Bill Text: PA HB488 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Further providing for disposition of unserviceable personal property; and providing for disposition of surplus vehicles to qualified municipalities.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-18 - Referred to LOCAL GOVERNMENT [HB488 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HB488-Introduced.html

---

PRINTER'S NO. 540
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 488 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY ARGALL, BAKER, BELFANTI, BEYER, BRENNAN, DALEY, FLECK, GEIST, GEORGE, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, GROVE, HESS, M. KELLER, KILLION, KORTZ, MELIO, MURT, PICKETT, PYLE, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROHRER, SCAVELLO, SOLOBAY, STABACK, THOMAS, VULAKOVICH, WATSON, WHITE AND YUDICHAK, FEBRUARY 18, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 18, 2009
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), entitled
"An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the
executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the
Executive Department thereof and the administrative
departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,
including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or
Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or
authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative
departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and
duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative
officers, and of the several administrative departments,
boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive
and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of
certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and
other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,
and commissions; and prescribing the manner in which the
number and compensation of the deputies and all other
assistants and employes of certain departments, boards and
commissions shall be determined," further providing for
disposition of unserviceable personal property; and providing
for disposition of surplus vehicles to qualified
municipalities.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 510 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,
No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, amended July
18, 1969 (P.L.165, No.67), is amended to read:
Section 510. Disposition of Unserviceable Personal Property;
Surplus or Unserviceable Road, Bridge Materials or Equipment.--
(a) Whenever any furnishings, or other personal property of
this Commonwealth, shall be no longer of service to the
Commonwealth, it shall be the duty of the department, board, or
commission, in whose possession such property shall be or come,
to put such property into the custody of the Department of
[Property and Supplies] General Services: Provided, however,
That in the case of any perishable property which is not in the
city of Harrisburg, the department, board, or commission, having
possession of the same, may sell it in such manner, and upon
such terms, as the head of the department, or the board, or
commission, may determine: And provided further, That any road
or bridge materials or equipment that have been declared surplus
or unserviceable by the Department of [Highways] Transportation
shall be offered for sale to counties, cities, boroughs,
incorporated towns and townships at the best available price by
the Department of [Property and Supplies] General Services.
Written notification of the availability of such material and
equipment shall be given to all counties, cities, boroughs,
incorporated towns and townships in the highway district in
which such material and equipment was last used. If more than
one such political subdivision requests the same material or
equipment, any sale shall be made to the political subdivision
making the highest letter bid. No sale shall be consummated
until after a minimum of fifteen (15) days from the date of
mailing the notification. All such material and equipment shall
be used by the procuring political subdivision upon roads,
20090HB0488PN0540 - 2 -
streets and bridges. All moneys received for such material shall
be deposited in the Motor License Fund.
(b) Subsection (a) shall apply to the disposition of a
surplus vehicle only if the surplus vehicle is not disposed of
in accordance with section 510.1.
["Unserviceable property," as used in this section,] (c)
"Unserviceable property" shall not include products
manufactured, grown, or raised, by any department, board, or
commission, or by the inmates or patients of any State
institution, or minerals, oil, gas, or other materials, taken
from any property of the Commonwealth. It shall include only
articles previously purchased by the Commonwealth, or any agency
thereof, and paid for out of funds of or in the control of the
Commonwealth.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 510.1. Disposition of Surplus Vehicles to Qualified
Municipalities.--(a) Prior to employing the procedure for
disposing property under section 510(a), surplus vehicles shall
be offered for disposal to qualified municipalities in
accordance with the procedures and priorities and for the
consideration, if any, established under this section.
(b) In the disposition of surplus vehicles to qualified
municipalities, the following classes of priority shall apply:
(1) First priority shall be given to a qualified
municipality that is a financially distressed municipality, as
defined in section 203(f) of the act of July 10, 1987 (P.L.246,
No.47), known as the "Municipalities Financial Recovery Act."
(2) Second priority shall be given to a qualified
municipality that requests the surplus vehicle as part of a
council of governments on which it has membership or through an
20090HB0488PN0540 - 3 -
intergovernmental cooperation agreement to which it is a party,
in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A (relating to
intergovernmental cooperation), provided that the surplus
vehicle furthers the purpose of the council of governments or
intergovernmental cooperation agreement. In order to qualify for
this priority, one of the members of a council of governments or
parties to an intergovernmental cooperation agreement must be a
qualified municipality.
(3) Third priority shall be given to a qualified
municipality that does not meet the criteria of paragraph (1) or
(2).
(c) If more than one qualified municipality in the same
priority class under subsection (b) is interested in the same
surplus vehicle, the department shall determine which qualified
municipality in the class shall be given preference, in
accordance with standards established by the department, which
may include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1) A municipality's rate of individual poverty as
determined by the most recent Federal decennial census,
currently found in the United States Census Bureau's Table DP-3,
Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics.
(2) A municipality that has levied the maximum allowable
real estate tax for general purposes and earned income tax as
provided by applicable law.
(3) A municipality's demonstrated need for the vehicle to be
acquired.
(d) In addition to paying the cost, if any, of transporting
the surplus vehicle from its location to the municipality, a
qualified municipality that acquires a surplus vehicle in
accordance with this section shall pay the following
20090HB0488PN0540 - 4 -
consideration:
(1) A qualified municipality in the first priority class
under subsection (b)(1) shall not be required to pay anything
toward the fair market value established by the department.
(2) A qualified municipality in the second priority class
under subsection (b)(2) shall pay twenty-five per centum (25%)
of the fair market value established by the department.
(3) A qualified municipality in the third priority class
under subsection (b)(3) shall pay fifty per centum (50%) of the
fair market value established by the department.
All moneys received for such surplus vehicles shall be deposited
in the Motor License Fund.
(e) In administering the provisions of this section, the
department shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) To notify all municipalities in this Commonwealth of the
existence of the program set forth in this section.
(2) To provide for and develop the application process for
municipalities to become qualified municipalities and to
establish that they meet the criteria of a qualified
municipality as defined in this section.
(3) To develop procedures by which qualified municipalities
are notified, either through printed or electronic means, of
available surplus vehicles.
(4) To develop the process by which qualified municipalities
may request a particular surplus vehicle, which request form
shall state that the qualified municipality understands and
accepts that the department's selection of a qualified
municipality for each surplus vehicle is final and unappealable.
(5) To establish deadlines for:
(i) Requests for surplus vehicles to be received by the
20090HB0488PN0540 - 5 -
department.
(ii) Notification by the department to the qualified
municipality of a surplus vehicle or vehicles for which it has
been selected to receive or purchase.
(iii) Payment for the surplus vehicle or vehicles by the
selected qualified municipality.
(iv) Conveyance of the surplus vehicle or vehicles to the
selected qualified municipality.
(6) To promulgate regulations and take other action
necessary to carry out the program set forth in this section.
(f) Qualified municipalities that participate in the program
authorized by this section or municipalities applying to become
a qualified municipality, as relevant, shall have the following
duties:
(1) To submit to the department a completed application form
to become a qualified municipality which form shall include, but
not necessarily be limited to, an attestation clause to be
signed by the presiding officer of the municipality's governing
body that the submitted copy of the municipality's most recently
enacted ordinance adopting the municipality's annual budget is
true and accurate and that the submitted Federal decennial
information regarding the municipality is as published by the
United States Census Bureau for the most recent Federal
decennial census.
(2) To submit to the department a timely request for the
desired surplus vehicle or vehicles.
(3) To promptly pay the cost, if any, of the surplus vehicle
or vehicles awarded by the department.
(4) To arrange for the transportation or pickup of the
surplus vehicle or vehicles from its location to the selected
20090HB0488PN0540 - 6 -
qualified municipality's location.
(5) To use any surplus vehicle that has been received
through the process set forth in this section for municipal
purposes or, if the qualified municipality disposes of the
vehicle, to ensure that the disposal shall only be done in
accordance with the applicable statute for that class of
municipality for disposal of personal property and, in which
case, the proceeds shall be returned to the Commonwealth and
deposited in the Motor License Fund.
(g) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:
"Annual operating budget." The annual financial plan of a
municipality that sets forth anticipated expenditures from
various municipal funds, including expenditures from the General
Fund, special revenue funds and proprietary funds for the
purpose of satisfying municipal operating costs, but excluding
outlays for nonrecurring capital improvements and appropriations
to and expenditures from the capital reserve fund of the
municipality.
"Department." The Department of General Services of the
Commonwealth.
"Qualified municipality." A municipality within this
Commonwealth that has certified to the Department of General
Services in accordance with this section that it has four
thousand (4,000) or fewer residents and an annual operating
budget of one million five hundred thousand dollars
($1,500,000), or less.
"Surplus vehicle." Any vehicle, as defined by 75 Pa.C.S.
(relating to vehicles), that has been declared surplus or
unserviceable, as defined in section 510, by the Department of
20090HB0488PN0540 - 7 -
Transportation of the Commonwealth and which has been assigned a
fair market value by the Department of General Services.
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
20090HB0488PN0540 - 8 -