House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

In the near future I plan on introducing a package of legislation that will update the vacancy procedures for First and Second Class Townships. A recent situation in a township in my district highlighted the need for clarification. Currently both codes use a cumbersome procedure to determine when a vacancy in a township office officially begins, causing confusion when attempting to determine how many days are left to fill a vacancy.

My legislation, which was drafted with the urging and support of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) and the Pennsylvania Municipal League (PML), sets forth a specific plan to address vacancies by resignation, indicating that a vacancy shall not be created immediately by a resignation. Instead, the vacancy will be deemed to exist only after acceptance of the resignation by a majority vote of the governing body of the municipality. Such acceptance of the resignation must occur no later than 45 days after it has been tendered by the elected official. Finally, the sections are reorganized to make the process of filling vacancies easier to understand and standardize the vacancy procedure across all three municipal codes.

The Second Class Township Code version of this legislation was introduced last session as House Bill 2164, and included the following sponsors: GABLER, HELM, IRVIN, LONGIETTI, MILLARD, MUSTIO, SANKEY, WARD and ZIMMERMAN

Please join me in cosponsoring this important legislation.