys in the fund shall be available,
21 upon appropriation, to the Governor and the Department of
22 Commerce in their efforts to attract industrial, manufacturing
23 or research and development enterprises to this Commonwealth.
24 Whenever the Governor determines that money from this fund is
25 necessary to attract a major enterprise to this Commonwealth, he
26 shall present a request for an appropriation, along with the
27 specifics of the total proposal and such suggested ancillary and
28 substantive legislation as may be necessary, to the chairmen of
29 the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The General
30 Assembly may then appropriate money from the fund in the manner
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1 it determines necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in
2 the Governor's proposal. Any money appropriated according to
3 this section which is then lapsed shall return to the fund.
4 Section 5. Appropriation.
5 The sum of $25,000,000 is hereby appropriated from the
6 General Fund to be deposited into the Sunny Day Fund to be used
7 for the purposes set forth in this act.
8 Section 6. Effective date.
9 This act shall take effect immediately.
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