Blight bill passes Senate committee, moves to full Senate
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - A building on West Arlington Street, owned by a South Carolina woman, is seen collapsing on March 28, 2023.
HARRISBURG – A bill which could help municipalities like Shenandoah battle blight has taken another step toward becoming law.
House Bill 775, sponsored by Rep. Tim Twardzik, who represents West Mahanoy Township and points south and west, will allow municipalities to create a blighted and vacant property registration program and impose penalties on those in violation.
The Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee voted in favor of the bill 10-1 earlier this week. Senator Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh) was the lone dissenting vote.
It now moves on to the full Senate.
The bill passed the House of Representatives in November.
If passed, the bill would allow an ordinance to be passed to establish a blighted and vacant property registration program which Twardzik says would establish a process for removal of properties from the registry and disclose that process to the owner.
“Blight is a problem that affects every community across this Commonwealth, both rural and urban. It’s not a Republican issue, or a Democratic issue. It devalues neighbor’s properties, increases neighborhood crime, and poses health and safety risks. In my area, this is a fight we know too well,” Twardzik said. “The bill concept comes from the statewide blight tour a House committee took last session, which included a stop in my district and feedback from those at the forefront of the fight.”
Registration fees would be imposed annually at increasing rates, beginning at $500 one year after a property was listed, up to $5,000 for the ninth and subsequent year.
Fees would be waived if the property is brought into compliance within a year or sold to an entity that brings the property into compliance. Government entities would be exempt, as would properties under active construction or repair, an up-to-code property in which the owner is trying to sell it or rent it in good faith, a property owner facing economic hardship and working with the municipality to bring the property into compliance, or a up-to-code property owned by an active duty military member.
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