House committee approves mechanism to suspend municipal mergers alleged to involve fraud
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Summary
The House Local Government Committee unanimously reported Senate Bill 764, which would let municipalities participating in a merger petition a court to suspend that merger if alleged fraud is discovered after a referendum. A technical amendment clarified the bill’s effective dates.
Senator Dush urged the committee to adopt Senate Bill 764, describing a consolidation in his former district involving alleged financial impropriety and saying the measure would allow municipalities that uncover fraud after a referendum to seek court suspension of a merger.
The committee heard that SB 764 provides a judicial petition mechanism for municipalities that discover apparent or alleged fraud following a consolidation referendum; staff noted the bill previously passed the Senate unanimously and is supported by township supervisors and boroughs. Mr. Castelli explained a technical amendment to make the bill prospective by changing the effective-date language.
The amendment (A02157) was accepted by voice vote and the committee then took a voice vote on the bill. All members signified aye and the committee reported the bill unanimously to the full House for consideration.
The measure will now proceed to the House floor for further action.