Local Government Commission

of the  

Pennsylvania General Assembly

Borough Code Recodification & Incorporation into Title 8 of Pa.C.S.

Act 37 of 2014 incorporated the provisions of the Borough Code, the act of February 1, 1966 (1965 P.L. 1656, No. 581), as amended and reenacted by Act 43 of 2012, into Title 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. Act 43 was a several year effort of Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs and the Local Government Commission to modernize the Code. Act 37 placed the language of the Borough Code into Consolidated Statute format and incorporated a number of technical and substantive changes. House Bill 1719, Printer's Number 3275, became Act 37 of 2014 when it was signed into law by the Governor on April 18, 2014. The new consolidated statute became effective on June 18, 2014. Noted changes made by Act 37 to the Borough Code, as amended by Act 43 of 2012, are delineated in the Executive Summary of House Bill 1719 below.

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Historical Note:

The Borough Code had been in its current form since 1966 and contained many provisions that were archaic or in conflict with other statutes. Thus, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB) established the Borough Code Revision Committee as an ad hoc committee in 2003. The committee formally requested the ongoing participation, technical advice, and expertise of Commission staff in this comprehensive Code revision, based on the Commission's experience with the Second Class Township Code Recodification in 1995 and efforts on the Third Class City Code Recodification (introduced as Senate Bill 497 in the 2013-2014 Legislative Session, and enacted as Act 22 of 2014).

With the committee completing its review of all the articles, Commission staff produced an executive summary explaining the highlights of the proposed changes article-by-article, a commentary explaining the highlights section-by-section, and disposition and derivation tables to show where existing sections may have been relocated and from where new sections have originated. The Local Government Commission introduced the proposed recodification as House Bill 1702 during the 2011-2012 Legislative Session. On December 19, 2011, the House of Representatives voted on and passed House Bill 1702. Subsequently, the Senate Local Government Committee amended the bill and reported it out on January 18, 2012, as Printer's Number 2962. The bill was reported as amended from the Senate Appropriations Committee as Printer's Number 3331 on April 2, 2012. House Bill 1702 passed the Senate on May 1, 2012, and was returned to the House of Representatives for concurrence on Senate amendments. The House of Representatives concurred in Senate amendments on May 7, 2012, and Governor Corbett signed House Bill 1702 into law as Act 43 of 2012. The Act became effective on July 16, 2012.