Pennsylvania HB 273: An Act amending Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in neighborhood blight reclamation and revitalization, providing for county property maintenance code and for Municipal Codes Enforcement Grant Program and municipal neighborhood mitigation fund; and imposing penalties.

Bill Text

PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 217 PRINTER'S NO. 981
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 273
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY MERSKI, SANCHEZ, HILL-EVANS, SCHLOSSBERG, HARKINS,
KUZMA, FREEMAN, DONAHUE, GIRAL AND MAYES, JANUARY 22, 2025
AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, MARCH 17, 2025
AN ACT
Amending Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in neighborhood blight reclamation and
revitalization, providing for county property maintenance
code and for Municipal Codes Enforcement Grant Program and
municipal neighborhood mitigation fund; AND imposing
penalties; and making an appropriation.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Title 53 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
§ 6104. County property maintenance code.
(a) Ordinance authorized.--A county may enact one of the
following:
(1) A property maintenance ordinance that incorporates a
standard or nationally recognized property maintenance code
or a variation, change or part of such code, published and
printed in book form, without incorporating the text of the
code in the ordinance.
(2) A standard or nationally recognized property
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maintenance code or a variation, change or part of such code
as the county's property maintenance ordinance.
(b) Publication of notice.--
(1) An ordinance under subsection (a) need not be
advertised after being adopted. Notice of the consideration
of the ordinance shall be published in a manner that gives
adequate notice of its contents and a reference to the place
within the county where copies of the proposed property
maintenance code may be examined or obtained.
(2) The notice required under paragraph (1) 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
governing body.
(3) A property maintenance ordinance that incorporates a
standard or nationally recognized property maintenance code
or variation shall adopt a specific edition and may not
incorporate future editions automatically.
(c) Copies of ordinance.--At least three copies of the
ordinance adopted by the governing body:
(1) shall be made available for public inspection and
use during business hours or to an interested party that pays
the cost of copying; or
(2) may be furnished or lent without charge.
(d) Adoption by reference.--A property maintenance code
adopted by reference:
(1) need not be recorded in or attached to an ordinance
book; and
(2) shall be deemed to have been legally recorded if the
ordinance by which the code was adopted by reference has been
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recorded with an accompanying notation stating where the full
text of the code has been filed.
(e) Fines and penalties.--An ordinance under this section
may provide for reasonable property fines and penalties for
violations of the ordinance.
(f) Changes to ordinance.--The procedure described in this
section relating to the adoption of an ordinance under this
section may be used in amending, supplementing or repealing a
provision of the ordinance.
(g) Appointment of property maintenance inspectors.--
(1) The governing body may appoint property maintenance
inspectors who may enter and inspect a premises at reasonable
hours and in a reasonable manner for the administration and
enforcement of the county's property maintenance code or
ordinance under subsection (a).
(2) A fee payable to a property maintenance inspector
under the ordinance shall, after being collected by the
property maintenance inspector, be transmitted to the county
treasurer for use of the county.
(h) Enforcement action.--In addition to the penalties
provided by a property maintenance ordinance, a county may
institute an appropriate action or proceeding at law or in
equity to prevent or restrain a property maintenance violation.
(i) Relationship to other law.--The powers and duties of a
county under this section shall be in addition to the powers and
duties provided under the following:
(1) The act of November 26, 2008 (P.L.1672, No.135),
known as the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship
Act.
(2) 68 Pa.C.S. Ch. 21 (relating to land banks).
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(j) Limitation.--
(1) Except as provided in subsection (k), the powers of
the governing body of a county to enact, amend and repeal
ordinances under this section shall be limited to land in
those municipalities, wholly or partly within the county,
that have no property maintenance ordinance, based in whole
or in part on a standard or nationally recognized property
maintenance code, in effect at the time a pr