PRINTER'S NO. 3127
No. 2348 Session of 1976
INTRODUCED BY FINEMAN, IRVIS, MEBUS, SCIRICA, BEREN, McCLATCHY,
HASKELL, KISTLER, BERSON, MANDERINO, A. P. KELLY, TOLL,
ITKIN, HOPKINS, PIEVSKY, W. D. HUTCHINSON, M. E. MILLER JR.,
WOJDAK, HAMMOCK, KATZ, OLIVER, RAPPAPORT, GREENFIELD AND
BARBER, MAY 4, 1976
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND COMMERCE, MAY 4, 1976
AN ACT
1 Prohibiting certain practices in commercial transactions which
2 have the effect of limiting, discouraging or preventing free
3 association among persons, business organizations or
4 governmental agencies on account of race, color, sex,
5 religious creed, ancestry, national origin, ethnicity, or the
6 relationship of any person, business organization or
7 governmental agency with any foreign person, foreign business
8 organization or foreign government if such relationship is
9 not inconsistent with the declared foreign policy of the
10 United States.
11 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
12 hereby enacts as follows:
13 Section 1. Short Title.--This act may be cited as the
14 "Pennsylvania Free Commercial Association Act."
15 Section 2. Definitions.--As used in this act unless a
16 different meaning clearly appears from the context:
17 "Business organization" means a corporation, association,
18 partnership, joint-stock company, business trust, syndicate,
19 joint adventureship or other combination or group of persons
20 which is organized for the purpose of engaging, or is engaging
1 in profit-making activities, including but not limited to any
2 bank, bank and trust company, trust company, savings bank,
3 private bank, consumer discount company, consumer credit
4 company, mortgage company, savings and loan association, or
5 credit union.
6 "Coercive economic act":
7 (1) "Coercive economic act" means any action the effect of
8 which is to limit, discourage or prevent free association of or
9 among persons, business organizations, or governmental agencies,
10 including but not limited to:
11 (i) entering or refusing to enter into any contract or legal
12 relationship of whatever nature;
13 (ii) boycotting, blacklisting, or refusing to buy, sell,
14 trade, employ, license or provide goods, services or
15 information, or otherwise do business;
16 (iii) issuing or accepting any letter of credit; or
17 (iv) complying with the request of any foreign government,
18 or foreign business organization,
19 where a basis of such action is the race, color, sex, religious
20 creed, ancestry, national origin, or ethnicity of any person or
21 the relationship of any person, business organization, or
22 governmental agency with any foreign person, foreign government,
23 or foreign business organization if such relationship is not
24 inconsistent with the declared foreign policy of the United
25 States:
26 (2) "Coercive economic act" shall not include:
27 (i) actions connected with labor disputes;
28 (ii) actions which protest discriminatory practices of
29 foreign governments which are contrary to the declared foreign
30 policy of the United States; or
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1 (iii) actions which protest unlawful discriminatory
2 practices.
3 "Control" means the power to exercise a controlling influence
4 over the management or policies of an entity, to govern such
5 management or policies or to play a significant role in the
6 implementation thereof.
7 "Foreign business organization" means any business
8 organization whose principal place of business or domicile is
9 outside of the United States, or any business organization
10 controlled directly or indirectly by any other business
11 organization whose principal place of business or domicile is
12 outside of the United States.
13 "Foreign government" means all governments and political
14 subdivisions and the instrumentalities thereof, excepting the
15 governments, political subdivisions, and instrumentalities of
16 the United States and the States, Commonwealths, territories and
17 possessions of the United States, and the District of Columbia.
18 "Foreign person" means any person whose principal place of
19 residence, business, or domicile is outside of the United
20 States, or any person controlled directly or indirectly by any
21 other person whose principal place of residence, business, or
22 domicile is outside of the United States.
23 "Governmental agency" means the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
24 or any department, board, commission, agency or authority
25 thereof or any political subdivision of the Commonwealth of
26 Pennsylvania or any agency or authority thereof.
27 Section 3. Prohibited Commercial Practices.--It shall be a
28 prohibited commercial practice for any business organization or
29 governmental agency or any person acting on behalf of or in the
30 interest of any such business organization or governmental
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1 agency or any officer, employee, or agent of any foreign
2 government or foreign business organization to engage in any
3 coercive economic act.
4 Section 4. Void Contracts.--Any contract of whatever nature
5 entered into by any business organization or governmental
6 agency, or by any person acting on behalf of or in the interest
7 of any such business organization, or governmental agency, which
8 contains any provision which requires or requests that any party
9 thereto or any other entity commit a coercive economic act,
10 shall be void and unenforceable in its entirety.
11 Section 5. Penalties.--(a) Any business organization or
12 governmental agency, or any person acting on behalf of or in the
13 interest of any such business organization or governmental
14 agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of any foreign
15 government or foreign business organization who violates any
16 provision of this act by committing a prohibited commercial
17 practice as set forth in section 3 of this act shall be guilty
18 of a misdemeanor of the third degree and, upon conviction
19 thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $2,500,
20 or to undergo imprisonment for a term not to exceed one year, or
21 both.
22 (b) The Attorney General may institute an action in the
23 Commonwealth Court, on behalf of the Commonwealth, to collect a
24 civil penalty against any business organization or governmental
25 agency, or any person acting on behalf of or in the interest of
26 any such business organization or governmental agency, or any
27 officer, employee, or agent of any foreign government or foreign
28 business organization who violates any provision of this act by
29 committing a prohibited commercial practice as set forth in
30 section 3. The penalty shall not exceed $5,000 if imposed upon a
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1 natural person, and shall not exceed $10,000 if imposed upon an
2 entity other than a natural person.
3 (c) Any business organization or foreign business
4 organization which is required under any law of this
5 Commonwealth to obtain a certificate of authority, or in any
6 other manner to register in order to conduct business in this
7 Commonwealth by reason of the fact that it is not domesticated
8 within this Commonwealth, and any domestic corporation, shall,
9 upon conviction of a misdemeanor of the third degree as provided
10 in subsection (a) or, upon the imposition of a civil penalty as
11 provided in subsection (b) or both, forfeit any right to
12 continue to conduct business within this Commonwealth and any
13 such certificate of authority or registration shall be cancelled
14 and revoked. The officer of the Commonwealth or other individual
15 responsible for issuing such a certificate of authority or
16 conducting such registration shall, upon notification from the
17 court of any such conviction or imposition of a civil penalty,
18 proceed immediately, under the procedures established by the law
19 of the Commonwealth requiring a certificate of authority or
20 other registration, to cancel and revoke the same.
21 (d) Without regard to the amount in controversy, in a civil
22 action brought by any entity aggrieved by the commission of a
23 prohibited commercial practice as set forth in section 3, such
24 aggrieved entity may recover threefold actual damages,
25 reasonable attorney's fees, other litigation costs reasonably
26 incurred, and obtain other appropriate relief.
27 Section 6. Evidence.--In any judicial proceeding to enforce
28 the provisions of this act where the declared foreign policy of
29 the United States is an issue of fact, the court may accept as
30 evidence of such policy, without requiring formal proof thereof,
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1 written and oral statements of officials of the Executive Branch
2 of the United States Government charged by law with the duty of
3 developing or executing such policy, resolutions of the United
4 States Senate or House of Representatives, and any other
5 relevant evidence otherwise admissible under the laws of the
6 Commonwealth.
7 Section 7. Effective Date.--This act shall take effect in 60
8 days.
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