PRINTER'S NO. 444
No. 401 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY GREEN, PRATT, CUMBERLAND, GRIECO, CIMINI, LEVI,
ARTHURS AND MILLIRON, FEBRUARY 11, 1975
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 11, 1975
AN ACT
1 Providing for grants or loans to volunteer fire companies for
2 the purpose of establishing or modernizing facilities that
3 house fire fighting equipment or purchasing new fire fighting
4 apparatus equipment and training; establishing a revolving
5 fund for such purpose; providing for the administration of
6 the act by the Department of Community Affairs; and making an
7 appropriation.
8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
9 hereby enacts as follows:
10 Section 1. Short Title.--This act shall be known and may be
11 cited as the "Volunteer Fire Company Assistance Act."
12 Section 2. Definitions.--As used in this act:
13 "Apparatus equipment" means snorkel, pumpers, tankers, ladder
14 trucks, or other large equipment used for fire fighting.
15 "Department" means the Department of Community Affairs of the
16 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
17 "Facilities" means facilities used to house fire fighting
18 equipment and shall not include meeting halls, social rooms, or
19 any other facilities not directly related to fire fighting.
20 "Volunteer fire company" means any nonprofit chartered
1 corporation, association, or organization located in this
2 Commonwealth which provides fire protection within this
3 Commonwealth.
4 "Volunteer Fire Company Grant or Loan Fund" means the fund
5 established under section 4.
6 Section 3. Assistance to Volunteer Fire Companies.--(a) The
7 department is hereby authorized, upon application of any
8 volunteer fire company, to make grants or loans to said
9 volunteer fire company for the purpose of establishing or
10 modernizing facilities that house fire fighting apparatus
11 equipment. At no time shall the grant exceed 50% of the cost
12 incurred nor be in excess of $50,000, whichever is less, to
13 establish or modernize facilities that house fire fighting
14 equipment or purchase new fire fighting apparatus equipment. The
15 amount of a loan made to any one volunteer fire company shall
16 not exceed $150,000.
17 (b) Prior to approving a grant, the volunteer fire company
18 must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department that they
19 have the financial resources or can obtain the financial
20 resources for complete payment of establishing or modernizing
21 facilities that house fire fighting equipment or purchasing new
22 fire fighting apparatus equipment.
23 (c) Loans made by the department shall be for a period of
24 not more than ten years at a low interest rate to be determined
25 from time to time by the department and shall be subject to such
26 security as shall be determined by the department.
27 (d) Grants and loans made by the department shall be paid
28 from the Volunteer Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund to the
29 volunteer fire companies in such a manner determined by the
30 department.
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1 (e) All payments of interest on said loans and the principal
2 thereof shall be deposited by the department in the Volunteer
3 Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund.
4 Section 4. Volunteer Fire Company Loan.--(a) There is hereby
5 created a special fund in the Treasury Department to be known as
6 the Volunteer Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund to which shall be
7 credited all appropriations made by the General Assembly to the
8 department as well as repayment of principal and interest on
9 loans made pursuant to this act.
10 (b) The department may requisition from time to time from
11 the Volunteer Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund such amounts as
12 shall be allocated by the department for grants or loans to
13 volunteer fire companies. When and as the amounts so allocated
14 by the department as loans to volunteer fire companies are
15 repaid to the department pursuant to the terms of the agreements
16 made and entered into with the department, the department shall
17 pay such amounts into the Volunteer Fire Company Grant and Loan
18 Fund, it being the intent of this act that the Volunteer Fire
19 Company Grant and Loan Fund shall operate as a revolving fund
20 whereby all appropriations and payments made thereto may be
21 applied and reapplied to the purposes of this act.
22 (c) At any time that the department shall determine that
23 funds held in the Volunteer Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund are
24 in excess of the amount needed by the department to carry out
25 the purposes of this act, the department may take such action as
26 shall be required to release such excess from the Volunteer Fire
27 Company Grant and Loan Fund and transfer the same to the General
28 Fund in the Treasury Department.
29 Section 5. Powers and Duties of the Department.--The powers
30 and duties shall be:
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1 (1) To appoint agents, employees, and servants; and to
2 prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation within the
3 limitations provided by law;
4 (2) To accept grants from the Federal Government and any
5 other individual, agency, or government for use in the Volunteer
6 Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund;
7 (3) To direct the Department of Community Affairs of the
8 Commonwealth to take title to any piece of property which acts
9 as security for any outstanding loan;
10 (4) To require all loans to be secured in such a manner that
11 the Department of Community Affairs would have a first priority
12 in case of any default or foreclosure;
13 (5) To loan money over a term of years, but in no case in
14 excess of ten years;
15 (6) To require, whenever possible, consolidation or mutual
16 aid agreements between communities in the utilization of
17 volunteer fire companies; and
18 (7) To promulgate such rules and regulations as it deems
19 necessary to carry out its powers and duties under this act.
20 Section 6. Appropriation.--The sum of $2,500,000, or as much
21 thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated to the
22 Volunteer Fire Company Grant and Loan Fund for the purposes set
23 forth in the implementation of this act.
24 Section 7. Effective Date.--This act shall take effect
25 immediately.
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