Rendell Signs 4 Bills

From the Pennsylvania Office of the Governor:

HARRISBURG — Gov. Edward G. Rendell signed four bills into law Wednesday, including a change to the state's vehicle code that will save the Department of Transportation approximately $59 million.

House Bill 347 removes the requirement that PennDOT must replace a license plate every 10 years. Instead, replacement is mandatory when the plate cannot be read anymore. Only those plates that have been lost, stolen or have become illegible from a reasonable distance will be replaced. The change is expected to save Pennsylvania's Motor License Fund about $59 million.
The new law also further defines speed-timing devices, waivers to members of the armed forces, and other things.

House Bill 1543 says criminal history record information may be expunged from a person's record when that person petitions for expungement of a summary offense and he or she has been free of arrest or prosecution for five years following the conviction for which expungement is requested.

House Bill 2188 establishes the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act. With the new law, a party in interest, which includes the owner, a lien holder or secured creditor, a resident or business owner within 500 feet of a building, a nonprofit corporation or a municipality or school district where a building is located, may petition the Court of Common Pleas requesting that a conservator take possession of a building if it is in violation of any municipal code requirements, or if it has been declared a public nuisance.

Senate Bill 1114 designates the scenic view adjacent to State Route 40 in Wharton Township, Fayette County, as Blue Star Point Lookout; names a section of West 26th Street in Millcreek Township, Erie County, as the John W. Groters Memorial Highway; designates a portion of Cottman Avenue (Route 73) in the Burholme section of Philadelphia as the Police Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski Memorial Highway; and designates a bridge on Route 259 in Fairfield Township as the Glenn McMaster Memorial Bridge.