AN ACT
No. 536 Session of 1981 2 "An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the
3 executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the
4 Executive Department thereof and the administrative
5 departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,
6 including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or
7 Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or
8 authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative
9 departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and
10 duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative
11 officers, and of the several administrative departments,
12 boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the
13 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive
14 and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of
15 certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and
16 other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,
17 and commissions; and prescribing the manner in which the
18 number and compensation of the deputies and all other
19 assistants and employes of certain departments, boards and
20 commissions shall be determined," abolishing the Bureau of
21 Correction, creating a department to be known as the
22 Department of Correction, providing for official visits and
23 making related substantive and editorial changes.
24 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
25 hereby enacts as follows:
26 Section 1. Section 201, act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,
27 No.175), known as "The Administrative Code of 1929," amended
28 June 20, 1978 (P.L.477, No.70), is amended to read:
29 Section 201. Executive Officers, Administrative Departments
30 and Independent Administrative Boards and Commissions.--The
31 executive and administrative work of this Commonwealth shall be
32 performed by the Executive Department, consisting of the
33 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth,
34 Attorney General, Auditor General, State Treasurer, and
35 Secretary of Education; by the Executive Board, and the
36 Pennsylvania State Police; by the following administrative
37 departments: Department of State, [Department of Justice,]
38 Office of Attorney General, Department of Correction, Department
39 of the Auditor General, Treasury Department, Department of
1 Education, Department of Military Affairs, Insurance Department,
2 Department of Banking, Department of Agriculture, Department of
3 Transportation, Department of Health, Department of Labor and
4 Industry, Department of Aging, Department of Public Welfare,
5 Department of General Services, Department of Revenue,
6 Department of Commerce, Department of Community Affairs and
7 Department of Environmental Resources; and by the following
8 independent administrative boards and commissions: Pennsylvania
9 Game Commission, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, State Civil
10 Service Commission, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the
11 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the
12 Pennsylvania Securities Commission.
13 All of the provisions of this act, which apply generally to
14 administrative departments, or generally except to the
15 Department of the Auditor General, [and] the Treasury Department
16 and the Office of Attorney General, shall apply to the Executive
17 Board and to the Pennsylvania State Police.
18 Section 2. Section 206 and clause (1) of subsection (d) of
19 section 207.1 of the act, amended June 20, 1978 (P.L.477,
20 No.70), are amended to read:
21 Section 206. Department Heads.--Each administrative
22 department shall have as its head an officer who shall, either
23 personally, by deputy, or by the duly authorized agent or
24 employe of the department, and subject at all times to the
25 provisions of this act, exercise the powers and perform the
26 duties by law vested in and imposed upon the department.
27 The following officers shall be the heads of the
28 administrative departments following their respective titles:
29 Secretary of the Commonwealth, of the Department of State;
30 Auditor General, of the Department of the Auditor General;
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1 State Treasurer, of the Treasury Department;
2 Attorney General, of the Office of Attorney General;
3 Secretary of Education, of the Department of Education;
4 Adjutant General, of the Department of Military Affairs;
5 Insurance Commissioner, of the Insurance Department;
6 Secretary of Banking, of the Department of Banking;
7 Secretary of Agriculture, of the Department of Agriculture;
8 Secretary of Transportation, of the Department of
9 Transportation;
10 Secretary of Health, of the Department of Health;
11 Secretary of Labor and Industry, of the Department of Labor
12 and Industry;
13 Secretary of Aging, of the Department of Aging;
14 Secretary of Public Welfare, of the Department of Public
15 Welfare;
16 Secretary of Revenue, of the Department of Revenue;
17 Secretary of Commerce, of the Department of Commerce;
18 Secretary of Community Affairs, of the Department of
19 Community Affairs;
20 Secretary of Environmental Resources, of the Department of
21 Environmental Resources;
22 Secretary of General Services, of the Department of General
23 Services;
24 Correction Commissioner, of the Department of Correction.
25 Section 207.1. Gubernatorial Appointments.--* * *
26 (d) The Governor shall nominate in accordance with the
27 provisions of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
28 Pennsylvania and, by and with the advice and consent of a
29 majority of the members elected to the Senate appoint persons to
30 fill the following positions:
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1 (1) The Secretary of Education, the Secretary of the
2 Commonwealth, the Adjutant General, the Insurance Commissioner,
3 the Secretary of Banking, the Secretary of Agriculture, the
4 Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Health, the
5 Commissioner of the State Police, the Commissioner of
6 Correction, the Secretary of Labor and Industry, the Secretary
7 of Aging, the Secretary of Public Welfare, the Secretary of
8 General Services, the Secretary of Revenue, the Secretary of
9 Commerce, the Secretary of Community Affairs and the Secretary
10 of Environmental Resources.
11 * * *
12 Section 3. Sections 911, 912, 913, 914, 914.1, 915 and 916
13 of the act are repealed.
14 Section 4. The act is amended by adding an article to read:
15 ARTICLE IX-B
16 POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION
17 Section 901-B. General Powers and Duties of the
18 Department.--The Department of Correction which is hereby
19 established as an administrative department shall have the
20 powers and duties granted to and imposed upon it by this article
21 and by any other statutory provisions. In addition the
22 Department and Commissioner of Correction, it shall have all the
23 powers and duties granted to and imposed upon the former Bureau
24 and Commissioner of Correction prior to the effective date of
25 this article and shall also have all the powers and duties
26 formerly vested in and exercised by the General Counsel and the
27 Office of General Counsel insofar as such powers and duties
28 related to the administration, management and supervision of
29 penal and correctional facilities, programs and services.
30 Section 902-B. Official Visits.--(a) For the purpose of
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1 this section, "official visitor" is: the Governor, the
2 Lieutenant Governor, the President pro tempore and members of
3 the Senate, the Speaker and members of the House of
4 Representatives, the justices and judges of courts of record,
5 the General Counsel, the Attorney General and his deputies, and
6 authorized members of the Pennsylvania Prison Society. Names of
7 the Pennsylvania Prison Society members who have been designated
8 as official visitors shall be given to the correctional official
9 in charge of the appropriate facility in writing, together with
10 the terms of their appointment, under its corporate seal.
11 (b) Any official visitor is hereby authorized and empowered
12 to enter and visit any local or State correctional facility on
13 any and every day including Sundays between the hours of 9:00
14 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Visits at any other time shall be made only
15 with the special permission of the correctional official in
16 charge of the facility. If the correctional official in charge
17 of the facility shall be of the opinion that the visit would be
18 dangerous to the discipline or welfare of the facility, or the
19 safety of the visitor, the correctional official in charge of
20 the facility may temporarily deny, entry to any official visitor
21 if the secretary has previously declared that an emergency
22 situation exists within the facility. If this temporary
23 exclusion exceeds 72 hours, the official visitor may apply to
24 Commonwealth Court for a ruling upon the General Counsel to show
25 cause why the official visitor should not be permitted entry
26 into the correctional facility.
27 (c) Such official visitors shall have the right to interview
28 privately any prisoner or inmate confined in any State or local
29 correctional facility, and for that purpose to enter the cell,
30 room or apartment wherein any such person or inmate shall be
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1 confined. However, if the superintendent or person in charge of
2 such facility at the time of such visit shall be of the opinion
3 that the entry into the cell would be dangerous to the
4 discipline of the facility, then the superintendent or person in
5 charge may conduct any inmate, with whom such official visitor
6 may desire a private interview, into such other cell or room as
7 he may designate and there permit the private interview between
8 the official visitor and such inmate to take place.
9 (d) An official visitor shall be subject to the provisions
10 of 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 5121 (relating to escape), 5122 (relating to
11 weapons or implements for escape) and 5123 (relating to
12 contraband).
13 (e) If an official visitor violates any of the provisions of
14 this section, any superintendent, warden or official in charge
15 of a local or State correctional facility, may apply to any
16 court of common pleas in the county wherein such institution may
17 be situated for a ruling upon such visitor to show cause why he
18 or she should not be deprived of his or her official visiting
19 status, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such court, such
20 court shall enter a decree against such official visitor
21 depriving him or her of all rights, privileges and functions of
22 official visitor.
23 (f) Employes of an official visitor may accompany the
24 official visitor when visiting any prison, jail, State or
25 regional correctional institution and may be present during an
26 interview conducted by the official visitor.
27 Section 5. The annual salary of the Commissioner of
28 Correction shall be determined by the Executive Board not to
29 exceed fifty-one thousand five hundred dollars ($51,500).
30 Section 6. All personnel, allocations, appropriations,
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1 equipment, files, records, contracts, agreements, obligations
2 and other materials which are used, employed or expended in
3 connection with the powers, duties or functions given by this
4 amendatory act to the Department of Correction, which powers,
5 duties and functions were formerly exercised by the Bureau of
6 Correction or the Office of General Counsel are hereby
7 transferred to the Department of Correction with the same force
8 and effect as if the appropriations had been made to and said
9 items had been the property of the Department of Correction in
10 the first instance and as if said contracts, agreements and
11 obligations had been incurred or entered into by said Department
12 of Correction. All personnel transferred to the Department of
13 Correction from the Bureau of Correction pursuant to this act
14 shall retain any civil service or other employment status
15 assigned to said personnel in the Department of Correction prior
16 to the effective date of this act.
17 Section 7. All other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with
18 this act are hereby repealed to the extent of the inconsistency.
19 Section 8. This act shall take effect January 18, 1983.
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