PSATS Legislative Update: 12 Acts Affecting Townships, Signed into Law this Year

Act 10 of 2024:

Effective April 15, 2024. Amends the Second Class Township Code to:

• Raise the maximum compensation that an auditor may receive for completing the annual audit, settlement, and adjustment from $1,000 to $1,800 in a township with a population of ten thousand or less;
• Raise the maximum that an auditor may receive for completing the annual audit, settlement, and adjustment from $2,000 to $3,500;
• Give the board of supervisors the discretion to increase compensation for the elected auditors by resolution from $10 per hour to up to $18 per hour for performing the annual audit and the other duties of office.

Act 18 of 2024 (Paul Miller’s Law):

Strengthens rules against distracted driving from mobile devices by:

• Increasing penalties and clarifying that mobile devices may not be used for playing games, taking pictures, sharing social media, or recording or broadcasting video while operating a motor vehicle, with limited exceptions for emergency use;
• Requiring that a person with a learner’s permit view educational materials on the dangers of distracted driving;
• Requiring the traffic laws portion of the driver’s license exam to contain at least one question on the distracted driving.

These amendments are effective June 5, 2024.

Read the entirety of Act 18 here.

Act 33 of 2024:

Effective September 26, 2024. Expands the responsibilities of entities, including townships, that have a breach of personal information that releases 500 or more individuals’ first and last names or first initial and name, in combination with their SSN, bank account number, and driver’s license or state ID number.

Read the entirety of Act 33 here.

Act 34 of 2024:

Effective August 27, 2024. Amends Title 9 (Burial Grounds) of the PA Consolidated Statutes to exempt municipalities from initial deposits, registration, and filing affidavits of compliance with the State Real Estate Commission for newly-organized cemeteries. Municipalities are now treated the same as bona fide churches and religious congregations under existing law.

Act 44 of 2024:

Effective September 6, 2024. Amends the Municipalities Planning Code to clarify that when a municipality is required to transmit land use documents, including proposed or adopted comprehensive plans and amendments to land use ordinances, it may do so electronically even if the document is a certified copy. The municipality must also retain a record of every transmittal and all comments and recommendations.

Act 46 of 2024:

Effective September 6, 2024. Amends the Vehicle Code to clarify that a tow truck driver may violate traffic laws or ordinances during the removal of a disabled vehicle when directed by an on-duty police officer.

Act 47 of 2024:

Effective September 6, 2024. Amends the Dog Law to provide exemptions from kennel and license tag fees for any municipal or state police departments to fire departments, sheriff’s offices, and rescue services that use dogs in the performance of their functions or duties.

Act 48 of 2024:

Effective September 6, 2024. Authorizes counties to establish a Demolition and Rehabilitation Fund and impose a fee of not more than $250 for a property being sold for delinquent taxes or mortgage foreclosure to be deposited into the Fund.

Read the entirety of Act 48 here.

Act 49 of 2024:

Effective September 6, 2024. Permits municipalities to amend their ordinances to allow full-time police officers who have satisfied vesting requirements to purchase up to five years of pension credit for prior part-time or full-time police service that the officer provided to another police department. The Act further provides the method for computation of the amount due for the purchase of credit for prior police service.

Act 54 of 2024:

Signed July 11, 2024. Implements the 2024-25 Commonwealth budget.

Read the entirety of Act 54 here.

Act 78 of 2024:

Effective August 16, 2024. Permits highway construction and maintenance vehicles, including township road maintenance vehicles, to have one or more flashing or revolving green lights in addition to the flashing or revolving yellow lights previously permitted.

Act 85 of 2024:

Effective July 17, 2024. Amends Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.

Read the entirety of Act 85 here.

Download the full PDF here.

For further information on any of these topics, please reach out to our firm’s Public Sector Group attorneys: Gretchen Moore, Alexis Wheeler, or Alan Shuckrow.

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