Regular Session 2015-2016 House Bill 0904 P.N. 1124

PRINTER'S NO. 1124

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

904

Session of

2015

INTRODUCED BY GINGRICH, ROSS, HARPER, FREEMAN AND M. DALEY,

APRIL 8, 2015

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, APRIL 8, 2015

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 24, 1931 (P.L.1206, No.331), entitled

"An act concerning townships of the first class; amending,

revising, consolidating, and changing the law relating

thereto," in corporate powers, further providing for powers

of the board of township commissioners as to building and

housing regulations and inspectors; and providing for Uniform

Construction Code, property maintenance code and reserved

powers.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Clauses XIX and XX of section 1502 of the act of

June 24, 1931 (P.L.1206, No.331), known as The First Class

Township Code, reenacted and amended May 27, 1949 (P.L.1955,

No.569) and amended July 31, 1963 (P.L.384, No.204) and July 10,

1975 (P.L.48, No.28), are amended to read:

Section 1502. The corporate power of a township of the first

class shall be vested in the board of township commissioners.

The board shall have power--

* * *

XIX. Building and Housing Sanitation Regulations. In

addition to other remedies provided by law, and in order to

promote the public health, safety, morals, and the general

welfare, to enact and enforce suitable ordinances to govern and

regulate the construction, alteration, repairs, occupation,

maintenance, sanitation, lighting, ventilation, water supply,

toilet facilities, drainage, use, and inspection of all

buildings and housing, or parts of buildings and housing,

constructed, erected, altered, designed or used, in whole or in

part, for human habitation or occupancy, and of the sanitation

and inspection of land appurtenant thereto in accordance with

Article XXXI-A. [In case any building, housing or structure is

constructed, reconstructed, altered, repaired, converted, or

maintained, or any building, housing or land is used, in

violation of any ordinance enacted under authority conferred

hereby, the board of township commissioners, in addition to

penalties provided by ordinances enacted hereunder, may

institute appropriate actions or proceedings, at law or in

equity, to prevent and restrain such unlawful construction,

reconstruction, alteration, repairs, conversion, maintenance or

use, and to restrain, correct, or abate such violation and to

prevent the occupancy of said building, housing or structure.

The ordinances enacted pursuant to this clause shall not be

inconsistent with the provisions of any statute governing the

same matter, but all regulations prescribed by such ordinances,

which are additional or supplementary to the statute law and not

inconsistent therewith, or enacted for the purpose of carrying

into effect the provisions of the statute law, shall be valid

and binding. Such ordinances may adopt any standard building

code and any standard housing code, published and printed in

book form, covering any or all of the above items, without

incorporating such building code and such housing code in the

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ordinance; or any township may enact such building code and such

housing code as its ordinance authorized under the provisions of

this clause. In either event, such building code and such

housing code shall not be published or advertised in full, as

provided by this section in the case of the adoption of

ordinances: Provided, That notice of the adoption of such

standard building code and such housing code as the building

ordinance and the housing ordinance of the township, together

with a brief summary thereof setting forth the principal

provisions of said ordinance in such reasonable detail as will

give adequate notice of its contents pursuant to a uniform form

which shall be prepared or approved by the Department of Labor

and Industry, and a reference to the place or places, within the

township, where copies of the building code and the housing code

adopted are deposited and may be examined, shall be published in

the manner provided by this section for the publication of

ordinances. Not less than three such copies shall be made

available to public inspection and use, during business hours,

for a period of not less than three months after the adoption of

such building code and such housing code.

XX. Building and Housing Inspectors. To provide for the

inspection of the construction and repair of buildings and

housing, including the appointment of one or more building

inspectors and housing inspectors; to prescribe limits wherein

none but buildings and housing of noncombustible material and

fireproof roofs shall be erected or substantially reconstructed

or removed thereinto; to provide penalties for the violation of

such regulations. Any building and housing erected,

reconstructed, or removed, contrary to the provisions of any

ordinance passed for any of the purposes herein specified, is

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declared to be a public nuisance and abatable as such.]

* * *

Section 2. The act is amended by adding an article to read:

ARTICLE XXXI-A

UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION CODE, PROPERTY MAINTENANCE CODE AND

RESERVED POWERS

Section 3101-A. Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this article

shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Pennsylvania Construction Code Act." The act of November

10, 1999 (P.L.491, No.45), known as the Pennsylvania

Construction Code Act.

"Uniform Construction Code." The Uniform Construction Code

adopted under section 301 of the Pennsylvania Construction Code

Act.

Section 3102-A. Primacy of Uniform Construction Code.

(a) General rule.--The Pennsylvania Construction Code Act

and the Uniform Construction Code shall apply to the

construction, alteration, repair and occupancy of the buildings

and structures within a township.

(b) Primacy.--This section and an ordinance, rule or

regulation adopted under this section shall not supersede or

abrogate the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act or the Uniform

Construction Code and shall be construed and read in pari

materia with both.

Section 3103-A. Changes in Uniform Construction Code.

The township commissioners may propose and enact an ordinance

to equal or exceed the minimum requirements of the Uniform

Construction Code in accordance with and subject to the

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requirements of section 503 of the Pennsylvania Construction

Code Act. An ordinance exceeding the provisions of the Uniform

Construction Code shall be required to meet the standards

provided in section 503(j)(2) of the Pennsylvania Construction

Code Act.

Section 3104-A. Public nuisance.

A building, housing or property, or part of a building,

housing or property erected, altered, extended, reconstructed,

removed or maintained, contrary to the provisions of an

ordinance passed for a purpose specified in this article may be

declared, by a court of law, a public nuisance, and may be

abatable as such. However, a violation of the Uniform

Construction Code or an ordinance that equals or exceeds the

Uniform Construction Code shall be subject to the provisions of

the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act and the regulations

adopted thereunder by the Department of Labor and Industry

relating to enforcement for noncompliance.

Section 3105-A. Property maintenance code.

(a) Property maintenance code.--Notwithstanding the primacy

of the Uniform Construction Code, the township commissioners may

enact a property maintenance ordinance, and they may incorporate

a standard or nationally recognized property maintenance code,

or a variation or change or part of the code, published and

printed in book form, without incorporating the text of the code

in the ordinance, or the commissioners may enact a standard or

nationally recognized property maintenance code or a change or

variation or part, as the ordinance. In either event, the

ordinance, or a change or variation or part, need not be

advertised after passage, but notice of its consideration, in

reasonable detail, shall be published as will give adequate

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notice of its contents and a reference to the place or places

within the township where copies of the proposed property

maintenance code may be examined or obtained. The notice

required by this subsection shall be published once in one

newspaper of general circulation at least one week and not more

than three weeks prior to the presentation of the proposed

property maintenance code to the commissioners. No fewer than

three copies of the ordinance adopted by the commissioners shall

be made available for public inspection and use during business

hours or be made available to an interested party at the cost of

the copies, or may be furnished or lent without charge. A

property maintenance code adopted by reference need not be

recorded in or attached to the ordinance book, but shall be

deemed to have been legally recorded if the ordinance by which

the code was adopted by reference shall have been recorded, with

an accompanying notation stating where the full text of the code

shall have been filed. The ordinance may provide for reasonable

property fines and penalties for violations of the ordinance.

The procedure under this section relating to the adoption of the

ordinance may likewise be utilized in amending, supplementing or

repealing a provision of the ordinance.

(b) Property maintenance inspectors.--The township

commissioners may appoint property maintenance inspectors who

shall have the right to enter upon and inspect any premises,

subject to constitutional standards, at reasonable hours and in

a reasonable manner for the administration and enforcement of

the township's property maintenance code or ordinance

incorporating a standard or nationally recognized property

maintenance code. A fee payable to property maintenance

inspectors under the ordinance shall be promptly paid by them to

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the township treasurer for the use of the township.

the property maintenance ordinance, the township may institute

appropriate actions or proceedings at law or in equity to

prevent or restrain property maintenance violations.

(d) Construction.--The powers of a township as provided in

this section shall be in addition to, but not limited to, the

powers provided in the act of November 26, 2008 (P.L.1672,

No.135), known as the Abandoned and Blighted Property

Conservatorship Act, 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 61 (relating to neighborhood

blight reclamation and revitalization) and 68 Pa.C.S. Ch. 21

(relating to land banks).

Section 3106-A. Reserved powers.

If, as a result of legislative action or final order of court

for which the time for appeal has expired and no appeal has been

taken or from which there is no pending appeal, the Uniform

Construction Code or a replacement code is no longer applicable

in townships, the township commissioners may:

(1) Enact and enforce ordinances to govern and regulate

the construction, reconstruction, alteration, extension,

repair, conversion, maintenance, occupation, sanitation,

ventilation, heating, egress, lighting, electrical wiring,

water supply, toilet facilities, drainage, plumbing, fire

prevention, fireproofing, including prescribing limitations

wherein only buildings of noncombustible material and

fireproofed roofs are used in construction, erection or

substantial reconstruction, use and inspection of all

buildings and housing or parts of buildings and housing and

the roofs, walls and foundations of buildings and housing,

and all facilities and services in or about the buildings or

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housing constructed, erected, altered, designed or used, in

whole or in part, for use or occupancy, and the sanitation

and inspection of land appurtenant to the buildings or

housing. The codes may be combined or separately enacted or

combined with the property maintenance code. The township

commissioners may adopt, amend or incorporate by reference a

standard or nationally recognized code or a variation or

change or part of the code as its ordinance in the manner

provided in section 3105-A. The ordinance may provide for

reasonable fines and penalties for violations of the

ordinance.

(2) Require that before work of construction,

reconstruction, alteration, extension, repair or conversion

of a building has begun, approval of the plans and

specifications be secured.

(3) Appoint building inspectors, housing inspectors,

property maintenance inspectors, fire prevention inspectors,

electrical inspectors and plumbing inspectors, and fix their

compensation. The inspectors shall have the right to enter

upon, subject to constitutional standards, and inspect a

premises at reasonable hours and in a reasonable manner, for

the administration and enforcement of the township's adopted

codes or ordinances incorporating standard or nationally

recognized codes. A fee payable to inspectors under the

ordinances shall be paid by them to the township treasurer

for the use of the township as promptly as may be.

(4) In addition to the penalties provided by ordinances,

institute appropriate actions or proceedings at law or in

equity to prevent or restrain the unlawful construction,

reconstruction, alteration, extension, repair, conversion,

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maintenance, use or occupation of property located within the

township, to restrain, correct or abate the violation and to

prevent the use or occupancy of the building, housing or

structure.

Section 3. Nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal

or modify any township ordinance in effect on the effective date

of this act or affect any proceeding or enforcement of any

township ordinance instituted prior to the effective date of

this act.

Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.

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