PA House Panel Approves Blight-Fighting Bill, Heads to Floor
Industry Update
May 27, 2023
Source: The Express
Legislation that would help communities across the state fight blight is headed for the House floor.
On Wednesday, the House Housing and Community Development Committee voted 21-0 to approve Rep. Bob Merski’s, D-Erie’s bill allowing municipal governments to team up to fight blight.
The bill would, among other things, establish a new grant program, administered by the state Department of Community & Economic Development, which would help pay for the hiring of new code enforcement officers and to strengthen existing programs, the northwestern Pennsylvania lawmaker said in a statement.
“The emphasis of this grant is to upgrade or remove blighted, abandoned and structurally unsafe structures and dwellings,” Merski wrote in a Feb. 1 memo seeking legislative support for his proposal.
“A municipality obtaining a grant must provide municipal funds equal to the amount of the state grant; in addition, a municipality can only receive this grant for [three] consecutive years,” the lawmaker wrote.
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