Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 25, June 22, 2024
Section 21.34 - Provision contained in Administrative Code(a)Background.-Prior to The Administrative Code of 1923 no general statute on the organization of the Commonwealth government existed. The Administrative Code of 1923 was drafted and held constitutional (see Commonwealth ex rel. Attorney General v. Snyder, 279 Pa. 234 (1924)) on the theory that the statute did not vest any substantive governmental authority in the executive branch, but merely specified which department, board or commission was thereafter to exercise authority vested in the executive branch by other statutes, which other statutes continued in operation except as to the specification of the identity of the administering agency. This result was required by section 3 of Article III of the Constitution of Pennsylvania as in effect prior to the Constitutional Amendment of May 16, 1967. Thus, the absolute repeal of a pre-1923 statutory provision terminates the function notwithstanding the continuation of the same statutory language in the Administrative Code. For example, a statute is enacted in 1907 conferring jurisdiction on the Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania to approve charters for water companies. The Administrative Codes of 1923 and 1929 recite that the Water and Power Resources Board shall, inter alia, exercise the powers vested in the Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania with respect to approval of water company charters. A statute is enacted in 1939 repealing absolutely the 1907 act and substituting a scheme of water rights regulation wholly independent of corporate charters. The functions of the Water and Power Resources Board with respect to approval of charters for water companies are terminated, notwithstanding the continued existence of the Administrative Code language. A statute is enacted in 1970 transferring the functions, inter alia, of the Water and Power Resources Board with respect to approval of charters for water companies to the Department of Environmental Resources. The purported transfer does not revive the power over water company charters. Reference should also be made to § 21.32(c) (relating to effect of subsequent reenactment of supplied provisions).(b)General rule.-When drafting a revision which encompasses pre-1927 statutory provisions which have been expressly repealed, or supplied and hence impliedly repealed, the repealed or supplied language is omitted notwithstanding the fact that similar or identical language is contained in the Administrative Code. Such similar or identical Administrative Code language is cited for absolute repeal as obsolete in the revision bill repealer.(c)1927 and later amendments to the Administrative Code.-The rule set forth in subsection (b) is not necessarily applicable to a power vested in the executive branch by any of the 1927 amendments to The Administrative Code of 1923 or any amendment to The Administrative Code of 1929.