A bipartisan coalition in Pennsylvania created more than a decade ago to fight neighborhood blight is setting its sights on new legislative goals after a string of successes.
Speeding up the foreclosure process for abandoned properties, helping local officials track corporate ownership of derelict properties and overhauling the tax sale process for delinquent properties are on the agenda this session for the Statewide Blight Task Force formed in 2006, by the late Sen. James Rhoades of Mahanoy City.
The task force spearheaded passage last session of state laws allowing counties to levy up to $15 on the recording of each deed and mortgage to pay for building demolition programs and to require new owners of property with known municipal property code violations to bring their property into compliance within 12 months of a purchase or demolish the structure.
"We've turned ideas into laws," Sen. David Argall, R-29, Tamaqua, the task force head, said Monday.
He spoke at a Capitol press conference with Rep. Mark Keller, R-86, New Bloomfield, and Sen. Thomas McGarrigle, R-26, Drexel Hill, chairmen of the respective House and Senate Urban Affairs Committees.
Shorten the process
The foreclosure legislation moving in the House would shorten a process that can now take from 300 to 540 days. It would apply to properties that meet criteria for being vacant and abandoned such as having utilities shut off and personal possessions removed. Foreclosure occurs when lenders seize a property because the owner can't keep up with mortgage payments. Sens. John Blake, D-22 Archbald, and Argall plan to sponsor similar legislation in the Senate.
The task force plans to draft legislation giving local officials more power to find out which absentee corporations own blighted properties so they can take action to enforce building codes.
Another goal is to put tax-delinquent properties in the hands of new owners who will fix them up instead of having buyers simply purchase them for resale purposes, said Argall.
