PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 2205, 2619 PRINTER'S NO. 2673
No. 1731 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY MURPHY, DAWIDA AND LEVDANSKY, OCTOBER 7, 1985
AS AMENDED, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 11, 1985
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of April 13, 1972 (P.L.184, No.62), entitled
2 "An act giving municipalities the right and power to adopt
3 home rule charters or one of several optional plans of
4 government and to exercise the powers and authority of local
5 self-government subject to certain restrictions and
6 limitations; providing procedures for such adoption and
7 defining the effect thereof," providing for election district
8 amendments; and making a repeal.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Section 221 of the act of April 13, 1972
12 (P.L.184, No.62), known as the Home Rule Charter and Optional
13 Plans Law, amended December 13, 1974 (P.L.958, No.314), is
14 amended to read:
15 Section 221. (a) The procedure for amending a home rule
16 charter or optional plan of government shall be through the
17 initiative procedure and referendum or ordinance of the
18 governing body as hereinafter provided for in this act.
19 (b) In cities which would be classified second class but
20 have adopted a home rule charter, changes in the method of
1 election of the governing body of any such city from elections
2 at large to either elections by district or elections partially
3 by district and partially at large or changes in the number of
4 members of the governing body may be implemented by amending a
5 home rule charter through the initiative procedure and
6 referendum or through an ordinance of the governing body
7 proposing an amendment by referendum on the question without
8 creation of a government study commission. If two or more
9 questions appear on the ballot at the same election and such
10 questions are in conflict and more than one receives the
11 approval of the voters, the question which receives the largest
12 number of affirmative votes shall prevail over the others.
13 If the referendum on the question results in the approval by
14 the voters to amend the home rule charter to provide for the
15 election of the governing body of such city either by districts
16 or partially by districts and partially at large, or in a change
17 in the number of members of the governing body the initial
18 apportionment of the districts shall be made by an apportionment
19 commission consisting of five members, three to be appointed by <--
20 the mayor and two to be appointed by the governing body SEVEN <--
21 MEMBERS, ALL OF WHOM SHALL RESIDE IN SUCH CITY. TWO MEMBERS OF
22 THE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION SHALL BE APPOINTED BY THE MAYOR OF
23 SUCH CITY. TWO MEMBERS OF THE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION SHALL BE
24 APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF SUCH CITY; ONE SHALL BE
25 APPOINTED BY THE CITY CHAIRMAN OF THE POLITICAL PARTY WHOSE
26 MAYORAL CANDIDATE RECEIVED THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES CAST IN
27 THE MOST RECENT MUNICIPAL ELECTION; ONE SHALL BE APPOINTED BY
28 THE CITY CHAIRMAN OF THE POLITICAL PARTY WHOSE MAYORAL CANDIDATE
29 RECEIVED THE SECOND HIGHEST VOTES IN THE MOST RECENT MUNICIPAL
30 ELECTION. THE SEVENTH MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION SHALL BE ELECTED
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1 AT LARGE BY A MAJORITY VOTE OF THE OTHER SIX MEMBERS AND SHALL
2 SERVE AS CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION. Such appointments shall be
3 made within ten days after the certification of the results of
4 the election by the county board of elections. If the
5 appointments are not made within such ten-day period, the
6 president judge of the court of common pleas of the county in
7 which such city is located shall make the appointments not yet
8 made. If the question approved by the voters does not provide
9 for the schedule of election of new members of the governing
10 body or the number of members of the governing body or the
11 status of members of the governing body in office on the day
12 before the amendment to the charter becomes effective, such
13 matters shall be made by the apportionment commission as part of
14 the apportionment plan.
15 The duties of the apportionment commission shall be to use
16 the official data of the United States Bureau of the Census to
17 define the lines that divide the council districts, to make them
18 as nearly equal in population as practicable and as compact and
19 contiguous as possible and to best provide for racial balance on
20 the governing body. The apportionment commission shall make
21 every effort to maintain neighborhood boundary lines of
22 communities of like interest whenever practicable. The
23 apportionment commission shall, within sixty days of the
24 appointment of all of its members, adopt a final plan for
25 apportionment. The adoption shall be by a vote of a majority of
26 the members of the commission. Notice of the adoption of the
27 plan shall be made in at least two newspapers of general
28 circulation in the city for at least two times in each of two
29 consecutive weeks. The plan shall be effective at the next
30 municipal election following the effective date of this
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1 subsection. The plan may be appealed by any registered voter of
2 such city to the appropriate court of common pleas within thirty
3 days of the date the last notice appeared in the newspaper.
4 Notwithstanding the provisions of the act of December 13,
5 1974 (P.L.947, No.312), known as the "Municipal Reapportionment
6 Act," within the year following that in which the Federal
7 census, decennial or special, is officially and finally
8 reported, any such city which has amended its home rule charter
9 to provide for the election of its governing body by districts
10 or partially by districts shall be reapportioned by a
11 reapportionment commission appointed in the same manner and
12 having the same duties as the apportionment commission
13 established in this subsection.
14 Any costs incurred in the initial apportionment or
15 reapportionment provided herein shall be borne by such city
16 being apportioned or reapportioned.
17 Section 2. The act of December 13, 1974 (P.L.947, No.312),
18 known as the Municipal Reapportionment Act, is repealed insofar
19 as it is inconsistent with this act.
20 Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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