PRIOR PASSAGE - NONE
PRINTER'S NO. 3759
No. 2717 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY PRESTON, JUNE 10, 1998
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, JUNE 10, 1998
A JOINT RESOLUTION
1 Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
2 Pennsylvania, providing for the abolition of county
3 government.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby resolves as follows:
6 Section 1. The following amendments to the Constitution of
7 Pennsylvania are proposed in accordance with Article XI:
8 (1) That section 4 of Article IX be amended to read:
9 [§ 4. County government.
10 County officers shall consist of commissioners, controllers
11 or auditors, district attorneys, public defenders, treasurers,
12 sheriffs, registers of wills, recorders of deeds,
13 prothonotaries, clerks of the courts, and such others as may
14 from time to time be provided by law.
15 County officers, except for public defenders who shall be
16 appointed as shall be provided by law, shall be elected at the
17 municipal elections and shall hold their offices for the term of
1 four years, beginning on the first Monday of January next after
2 their election, and until their successors shall be duly
3 qualified; all vacancies shall be filled in such a manner as may
4 be provided by law.
5 County officers shall be paid only by salary as provided by
6 law for services performed for the county or any other
7 governmental unit. Fees incidental to the conduct of any county
8 office shall be payable directly to the county or the
9 Commonwealth, or as otherwise provided by law.
10 Three county commissioners shall be elected in each county.
11 In the election of these officers each qualified elector shall
12 vote for no more than two persons, and the three persons
13 receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected.
14 Provisions for county government in this section shall apply
15 to every county except a county which has adopted a home rule
16 charter or an optional form of government. One of the optional
17 forms of county government provided by law shall include the
18 provisions of this section.]
19 (2) That Article IX be amended by adding a section to read:
20 § 13.1. Abolition of county government.
21 (a) Effective January 1, 2010, all county offices and all
22 county government functions within the Commonwealth are
23 abolished.
24 (b) Local and special laws regulating the affairs of
25 counties and prescribing powers and duties shall apply to the
26 Commonwealth.
27 (c) All functions of county government shall become the
28 responsibility of the Commonwealth and shall be administered by
29 the executive department or agency or the component of the
30 unified judicial system which exercised control or direction
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1 over that function or for whom the county was performing that
2 function or shall be as provided by law.
3 (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 9 of Article
4 VIII of this Constitution, the Commonwealth shall assume all the
5 debt and the contractual obligations of the counties which are
6 abolished.
7 Section 2. (a) Upon the first passage by the General
8 Assembly of these proposed constitutional amendments, the
9 Secretary of the Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to
10 comply with the advertising requirements of section 1 of Article
11 XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the
12 required advertisements to two newspapers in every county in
13 which such newspapers are published in sufficient time after
14 passage of these proposed constitutional amendments.
15 (b) Upon the second passage by the General Assembly of these
16 proposed constitutional amendments, the Secretary of the
17 Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to comply with the
18 advertising requirements of section 1 of Article XI of the
19 Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the required
20 advertisements to two newspapers in every county in which such
21 newspapers are published in sufficient time after passage of
22 these proposed constitutional amendments. The Secretary of the
23 Commonwealth shall submit these proposed constitutional
24 amendments to the qualified electors of this Commonwealth at the
25 first primary, general or municipal election occurring at least
26 three months after the proposed constitutional amendments are
27 passed by the General Assembly which meets the requirements of
28 and is in conformance with section 1 of Article XI of the
29 Constitution of Pennsylvania.
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