New PA Laws That Could Change Your LifeLAW




Every year the Pennsylvania Legis­lature passes a multitude of new laws. Just how many are familiar to the aver­age Pennsylvanian? There may be some that could impact your life in a big way. Here’s a selected list of new laws enact­ed this year in Pennsylvania and how they could effect your life.

Stricter penalties for DUIs

A new law now on the books increas­es the consequences for repeat DUI of­fenders. Under Act 153 of 2018, repeat DUIs could be felony charges. Drivers facing a third DUI offense who have a BAC of 0.16 percent or drivers facing their fourth DUI can be charged with a felony. The new law also increases prison time for DUI drivers who cause fatal accidents. The minimum sentence has increased from three to five years if the offender has one previous DUI, and from three to seven years if the driver has two or more previous DUIs. The law also increases fines and prison time for repeat DUI offenders driving on a suspended license.

Protecting animals in hot cars

House Bill 1216, signed in October, allows officers to enter a vehicle to provide care to an animal believed to be a victim of neglect or living below minimum care standards. The new law allows a police officer, humane officer, animal control officer or other public safety professionals to remove a dog or cat from an unattended vehicle if they believe the animal is in “imminent danger or harm” after a reasonable search for the operator of the vehicle. It further protects a police officer, hu­mane officer, or public safety profes­sional who removes a dog or cat from an unattended vehicle from liability for any damages. It also requires that the officer who removes a dog or cat from an unattended vehicle must leave a conspicuous note for the owner stat­ing the officer’s information and the information for where to pick up the pet.

Clean slate Law

A portion of the state’s new “clean slate” law is now in effect. Under the new law, people can petition for that certain misdemeanors, such as simple assault, be sealed. Misdemeanor records will be automatically sealed in June if a defend­ant has gone 10 years without another conviction. Also under the new law, ar­rests that did not result in convictions will be sealed.

Here is a summary of other laws that came into force in 2019:

Senate Bill 915: Extends the time a convicted individual has to file a post- conviction relief action to one year, from what was 60 days under current law.

Senate Bill 554: Creates new protec­tions and supports for children of hu­man trafficking and sexual exploitation. The new law shields children from pros­ecution for crimes their abusers forced them to commit, enhances law enforce­ment training and establishes a new fund for victim services.

House Bill 126: Amends the Pennsyl­vania Consolidated Statutes, in prescrib­ing opioids to minors, further providing for procedure; providing for reimburse­ment of patient expenses associated with participation in cancer clinical trials and for duties of the Department of Health, etc.

House Bill 149: Amends the Pennsyl­vania Consolidated Statutes, providing for unlawful use of an audio or video de­vice in court.

House Bill 1884: Amends the Public School Code of 1949, in terms and cours­es of study, further providing for child ex­ploitation awareness education.

House Bill 1886: Amends the Pennsyl­vania Consolidated Statutes, in incapaci­tated persons, further providing for pro­visions concerning powers, duties and liabilities.

House Bill 1951: Amends the Pennsyl­vania Consolidated Statutes, providing for the offense of access of minors to dex­tromethorphan and imposing a penalty.

House Bill 2049: Provides for require­ments for documentation of the need for an assistance animal or service animal in housing and for the offenses of misrep­resentation of entitlement to assistance animal or service animal and misrepre­sentation of animal as assistance animal or service animal.

House Bill 2052: Amends the Pub­lic School Code of 1949, in professional employees, providing for military parent student support.

House Bill 2124: Amends the Public School Code of 1949, in preliminary pro­visions, providing for information regard­ing education loans.

Senate Bill 31: Amends the Tobacco Settlement Act, establishing the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program and Spinal Cord Research Advisory Committee, fur­ther providing for department responsi­bilities and for use of funds and providing for spinal cord injury research programs funding.

Senate Bill 299: Amends the Pennsyl­vania Election Code, further providing for number of signers required for nomina­tion petitions of candidates at primaries.

Senate Bill 1127: Amends the cur­rent penalties for those that engage in the fraudulent traffic of food orders, oth­erwise more commonly known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro­gram) benefits.

Senate Bill 1209: Addresses the back­log of untested rape kits by establishing a commission of local and state agencies to annually review funding needs and improve communications and creating a hotline for hospitals to call if a rape kit is not picked up within 72 hours.

For information on these and other developments in Pennsylvania Law, visit statelaws.findlaw.com/pennsylva­nia law.html. .

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