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PRINTER'S NO. 1953
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
1223
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY VULAKOVICH, COSTA AND FONTANA, AUGUST 13, 2018
REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION, AUGUST 13, 2018
AN ACT
Amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes, in powers of department and local authorities,
further providing for specific powers of department and local
authorities; and, in enforcement, further providing for
prosecutions under local ordinances superseded by title and
for admissibility of department of records.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 6109(a)(1) and (h)(3) of Title 75 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended and subsection
(h) is amended by adding paragraphs to read:
§ 6109. Specific powers of department and local authorities.
(a) Enumeration of police powers.--The provisions of this
title shall not be deemed to prevent the department on State-
designated highways and local authorities on streets or highways
within their physical boundaries from the reasonable exercise of
their police powers. The following are presumed to be reasonable
exercises of police power:
(1) Except as limited by subsections (g) and (h),
regulating or prohibiting stopping, standing or parking[.],
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including, in cities of the second class, regulating or
prohibiting the display of an obscured registration plate on
a parked motor vehicle.
* * *
(h) Delegation of powers in cities of the second class.--
* * *
(2.1) The following shall apply to service by mail under
this subsection:
(i) Within two business days of the commission of
the violation, the notice of violation or citation must
be mailed to the address of the registered owner as
listed in the records of the official in the jurisdiction
having charge of the registration of the vehicle.
(ii) Notice of violation or citation under
subparagraph (i) must be mailed by first class mail. A
manual or automatic record of mailing prepared by the
parking authority in the ordinary course of business
shall be prima facie evidence of mailing and shall be
admissible in any proceeding as to the facts contained in
the notice of violation or citation.
(2.2) The parking authority may enforce and administer
each ordinance and resolution enacted or adopted by a city of
the second class under subsection (a)(1) and sections 3351,
3353 and 3354 by means which may include the use of recorded
images provided by registration plate reading cameras.
(2.3) If the parking authority elects to record
violations under paragraph (2.2) by using a registration
plate reading camera, the following shall apply:
(i) A certificate or a facsimile of a certificate
based on inspection of a recorded image produced by a
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registration plate reading camera and sworn to or
affirmed by a parking enforcement employee employed by
the parking authority shall be prima facie evidence of
the facts contained in the certificate. A recorded image
evidencing a violation shall be admissible in any
judicial or administrative proceeding to adjudicate the
liability for the violation.
(ii) A registration plate reading camera may not
take a frontal view recorded image of the vehicle as
evidence of having committed a violation.
(iii) A recorded image collected by a registration
plate reading camera may only be used for purposes
related to the enforcement and administration of parking
laws and may not be used for any other surveillance
purposes.
(iv) The following shall apply:
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
information prepared under this paragraph that is
kept by the parking authority or the parking
authority's authorized agents or employees, including
recorded images, written records, reports or
facsimiles or names and addresses, shall be for the
exclusive use of the parking authority, the parking
authority's authorized agents or employees and law
enforcement officials for the purpose of discharging
their duties under this subsection.
(B) Information under clause (A) may not be
deemed a public record under the act of February 14,
2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law.
(C) Information under clause (A) may not be
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discoverable by a court order and may not be offered
in evidence in an action or proceeding that is not
directly related to a violation.
(D) No restrictions under this paragraph may
preclude a court of competent jurisdiction from
issuing an order directing that the information be
provided to a law enforcement official if the
information is reasonably described and is requested
solely in connection with a criminal law enforcement
action.
(v) A recorded image obtained through the use of a
registration plate reading camera shall be destroyed
within 30 days following the final disposition of a
recorded event. Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, registered vehicle owner information obtained as a
result of the operation of a registration plate reading
camera under this subsection shall not be the property of
the manufacturer or vendor of the registration plate
reading camera and may not be used for any purpose other
than as provided under this subsection.
(vi) Compensation paid to the manufacturer or vendor
of a registration plate reading camera may not be based
on the number of parking citations issued or a portion or
percentage of the fines generated by the citations. The
compensation paid to the manufacturer or vendor of the
cameras shall be based on the value of the cameras and
the services provided or rendered in support of the
cameras.
(3) As used in this subsection, the following words and
phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
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paragraph:
"Administer." To provide any services or materials
necessary to enforce any ordinance or resolution enacted in
order to regulate or prohibit the stopping, standing or
parking of motor vehicles in a city of the second class or
those certain stopping, standing and parking provisions
provided in sections 3351, 3353 and 3354, including, but not
limited to:
(i) The installation and maintenance of all
equipment, including parking meters, on and along
highways, streets and roadways.
(ii) The installation and maintenance of all
signage, including signage for handicapped parking,
residential permit parking and loading areas, on and
along highways, streets and roadways.
(iii) The operation and management of any
handicapped parking, residential parking and loading area
permit programs.
(iv) The adjudication of all disputed parking
violation notices or citations issued through enforcement
by the parking authority in a city of the second class.
"Enforce." Any of the following for violation of an
ordinance or resolution enacted in order to regulate or
prohibit the stopping, standing or parking of a motor vehicle
in a city of the second class or the obscuring of a
registration plate on a motor vehicle parked in a city of the
second class or violations under sections 3351, 3353 and
3354:
(i) The issuance of [parking] stopping, standing,
parking and obscuring of registration plate violation
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notices or citations[, the].
(ii) The serving of notices or citations with
respect to violations by placing the notices or citations
on a vehicle windshield, handing the notices or citations
to the driver or mailing the notices or citations to the
registered owner by first class mail.
(iii) The immobilization, towing and impoundment of
motor vehicles [and the].
(iv) The collection of fines, penalties and costs,
including independent collection agency fees.[, for
violations of any ordinance or resolution enacted in
order to regulate or prohibit the stopping, standing or
parking of motor vehicles in a city of the second class
and those certain stopping, standing and parking
provisions provided in sections 3351, 3353 and 3354.]
* * *
Section 2. Sections 6301 and 6328 of Title 75 are amended to
read:
§ 6301. Prosecutions under local ordinances superseded by
title.
Except for parking violations, when the same conduct is
proscribed under this title and a local ordinance, the charge
shall be brought under this title and not under the local
ordinance. Prosecutions brought under any local ordinance, rule
or regulation, which are based on a violation for which there is
a specific penalty provided in this title, except for parking
violations, shall be deemed as having been brought under this
title and the assessment and disposition of the fines and
forfeitures shall be so governed. Local ordinances relating to
parking shall prescribe fines for violations and may authorize
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the payment of penalties in lieu of fines and costs under
prescribed conditions. The regulation or prohibition of the
display on a parked motor vehicle of an obscured registration
plate in cities of the second class shall be a parking violation
for purposes of this section.
§ 6328. Admissibility of department records.
The department may send to any authorized user by electronic
transmission any certification of record or abstract of records
maintained by the department. Permissible uses shall include,
but not be limited to, certifications of driving records and
motor vehicle records. The department may also certify
electronically any documents certified to it electronically.
Authorized users include State and local police, district
attorneys, employees of the department and the Office of
Attorney General, the parking authority of a city of the second
class with respect to the department's vehicle registration
records only and other persons or entities as determined by the
department and listed by notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. In
any proceeding before the courts or administrative bodies of
this Commonwealth, documents certified by the department under
this section and offered into evidence by an authorized user
shall be admissible into evidence. The parking authority of a
city of the second class may use the department's vehicle
registration records only for the purpose of exercising the
powers under subsection 6109(h) (relating to specific powers of
department and local authorities).
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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