THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY ARGALL, FONTANA, ERICKSON, ALLOWAY AND EARLL, JUNE 26, 2009

REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, JUNE 26, 2009  

AN ACT

Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), entitled

"An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the

executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the

Executive Department thereof and the administrative

departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,

including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or

Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or

authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative

departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and

duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative

officers, and of the several administrative departments,

boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the

Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive

and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of

certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and

other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,

and commissions; and prescribing the manner in which the

number and compensation of the deputies and all other

assistants and employes of certain departments, boards and

commissions shall be determined," further providing for

disposition of unserviceable personal property; and providing

for disposition of surplus vehicles to qualified

municipalities.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 510 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,

No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, amended July

18, 1969 (P.L.165, No.67), is amended to read:

Section 510.  Disposition of Unserviceable Personal Property;

Surplus or Unserviceable Road, Bridge Materials or Equipment.--

(a)  Whenever any furnishings, or other personal property of

this Commonwealth, shall be no longer of service to the

Commonwealth, it shall be the duty of the department, board, or

commission, in whose possession such property shall be or come,

to put such property into the custody of the Department of

[Property and Supplies] General Services: Provided, however,

That in the case of any perishable property which is not in the

city of Harrisburg, the department, board, or commission, having

possession of the same, may sell it in such manner, and upon

such terms, as the head of the department, or the board, or

commission, may determine: And provided further, That any road

or bridge materials or equipment that have been declared surplus

or unserviceable by the Department of [Highways] Transportation 

shall be offered for sale to counties, cities, boroughs,

incorporated towns and townships at the best available price by

the Department of [Property and Supplies] General Services.

Written notification of the availability of such material and

equipment shall be given to all counties, cities, boroughs,

incorporated towns and townships in the highway district in

which such material and equipment was last used. If more than

one such political subdivision requests the same material or

equipment, any sale shall be made to the political subdivision

making the highest letter bid. No sale shall be consummated

until after a minimum of fifteen (15) days from the date of

mailing the notification. All such material and equipment shall

be used by the procuring political subdivision upon roads,

streets and bridges. All moneys received for such material shall

be deposited in the Motor License Fund.

(b)  Subsection (a) shall apply to the disposition of a

surplus vehicle only if the surplus vehicle is not disposed of

in accordance with section 510.1.

["Unserviceable property," as used in this section,] (c)  

"Unserviceable property" shall not include products

manufactured, grown, or raised, by any department, board, or

commission, or by the inmates or patients of any State

institution, or minerals, oil, gas, or other materials, taken

from any property of the Commonwealth. It shall include only

articles previously purchased by the Commonwealth, or any agency

thereof, and paid for out of funds of or in the control of the

Commonwealth.

Section 2.  The act is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 510.1.  Disposition of Surplus Vehicles to Qualified

Municipalities.--(a)  Prior to employing the procedure for

disposing property under section 510(a), surplus vehicles shall

be offered for disposal to qualified municipalities in

accordance with the procedures and priorities and for the

consideration, if any, established under this section.

(b)  In the disposition of surplus vehicles to qualified

municipalities, the following classes of priority shall apply:

(1)  First priority shall be given to a qualified

municipality that is a financially distressed municipality, as

defined in section 203(f) of the act of July 10, 1987 (P.L.246,

No.47), known as the "Municipalities Financial Recovery Act."

(2)  Second priority shall be given to a qualified

municipality that requests the surplus vehicle as part of a

council of governments on which it has membership or through an

intergovernmental cooperation agreement to which it is a party,

in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A (relating to

intergovernmental cooperation), provided that the surplus

vehicle furthers the purpose of the council of governments or

intergovernmental cooperation agreement. In order to qualify for

this priority, one of the members of a council of governments or

parties to an intergovernmental cooperation agreement must be a

qualified municipality.

(3)  Third priority shall be given to a qualified

municipality that does not meet the criteria of paragraph (1) or

(2).

(c)  If more than one qualified municipality in the same

priority class under subsection (b) is interested in the same

surplus vehicle, the department shall determine which qualified

municipality in the class shall be given preference, in

accordance with standards established by the department, which

may include, but need not be limited to, the following:

(1)  A municipality's rate of individual poverty as

determined by the most recent Federal decennial census,

currently found in the United States Census Bureau's Table DP-3,

Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics.

(2)  A municipality that has levied the maximum allowable

real estate tax for general purposes and earned income tax as

provided by applicable law.

(3)  A municipality's demonstrated need for the vehicle to be

acquired.

(d)  In addition to paying the cost, if any, of transporting

the surplus vehicle from its location to the municipality, a

qualified municipality that acquires a surplus vehicle in

accordance with this section shall pay the following

consideration:

(1)  A qualified municipality in the first priority class

under subsection (b)(1) shall not be required to pay anything

toward the fair market value established by the department.

(2)  A qualified municipality in the second priority class

under subsection (b)(2) shall pay twenty-five per centum (25%)

of the fair market value established by the department.

(3)  A qualified municipality in the third priority class

under subsection (b)(3) shall pay fifty per centum (50%) of the

fair market value established by the department.

All moneys received for such surplus vehicles shall be deposited

in the Motor License Fund.

(e)  In administering the provisions of this section, the

department shall have the following powers and duties:

(1)  To notify all municipalities in this Commonwealth of the

existence of the program set forth in this section.

(2)  To provide for and develop the application process for

municipalities to become qualified municipalities and to

establish that they meet the criteria of a qualified

municipality as defined in this section.

(3)  To develop procedures by which qualified municipalities

are notified, either through printed or electronic means, of

available surplus vehicles.

(4)  To develop the process by which qualified municipalities

may request a particular surplus vehicle, which request form

shall state that the qualified municipality understands and

accepts that the department's selection of a qualified

municipality for each surplus vehicle is final and unappealable.

(5)  To establish deadlines for:

(i)  Requests for surplus vehicles to be received by the

department.

(ii)  Notification by the department to the qualified

municipality of a surplus vehicle or vehicles for which it has

been selected to receive or purchase.

(iii)  Payment for the surplus vehicle or vehicles by the

selected qualified municipality.

(iv)  Conveyance of the surplus vehicle or vehicles to the

selected qualified municipality.

(6)  To promulgate regulations and take other action

necessary to carry out the program set forth in this section.

(f)  Qualified municipalities that participate in the program

authorized by this section or municipalities applying to become

a qualified municipality, as relevant, shall have the following

duties:

(1)  To submit to the department a completed application form

to become a qualified municipality which form shall include, but

not necessarily be limited to, an attestation clause to be

signed by the presiding officer of the municipality's governing

body that the submitted copy of the municipality's most recently

enacted ordinance adopting the municipality's annual budget is

true and accurate and that the submitted Federal decennial

information regarding the municipality is as published by the

United States Census Bureau for the most recent Federal

decennial census.

(2)  To submit to the department a timely request for the

desired surplus vehicle or vehicles.

(3)  To promptly pay the cost, if any, of the surplus vehicle

or vehicles awarded by the department.

(4)  To arrange for the transportation or pickup of the

surplus vehicle or vehicles from its location to the selected

qualified municipality's location.

(5)  To use any surplus vehicle that has been received

through the process set forth in this section for municipal

purposes or, if the qualified municipality disposes of the

vehicle, to ensure that the disposal shall only be done in

accordance with the applicable statute for that class of

municipality for disposal of personal property and, in which

case, the proceeds shall be returned to the Commonwealth and

deposited in the Motor License Fund.

(g)  As used in this section, the following words and phrases

shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:

"Annual operating budget."  The annual financial plan of a

municipality that sets forth anticipated expenditures from

various municipal funds, including expenditures from the General

Fund, special revenue funds and proprietary funds for the

purpose of satisfying municipal operating costs, but excluding

outlays for nonrecurring capital improvements and appropriations

to and expenditures from the capital reserve fund of the

municipality.

"Department."  The Department of General Services of the

Commonwealth.

"Qualified municipality."  A municipality within this

Commonwealth that has certified to the Department of General

Services in accordance with this section that it has four

thousand (4,000) or fewer residents and an annual operating

budget of one million five hundred thousand dollars

($1,500,000), or less.

"Surplus vehicle."  Any vehicle, as defined by 75 Pa.C.S. 

(relating to vehicles), that has been declared surplus or

unserviceable, as defined in section 510, by the Department of

Transportation of the Commonwealth and which has been assigned a

fair market value by the Department of General Services.

Section 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.