Pennsylvania Act 1939-51 — COMMERCE LAW

Act text

"COMMERCE LAW"
                  Act of May 10, 1939, P.L. 111, No. 51               Cl. 12
                                  AN ACT

     Relating to, and providing for, the promotion and development of
        business, industry and commerce in the Commonwealth;
        conferring powers and duties upon the Department of Commerce
        and other agencies of the Commonwealth; abolishing the
        Pennsylvania State Publicity Commission, terminating the
        terms of its members and conferring its powers upon, and
        transferring and appropriating the balance of its current
        appropriation to, the Department of Commerce; and repealing
        certain laws.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  This act shall be known and may be cited as the
     "Commerce Law."
        Section 2.  For several years an acute economic emergency has
     existed in certain parts of this Commonwealth, threatening the
     health, public safety, welfare and future prosperity of the
     people. Thousands of our citizens are without employment through
     no fault of their own, and appropriations required for their
     assistance are a heavy burden on the Commonwealth and her
     people. Such economic conditions demand the adoption of a public
     policy and an administrative program to alleviate these
     conditions and prevent their recurrence, which can be remedied
     only as business, industry, and commerce are encouraged,
     rehabilitated, developed, and expanded, and only as the
     Commonwealth's communities and regions solve their physical
     development problems and make themselves attractive, convenient
     and economical areas in which to live and work. It is necessary
     that a department be empowered to effectuate such a program.
     Accordingly, the powers and duties hereinafter enumerated in
     this act are vested in the Department of Commerce.
        (2 amended Dec. 22, 1955, P.L.887, No.270)

        Compiler's Note:  The Department of Commerce, referred to in
            this section, was renamed the Department of Community and
            Economic Development by Act 58 of 1996.
        Section 3.  The Department of Commerce shall have the power,
     and its duty shall be:
        (1)  To investigate, study and undertake ways and means of
     promoting and encouraging the prosperous development and
     protecting the legitimate interests and welfare of Pennsylvania
     business, industry and commerce, within and without the
     Commonwealth.
        (2)  To investigate, study and undertake ways and means of
     expanding markets and promoting and developing new markets for
     Pennsylvania products.
        (3)  To promote and encourage the location and development of
     new business, industries and commerce within the Commonwealth.
        (4)  To investigate and study conditions affecting
     Pennsylvania business, industry and commerce, and to collect and
     disseminate information, and engage in technical studies,
     scientific investigations and statistical research, and
     educational activities necessary or useful for the proper
     execution of its duties in promoting and developing Pennsylvania
     business, industry and commerce, within and without the
     Commonwealth.
        (5)  To cooperate with and assist persons, firms,
     associations, corporations, cooperative associations and other
     organizations, and the political subdivisions of the
     Commonwealth, in the execution of its duties and functions under
     this act.
        (6)  To make to the General Assembly, from time to time,
     recommendations for the remedy or improvement of any conditions,
     and the elimination of any restrictions and burdens imposed by
     law, or otherwise existing, which adversely affect or retard the
     development and expansion of business, industry or commerce.
        (7)  To initiate, promote and conduct, or cause to be
     conducted, research designed to further new and more extensive
     uses and consumption of natural and other resources and their
     by-products; and, for such purposes, to enter into contracts and
     agreements with research laboratories maintained by educational
     or endowed institutions in this Commonwealth, and to expend
     appropriations made to the department for such purposes.
        (8)  To investigate and study conditions of unemployment, and
     to recommend specific remedies for the alleviation of such
     conditions, and aid in restoring employment in communities
     affected thereby, in order that the burden of public relief may
     be lessened.
        (9)  To aid and promote the elimination of unfair competition
     and trade practices tending to impair price stability and which
     are harmful to the financial soundness of business, industry and
     commerce, and to the wages and working conditions of employes.
        (10)  To encourage and develop commerce with other states and
     foreign countries, and to devise ways and means of removing
     trade barriers hampering the free flow of commerce between this
     and other states.
        (11)  To cooperate with interstate commissions engaged in
     formulating and promoting the adoption of interstate compacts
     and agreements helpful to business, industry and commerce.
        (12)  (a)  To promulgate a "Production Control" plan or
     plans, or amendments thereof, upon written petition, and with
     the approval of Pennsylvania producers of seventy-five per
     centum of the Pennsylvania output of any United States mineral
     resource industry located preponderantly within the
     Commonwealth, or to adopt and promulgate any such plan or plans
     in operation at the time of the enactment of this act with the
     sanction of Pennsylvania producers of seventy-five per centum of
     the Pennsylvania output of such industry, and to administer or
     secure the cooperation of others, including State officers,
     producers' representatives or employes' representatives in any
     industry where there are general collective bargaining
     arrangements, in administering such plan or plans or amendments
     thereof upon a voluntary basis: Provided, however, That no
     production control plan or rules or regulations relating thereto
     shall apply to producers who are not petitioning producers or
     who do not otherwise assent to the production control plan
     promulgated and adopted.
        (b)  A "Production Control" within the meaning of this act is
     any system of regulated production in any industry as above
     defined which currently controls the daily, weekly or monthly
     volume of allowable production of said industry in Pennsylvania
     for the purpose of adequately supplying market demand, avoiding
     waste of mineral resources or the exploitation thereof without
     adequate return to the Commonwealth, her political subdivisions
     and people, protecting capital invested therein from unwise
     depletion and dissipation, promoting employment and security for
     the payment of wages and benefits to those employed in such
     industry and achieving other express purposes of the Commerce
     Law (1) by allocating or apportioning to each producer in the
     industry a fair and equitable distributive portion of the total
     allowable production; (2) by providing for the adjustment of
     inequities in assigned distributive portions and for fair and
     equitable adjustments of distributive portions whenever
     transfers of mineral properties or facilities take place between
     or among producers based upon the position in the industry
     fairly and equitably attributable to such properties or
     facilities; (3) by providing for the admission under such plan
     of new operations and for the assignment of a fair and equitable
     distributive portion of the total allowable production to such
     operations; (4) by providing, where applicable, for the
     establishment of fair and equitable standards of preparation to
     ensure purity and proper sizing and grading of the product in
     order to protect consumers and to prevent unfair trade
     practices; (5) and also by establishing and providing for
     reasonable rules and regulations to effectuate such control
     plan.
        (c)  The department or any other agency administering any
     production control plan may inspect the production of any
     producer under such plan, and of such other producers as may
     desire such inspection, to determine whether any standards of
     purity, sizing and grading established under any plan are being
     complied with.
        (d)  The department on its own initiative, or at the request
     of any agency administering a production control plan, and in
     such case at the expense of such agency, may, through its own
     staff, or through a recognized accounting agency, gather and
     compile composite statistics of volume, value and geographical
     distribution of sales, both within and outside the Commonwealth;
     realization on sales, production costs, employment and wages
     relating to any industry functioning under a production control
     plan, and such other statistics as may be deemed appropriate by
     any such administering agency. Such statistics shall be
     available for inspection only in composite form. Any other
     department of the Commonwealth collecting any of such statistics
     shall make them available to the department.
        (e)  The department or agency administering any such
     production control plan, including the Production Control Plan
     for the Anthracite Industry heretofore promulgated and now
     functioning under the provisions of this act, shall make a
     report to each regular session of the General Assembly, showing,
     inter alia, the percentage of the output of the industry under
     such plan and the experience of the industry thereunder, and
     shall include therein any recommendations such agency may have
     with respect to further legislation which will be helpful in
     carrying out the purposes of this act.
        (f)  No production control plan promulgated by the department
     under the authority of this act shall be continued, whenever the
     department, if it administers the plan, or the officers of the
     State, or a majority of such officers administering or assisting
     in the administration of any such plan, shall report to the
     Governor, and the Governor shall find that such plan no longer
     accomplishes the purposes of this act or nor longer is in the
     public interest.
        ((12) amended May 5, 1945, P.L.432, No.176)
        (13)  To provide planning assistance and to do planning work,
     including surveys, land use studies, urban renewal plans,
     technical services and other elements of comprehensive planning
     programs, in and for any counties, cities, boroughs, townships,
     towns or regions and, for this purpose, to accept and utilize
     any funds, personnel or other assistance made available by the
     Federal government or any of its agencies, or made available
     from any other source, public or private, and, notwithstanding
     the provisions of any other law and for the purposes of
     receiving and using Federal planning grants for provision of
     urban planning assistance, to serve as the official State
     planning agency of the Commonwealth and, to these ends, to enter
     into agreements or contracts regarding the acceptance or
     utilization of such funds or assistance for any of the purposes
     authorized by this act. ((13) added Dec. 22, 1955, P.L.887,
     No.270 and Functions transferred, July 11, 1966, Sp. Sess.,
     Reorg. Pl. No.2, P.L.8)
        (3 amended July 7, 1941, P.L.275, No.125)

        Compiler's Note:  The Department of Commerce, referred to in
            this section, was renamed the Department of Community and
            Economic Development by Act 58 of 1996.
        Section 4.  The Department of Commerce, in order to promote
     and develop business, industry and commerce in the Commonwealth,
     shall have the power, and its duty shall be, to plan and conduct
     a program of information, advertising and publicity relating to
     the business, industrial, commercial, agricultural, educational,
     recreational, scenic, historic, highway and residential
     facilities, advantages and attractions of the Commonwealth,
     including any political subdivisions thereof, which may include
     newspaper, magazine, outdoor and radio advertising, both within
     and without the limits of the Commonwealth. The department shall
     encourage and, so far as it is practicable to do so, coordinate
     the activities of persons, firms, associations, corporations and
     other organizations engaged in publicizing and promoting such
     facilities, advantages and attractions of the Commonwealth, or
     any political subdivision thereof.

        Compiler's Note:  The Department of Commerce, referred to in
            this section, was renamed the Department of Community and
            Economic Development by Act 58 of 1996.
        Section 5.  The Department of Commerce, in order to promote
     and develop business, industry and commerce, shall have the
     power, either acting alone or in cooperation with other
     administrative departments, boards and commissions of the
     Commonwealth, to advertise the facilities, advantages and
     attractions of the Commonwealth, referred to in the preceding
     section, at fairs, expositions and other celebrations within and
     without the Commonwealth, and, for such purposes, shall have
     power to obtain space, land or buildings, by lease or otherwise,
     including the erection and construction of booths, exhibits and
     buildings, through the Department of Property and Supplies.

        Compiler's Note:  The Department of Commerce, referred to in
            this section, was renamed the Department of Community and
            Economic Development by Act 58 of 1996.
        Section 6.  Except as otherwise provided in this act, the
     provisions of this act shall not be deemed to repeal or impair
     any law now in effect, and shall not curtail the powers and
     functions of any administrative department, board or commission
     of the Commonwealth. The several administrative departments,
     boards and commissions, in conjunction with the Department of
     Commerce, shall devise a practical and working basis for
     cooperation and coordination of their powers and duties, to the
     extent that such powers and duties have any bearing on the
     powers and duties of the Department of Commerce, in order that
     there will be no duplicating and overlapping of such powers and
     duties. It shall be the duty of every administrative department,
     board or commission to cooperate with the Department of Commerce
     to the extent that the work of the Department of Commerce may
     require such cooperation.

        Compiler's Note:  The Department of Commerce, referred to in
            this section, was renamed the Department of Community and
            Economic Development by Act 58 of 1996.
        Section 7.  (a)  The Pennsylvania State Publicity Commission
     is hereby abolished, as of the effective date of this act, and
     the terms of the members of such commission now holding office,
     and the employment of all officers and employes of the
     commission, shall expire and terminate upon that date.
        (b)  All books, papers, maps, charts, plans, literature and
     other records, and all equipment in the possession of the
     Pennsylvania State Publicity Commission upon the effective date
     of this act, or of any member of the commission or any officer
     or employe of the commission, shall be delivered or turned over
     to the Department of Commerce.
        (c)  All existing contracts and obligations of the
     Pennsylvania State Publicity Commission shall remain in full
     force and effect and shall be performed by the Department of
     Commerce.
        (d)  The unexpended balance existing on the effective date of
     this act in any appropriation made to the Pennsylvania State
     Publicity Commission is hereby transferred and appropriated to
     the Department of Commerce, for the biennial period ending the
     thirty-first day of May, one thousand nine hundred thirty-nine,
     for the purpose of carrying out the powers and duties of the
     Pennsylvania State Publicity Commission transferred to the
     Department of Commerce by this act, and for the payment of any
     bills or encumbrances incurred by the Pennsylvania State
     Publicity Commission prior to, and remaining unpaid on, the
     effective date of this act.

        Compiler's Note:  The Department of Commerce, referred to in
            this section, was renamed the Department of Community and
            Economic Development by Act 58 of 1996.
        Section 7.1.  (7.1 repealed July 7, 1989, P.L.241, No.42)
        Section 8.  The act, approved the nineteenth day of July, one
     thousand nine hundred thirty-five (Pamphlet Laws, one thousand
     three hundred forty-eight), entitled "An act creating a
     commission to compile, edit, publish, and distribute pamphlets
     descriptive of scenic and historic interest; and making an
     appropriation," and the act amendatory thereto, approved the
     twentieth day of May, one thousand nine hundred thirty-seven
     (Pamphlet Laws, seven hundred thirty-seven), are hereby
     repealed.
        Section 9.  This act shall become effective immediately upon
     its final enactment.