PRINTER'S NO. 1136
No. 983 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY WILSON, MAY 11, 1983
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MAY 11, 1983
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of August 21, 1953 (P.L.1273, No.361), entitled
2 "An act to regulate the business of private detectives,
3 investigators and watch, guard, or patrol agencies, and the
4 licensing thereof in each county; providing penalties,"
5 further providing for the application of the act.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Section 15 of the act of August 21, 1953
9 (P.L.1273, No.361), known as The Private Detective Act of 1953,
10 is amended to read:
11 Section 15. Application of Act.--(a) Nothing in this act
12 shall apply to any detective officer or man belonging to the
13 Pennsylvania State Police, or to the police force of any county,
14 city, borough, township, or incorporated town, or any employe of
15 such State Police, or such police force, appointed or elected by
16 due authority of law, while engaged in the performance of their
17 official duties, nor to any person, partnership, association, or
18 corporation, or any bureau or agency, whose business is
19 exclusively the furnishing of information as to the business and
1 financial standing and credit responsibility of persons,
2 partnerships, associations, or corporations, or as to the
3 personal habits and financial responsibility of applicants for
4 insurance, indemnity bonds, or commercial credit, or of
5 claimants under insurance policies, and whose business does not
6 embrace other activities described in section 2 of this act, nor
7 to any corporation duly authorized by the Commonwealth to
8 operate a fire alarm protection business, nor to any person
9 while engaged in the business of adjuster for an insurance
10 company, nor to any person regularly employed as special agent,
11 detective or investigator exclusively by one employer in
12 connection with the affairs of that employer only, nor to any
13 charitable or philanthropic society or association duly
14 incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth and which is
15 organized and maintained for the public good and not for private
16 profit, nor shall anything in this act contained be construed to
17 affect in any way attorneys or counselors at law in the regular
18 practice of their profession, [but such exemption shall not
19 enure to the benefit] or of any employe or representative of
20 such attorney or counselor at law who is [not] employed [solely,
21 exclusively and regularly] by [such] an attorney or counselor at
22 law, [nor to] for any case or matter involving expert testimony,
23 accident reconstruction, or otherwise pertaining to the
24 recreation of the cause of any loss, injury or damage, but this
25 exemption shall not inure to the benefit of persons in the
26 exclusive employment of common carriers subject to regulation by
27 the interstate commerce commission or the Public Utility
28 Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, nor to
29 investigators in the employment of credit bureaus. No person,
30 partnership, association, corporation, or any bureau or agency,
19830H0983B1136 - 2 -
1 exempted hereunder from the application of this act, shall
2 perform any manner of detective service as described in section
3 2 hereof for any other person, partnership, association,
4 corporation, bureau or agency, whether for fee, hire, reward,
5 other compensation, remuneration, or consideration, or as an
6 accommodation without fee, reward, or remuneration, or by a
7 reciprocal arrangement whereby such services are exchanged on
8 request of parties thereto. The commission of a single act
9 prohibited by this act shall constitute a violation thereof.
10 (b) Nothing in this act shall be construed to affect or
11 prohibit the right of any person to form, or become affiliated
12 with, or to continue as a member of, any union, association,
13 society, or organization of his own choosing.
14 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
E4L22DGS/19830H0983B1136 - 3 -