1Amending the act of March 18, 1875 (P.L.32, No.36), entitled "An
2act requiring recorders of deeds to prepare and keep in their
3respective offices general, direct and ad sectum indexes of
4deeds and mortgages recorded therein, prescribing the duty of
5said recorders and declaring that the entries in said general
6indexes shall be notice to all persons," providing for
7requirements of certain instruments as a condition of
8recordation and for a fee for reprocessing<-; and making 
9editorial changes.

10The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
11hereby enacts as follows:

<-12Section 1. The act of March 18, 1875 (P.L.32, No.36),
13entitled "An act requiring recorders of deeds to prepare and
14keep in their respective offices general, direct and ad sectum
15indexes of deeds and mortgages recorded therein, prescribing the
16duty of said recorders and declaring that the entries in said
17general indexes shall be notice to all persons," is amended by
18adding sections to read:

19Section 1.1. (a) Except as provided for in subsection (c),
20in addition to any other requirement of law, all deeds or other

1transfers of real estate, or an interest in real estate,
2presented for recording after the effective date of this
3subsection shall conform to the following:

4(1) The document shall be titled and captioned as to its
5form and contents with a single title reasonably
6corresponding to a description of an instrument subject to
7fees in accordance with the act of June 12, 1919 (P.L.476,
8No.240), referred to as the Second Class County Recorder of
9Deeds Fee Law, the act of April 8, 1982 (P.L.310, No.87),
10referred to as the Recorder of Deeds Fee Law, or any law,
11ordinance, rule or regulation establishing fees for the
12recording of documents in counties of the first class, as
13applicable.

14(2) The document shall contain a property location,
15including the county and municipal corporation wherein the
16property lies, a legal description of the property and a
17uniform parcel identifier number of the property affected if
18required in accordance with section 5.

19(3) The name of every owner or person described in the
20document shall be identified as a party and shall be indexed
21accordingly by the recorder of deeds. Person shall include
22any natural person, association, fiduciary, partnership,
23corporation or other entity, including a governmental entity.

24(4) Documents shall not contain, or refer to by
25incorporation, multiple transactions affecting multiple
26parties and multiple properties, including mortgage
27satisfactions and assignments.

28(b) The recorder of deeds may refuse to record any document
29that does not conform to the standards set forth in subsection
30(a).

1(c) This section shall not apply to mortgage assignments.

2Section 1.2. The recorder of deeds may charge a fee not to
3exceed ten dollars for reprocessing a document rejected in
4accordance with section 1.1(b) pursuant to an established
5procedure and publication by the recorder of deeds.

6Section 2. All acts or parts of acts are repealed insofar as
7they are inconsistent with this act.

<-8Section 1. The title of the act of March 18, 1875 (P.L.32,
9No.36), entitled "Requiring recorders of deeds to prepare and
10keep in their respective offices general, direct and ad sectum
11indexes of deeds and mortgages recorded therein, prescribing the
12duty of said recorders and declaring that the entries in said
13general indexes shall be notice to all persons," is amended to
14read:

15Requiring recorders of deeds to prepare and keep in their
16respective offices general, direct and ad [sectum] sectam
17indexes of deeds and mortgages recorded therein, prescribing
18the duty of said recorders and declaring that the entries in
19said general indexes shall be notice to all persons.

20Section 2. Section 1 of the act, amended October 16, 1980
21(P.L.986, No.170), is amended to read:

22Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That in the addition to the
23indexes which the recorder of deeds in each county of this
24commonwealth is required to keep, the said recorder shall
25carefully and accurately prepare and keep in his office two
26general indexes of all deeds recorded therein, in one of which,
27to be known as the direct index, he shall enter in their order
28the name of the grantor, the name of the grantee, the volume and
29page wherein the deed is recorded, and in the other, to be known
30as the ad [sectum] sectam index, he shall enter in their order

1the name of the grantee, the name of the grantor, the volume and
2page wherein the deed is recorded. He shall in like manner also
3prepare and keep two general indexes, one direct and the other
4ad [sectum] sectam, of all mortgages recorded in his office. In
5counties of the second class, he shall hereafter enter in both
6said indexes of deeds and in both the indexes of mortgages, the
7date of recording and the name of the city or borough or
8township and the number of the ward thereof, if any, in which
9the property affected is stated in the recorded instrument to be
10located, and the primary as well as the permanent indexes shall
11contain the foregoing entries as to date of recording and
12locality of each property affected: Provided, That where an
13instrument affects property in more than one ward, city,
14borough, town or township and the space on the index is
15insufficient to permit the writing of the locality of each
16property affected, the name of the county alone shall be full
17compliance with this act. Said indexes shall be arranged
18alphabetically and in such a way as to afford an easy and ready
19reference to said deeds and mortgages respectively, and shall be
20written in a plain and legible hand: Provided however, That in
21any county where such indexes have already been prepared and in
22use, or where any special law relating to any of said indexes is
23now in force, they shall be adopted and kept as if made in
24pursuance of this act. Nothing herein contained shall prohibit
25the recorder of deeds from combining the general indexes for
26deeds with the general indexes for mortgages into one general
27index.

28Section 3. The act is amended by adding a section to read:

29Section 1.1. (a) In addition to any other provision of law,
30the recorder of deeds shall index in the direct and ad sectam

1indexes all oil or gas documents presented for recording
2according to:

3(1) The name of each party to the oil or gas document.

4(2) The name of each lessor listed in the addendum required
5by subsection (c).

6(b) A recorder of deeds, at his sole discretion, may refuse
7to accept an oil or gas document containing or incorporating by
8reference or by exhibit or by other means more than 50 leases.

9(c) An oil or gas document containing, or referring to by
10incorporation, multiple leases, shall include an addendum for
11the purposes of the indexing required by subsection (a). The
12addendum shall list each lease contained in the document or
13incorporated by reference or exhibit or by other means by and
14shall clearly identify for each lease:

15(1) The names of the lessor or lessors.

16(2) The prior recording information for the leasehold
17interest.

18(3) The property with which each lease is associated,
19identified by:

20(i) the name of any ward, city, borough, town or township in
21which all or part of the property is located, in a county that
22has not adopted a uniform parcel identifier system under the act
23of January 15, 1988 (P.L.1, No.1), known as the Uniform Parcel
24Identifier Law; or

25(ii) the uniform parcel identifier number of the property,
26in a county that has adopted a uniform parcel identifier system
27under the Uniform Parcel Identifier Law.

28(d) (1) In addition to any other fee authorized by law, for
29an oil or gas document, the recorder of deeds in a county that
30has not adopted a uniform parcel identifier system under the

1Uniform Parcel Identifier Law, may assess a fee of six dollars
2for each lease described, for which the lessor must be indexed
3in accordance with subsection (a).

4(2) If an oil or gas document contains, or refers to by
5incorporation, multiple leases, the recorder of deeds, in a
6county that has adopted the uniform parcel identifier system
7under the Uniform Parcel Identifier Law, must index the lessor
8in accordance with subsection (a), but may not assess the fee
9under paragraph (1). The recorder may assess such other fees as
10authorized under law, including a fee, if adopted, to certify
11each uniform parcel number.

12(e) The purpose of this section is to provide greater access
13to the public to information regarding oil and gas documents.
14The following shall apply:

15(1) This section shall apply to oil or gas documents
16presented for recording after the effective date of this
17section.

18(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or
19alter any requirement of law regarding the recording of
20documents other than oil or gas documents.

21(3) If an oil or gas document meets the requirements of this
22section and all other statutes providing recording requirements,
23the document shall be recorded. Nothing in this section shall be
24construed to confer upon a recorder of deeds additional
25authority to reject the oil or gas document, provided that it is
26accompanied by an amount at least equal to the required
27recording fees.

28(4) Nothing in this section shall affect in any manner the
29validity and enforceability of liens, mortgages or deeds of
30trust in oil and gas property.

1(5) This section shall not apply to or affect in any manner
2the provisions of 13 Pa.C.S. Division 9 (relating to secured
3transactions), including the provisions of Division 9 relating
4to as-extracted collateral, the proceeds of as-extracted
5collateral or fixtures used in oil and gas exploration,
6extraction or production.

7(6) Subsection (c) shall not be construed to confer a
8recorder of deeds with the responsibility or the authority to
9verify the accuracy of the information required in the addendum
10required by that subsection.

11(f) The following words and phrases when used in this
12section shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection
13unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

14"Lessor." The owner of record from whom mineral rights were
15leased at the time the lease was originally executed, regardless
16of whether a subsequent lease amended, restated or replaced the
17original lease, and regardless of whether the original lessor
18conveyed its reserved royalty interests to another person.

19"Oil or gas document." A document which transfers all or
20part of the interests of one party to another party in multiple
21oil or gas leases.

22"Party." The term shall include the grantor and grantee or
23assignor and assignee or transferor and transferee.

24"Person." Any natural person, association, fiduciary
25partnership, corporation or other entity, including a
26governmental entity.

27Section <-3 4. Nothing in this act shall affect any deed,
28other transfers of real estate or an interest in real estate,
29fully executed, acknowledged or recorded prior to the effective
30date of this act.

1Section <-4 5. This act shall take effect in 60 days.