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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| HOUSE BILL |
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| INTRODUCED BY METCALFE, CREIGHTON, MUSTIO, BARRAR, BEAR, CLYMER, COX, CUTLER, DENLINGER, EVERETT, GROVE, HUTCHINSON, KRIEGER, MOUL, PHILLIPS, RAPP, READSHAW, ROCK, SCHRODER, SONNEY, STEVENSON, SWANGER AND VULAKOVICH, OCTOBER 9, 2009 |
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| REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, OCTOBER 9, 2009 |
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| AN ACT |
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1 | Providing for sanctuary municipality financial penalties. |
2 | The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
3 | hereby enacts as follows: |
4 | Section 1. Short title. |
5 | This act shall be known and may be cited as the Sanctuary |
6 | Municipalities Financial Penalty Act. |
7 | Section 2. Definitions. |
8 | The following words and phrases when used in this act shall |
9 | have the meanings given to them in this section unless the |
10 | context clearly indicates otherwise: |
11 | "Commonwealth agency." The term shall have the same meaning |
12 | as provided in 2 Pa.C.S. § 101 (relating to definitions). |
13 | "Commonwealth appropriation." Any direct appropriation of |
14 | Commonwealth funds or any direct or indirect expenditure of |
15 | Commonwealth funds by a Commonwealth agency. The term shall not |
16 | include any funds provided or expended for any of the following: |
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1 | (1) Law enforcement or corrections purposes. |
2 | (2) The operation of courts. |
3 | (3) Emergency preparedness or disaster response. |
4 | (4) Medical services. |
5 | "Municipality." A municipality as defined in 1 Pa.C.S. § |
6 | 1991 (relating to definitions). |
7 | "Sanctuary municipality." A municipality which has adopted |
8 | ordinances, policies or procedures to encourage unauthorized |
9 | aliens to reside in the municipality. The term shall include |
10 | ordinances, policies or procedures which do any of the |
11 | following: |
12 | (1) Prohibit, restrict or discourage municipal employees |
13 | from sending, receiving or maintaining information regarding |
14 | the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual |
15 | or exchanging the information with any other Federal, State |
16 | or local government entity. |
17 | (2) Prohibit, restrict or discourage municipal employees |
18 | from asking individuals their citizenship or immigration |
19 | status. |
20 | (3) Provide public benefits, unless required by Federal |
21 | or State statutes or court decisions, except for any of the |
22 | following: |
23 | (i) Emergency medical care. |
24 | (ii) Law enforcement, arrest, prosecution, |
25 | incarceration, detainment and related expenses. |
26 | (iii) Benefits provided to the public at large, such |
27 | as maintenance of roads, sidewalks, public parks and |
28 | similar government property. |
29 | "Secretary." The Secretary of State of the Commonwealth. |
30 | "Unauthorized alien." An alien who is not lawfully present |
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1 | within the United States. |
2 | Section 3. Financial penalty. |
3 | A Commonwealth appropriation to benefit a municipality or the |
4 | residents of a municipality which municipality fails to |
5 | cooperate in an investigation under this act or has been |
6 | designated a sanctuary municipality under this act shall be |
7 | placed in an escrow account and shall not be released until at |
8 | least 30 days after the secretary certifies that the |
9 | municipality has taken corrective action as provided under |
10 | section 4(g) or renewed cooperation as provided under section |
11 | 4(e). |
12 | Section 4. Sanctuary municipality designation. |
13 | (a) Determination.--The secretary shall determine whether a |
14 | municipality is a sanctuary municipality as provided under this |
15 | section. |
16 | (b) Complaint.--An enforcement action shall be initiated by |
17 | means of a written, signed complaint to the secretary's office |
18 | and shall be submitted by a Commonwealth resident. A valid |
19 | complaint shall include an allegation which describes the |
20 | ordinances, policies or procedures adopted by a municipality to |
21 | encourage unauthorized aliens to reside within the municipality. |
22 | (c) Investigation.--Upon receipt of a valid complaint, the |
23 | secretary shall request information from the municipality which |
24 | is the subject of the complaint. The requested information may |
25 | include any of the following: |
26 | (1) Copies of any ordinances, resolutions, policy |
27 | manuals or employee handbooks. |
28 | (2) Copies of any electronic mail, letters, memoranda or |
29 | other communications with or to employees of the |
30 | municipality. |
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1 | (3) Any other information needed to make a determination |
2 | under this section. |
3 | (d) Procedure.--The secretary shall, by regulation, |
4 | establish a procedure and timeline for municipalities to do all |
5 | of the following: |
6 | (1) Respond to requests under subsection (c). |
7 | (2) Cooperate with ongoing investigations. |
8 | (e) Cooperation.--Any municipality which fails to cooperate |
9 | with an investigation by the secretary under this section shall |
10 | be subject to the same penalties as a municipality which has |
11 | been determined to meet the definition of a "sanctuary |
12 | municipality" under subsection (f). Notice of either failure to |
13 | cooperate or certification that cooperation has been renewed |
14 | shall be published as follows: |
15 | (1) In the Pennsylvania Bulletin. |
16 | (2) On the Internet website of the Department of State. |
17 | (f) Determination of sanctuary status.--If, after |
18 | investigation, the secretary determines by a preponderance of |
19 | the evidence that the municipality meets the definition of a |
20 | "sanctuary municipality," the secretary shall provide notice of |
21 | that determination to the municipality. The notice shall include |
22 | a list of specific ordinances, policies or procedures which |
23 | encourage unauthorized aliens to reside in the municipality. The |
24 | secretary shall publish a summary of the notice as follows: |
25 | (1) In the Pennsylvania Bulletin. |
26 | (2) On the Internet website of the Department of State. |
27 | (g) Correction.--Any municipality which the secretary |
28 | determines to be a sanctuary municipality shall repeal any |
29 | ordinance or cease any policy or procedure which encourages |
30 | unauthorized aliens to reside in the municipality. The secretary |
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1 | shall, upon receipt of sufficient evidence that a municipality |
2 | has taken corrective action to repeal the ordinance or cease the |
3 | policy or procedure, publish a certification of the corrective |
4 | action as follows: |
5 | (1) In the Pennsylvania Bulletin. |
6 | (2) On the Internet website of the Department of State. |
7 | Section 5. Duty of Commonwealth agencies. |
8 | (a) Review.--On a daily basis, each Commonwealth agency |
9 | shall review notices posted pursuant to section 4(e), (f) and |
10 | (g) on the Internet website of the Department of State. |
11 | (b) Compliance.--Each Commonwealth agency shall comply with |
12 | the requirements of section 3 based on the daily review under |
13 | subsection (a). |
14 | (c) Immunity.--A Commonwealth agency or employee of a |
15 | Commonwealth agency shall be immune from liability resulting |
16 | from the imposition of the financial penalty under section 3 if |
17 | the agency complied in good faith with the requirements of this |
18 | act. |
19 | Section 6. Commonwealth agency law. |
20 | The provisions of this act shall be subject to 2 Pa.C.S. Ch. |
21 | 5 Subch. A (relating to practice and procedure of Commonwealth |
22 | agencies) and Ch. 7 Subch. A (relating to judicial review of |
23 | Commonwealth agency action). |
24 | Section 7. Effective date. |
25 | This act shall take effect in 60 days. |
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