PRINTER'S NO. 477
No. 437 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY BELL, LYNCH AND BODACK, MARCH 7, 1983
REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, MARCH 7, 1983
AN ACT
1 Requiring certain public agencies in the Commonwealth of
2 Pennsylvania to purchase or lease motor vehicles which are
3 manufactured or assembled in the United States and imposing a
4 penalty.
5 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6 hereby enacts as follows:
7 Section 1. Short title.
8 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Motor Vehicle
9 Procurement Act.
10 Section 2. Definitions.
11 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
12 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
13 context clearly indicates otherwise:
14 "Motor vehicle." Includes motorcycle, automobile, truck,
15 tractor, plow and earth moving equipment.
16 "Person." Natural persons as well as corporations,
17 partnerships, business units and associations.
18 "Public agency."
1 (1) The Commonwealth and its departments, boards,
2 commissions and agencies.
3 (2) Counties, cities, boroughs, townships, school
4 districts and any other governmental unit or district.
5 (3) The State Public School Building Authority, the
6 State Highway and Bridge Authority and any other authority
7 now in existence or hereafter created or organized by the
8 Commonwealth.
9 (4) The municipal or school or other authorities now in
10 existence or hereafter created or organized by any county,
11 city, borough, township or school district or combination
12 thereof.
13 (5) Any and all other public bodies, authorities,
14 offices, agencies and instrumentalities exercising a
15 governmental or proprietary function.
16 "United States." The United States of America. It includes
17 all territory, continental or insular, subject to the
18 jurisdiction of the United States.
19 Section 3. Police power.
20 This act shall be deemed to be an exercise of the police
21 power of the Commonwealth for the protection of the health,
22 safety and general welfare of its citizens.
23 Section 4. Public policy.
24 (a) Legislative finding.--It is determined by the General
25 Assembly and declared to be its legislative finding that:
26 (1) The production of motor vehicles and component parts
27 constitutes a major industry of the Commonwealth. It provides
28 employment for and incomes of hundreds of thousands of the
29 people of this Commonwealth and, in turn, millions of persons
30 in the United States.
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1 (2) The taxes paid to the Commonwealth and its political
2 subdivisions by employers and employees engaged in the
3 production and sale of motor vehicles is one of the largest
4 single sources of public revenues in this Commonwealth.
5 (3) It has, for many years, been the policy of the
6 Commonwealth to aid and support the development and expansion
7 of industry here to foster the economic well-being of the
8 Commonwealth and its people.
9 (4) The economy and general welfare of the Commonwealth
10 and its citizens, as well as the economy, general welfare and
11 national security of the United States, are inseparably
12 related in the preservation and development of the motor
13 vehicle industry in Pennsylvania and in other states of the
14 United States.
15 (b) General Assembly declaration.--The General Assembly
16 declares it to be the policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
17 that public officers and agencies should aid and promote the
18 development of the motor vehicle industry of the United States
19 to stimulate and improve the economic well-being of the
20 Commonwealth and its citizens.
21 Section 5. Contract provisions.
22 (a) Motor vehicles to be manufactured or assembled in the
23 United States.--A public agency shall purchase, lease or rent
24 only motor vehicles which are manufactured or assembled in the
25 United States. Contract documents for the purchase, lease or
26 rental of motor vehicles shall contain a provision that the
27 vehicles purchased, leased or rented by the public agency shall
28 be manufactured or assembled in the United States.
29 (b) Exception.--This section shall not apply where the head
30 of the public agency shall state in writing that it is
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1 inconsistent with the public interest, or that the cost is
2 unreasonable.
3 Section 6. Payments under contract; action to recover
4 unauthorized payments.
5 A public agency shall not authorize, provide for or make a
6 payment to a person under a contract containing the provision
7 required by section 5 unless the public agency is satisfied that
8 the person has complied with the provision. The payment made to
9 a person by a public agency which should not have been made
10 shall be recoverable directly from the supplier of the motor
11 vehicle who did not comply with section 5 by the public agency
12 or the Attorney General by suit filed in the Commonwealth Court.
13 Section 7. Liberal construction.
14 This act is intended as remedial legislation designed to
15 promote the general welfare and stimulate the economy of the
16 Commonwealth and its people. Each provision shall receive a
17 liberal construction to effectuate that intention. None of the
18 provisions of this act shall receive a strict or limited
19 construction.
20 Section 8. Penalty.
21 A violation of a provision of this act shall be a misdemeanor
22 of the first degree.
23 Section 9. Effective date.
24 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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