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PRINTER'S NO. 1553
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 1219
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY PHILLIPS-HILL, GEBHARD, MASTRIANO, LANGERHOLC,
STEFANO AND VOGEL, MARCH 30, 2026
REFERRED TO FINANCE, MARCH 30, 2026
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), entitled
"An act relating to the finances of the State government;
providing for cancer control, prevention and research, for
ambulatory surgical center data collection, for the Joint
Underwriting Association, for entertainment business
financial management firms, for private dam financial
assurance and for reinstatement of item vetoes; providing for
the settlement, assessment, collection, and lien of taxes,
bonus, and all other accounts due the Commonwealth, the
collection and recovery of fees and other money or property
due or belonging to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
including escheated property and the proceeds of its sale,
the custody and disbursement or other disposition of funds
and securities belonging to or in the possession of the
Commonwealth, and the settlement of claims against the
Commonwealth, the resettlement of accounts and appeals to the
courts, refunds of moneys erroneously paid to the
Commonwealth, auditing the accounts of the Commonwealth and
all agencies thereof, of all public officers collecting
moneys payable to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
and all receipts of appropriations from the Commonwealth,
authorizing the Commonwealth to issue tax anticipation notes
to defray current expenses, implementing the provisions of
section 7(a) of Article VIII of the Constitution of
Pennsylvania authorizing and restricting the incurring of
certain debt and imposing penalties; affecting every
department, board, commission, and officer of the State
government, every political subdivision of the State, and
certain officers of such subdivisions, every person,
association, and corporation required to pay, assess, or
collect taxes, or to make returns or reports under the laws
imposing taxes for State purposes, or to pay license fees or
other moneys to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
every State depository and every debtor or creditor of the
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Commonwealth," in lien of accounts due the Commonwealth and
procedure in case of nonpayment, providing for liens against
private property improved or renovated with State
appropriations.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), known
as The Fiscal Code, is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 1412. Liens Against Private Property Improved or
Renovated with State Appropriations.--(a) If a Commonwealth
agency pays to a person under a grant, loan or contract approved
by the Commonwealth agency an amount of money appropriated by
the Commonwealth and determines that the person used the money
to upgrade or renovate property owned, operated or controlled by
the person without legal authority to do so, the Commonwealth
agency shall notify the person and the Department of Revenue of
the amount.
(b) Upon receipt of notice under subsection (a), the
Department of Revenue shall have the power to recover the amount
from the person in the same manner as public accounts and taxes
under this article, except as otherwise provided in this
section.
(c) The amount shall be a debt of the person, recoverable in
a civil action in the name of the Commonwealth. The debt,
whether sued upon or not, shall be a lien on the improved or
renovated property, except as against an innocent purchaser for
value without notice of the lien, and shall have priority both
in lien and distribution of the improved or renovated property,
whether in bankruptcy, insolvency or otherwise. The proceeds of
any judgment or order obtained under this section shall be paid
to the Department of Revenue.
(d) Any amount determined to be due from any person under
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this section shall be a lien in favor of the Commonwealth upon
the improved or renovated property, but only after the lien has
been entered and docketed of record by the prothonotary of the
county where the improved or renovated property is situated. The
Department of Revenue may at any time transmit to the
prothonotaries of the respective counties certified copies of
all liens imposed under this section, and prothonotaries
receiving the liens shall enter and docket the lien of record in
their respective offices, which liens shall be indexed as
judgments are now indexed. Notice of the filing and the effect
of the lien shall be sent by registered mail to the person who
owns the improved or renovated property at the person's last
known post office address.
(e) The department may not execute on the lien until the
improved or renovated property is sold or transferred.
(f) The lien imposed under this section shall have priority
from the date of its recording and shall be fully paid and
satisfied out of the proceeds of any judicial sale of the
property subject to the lien, before any other obligation,
judgment, claim, lien or estate to which the property may
subsequently become subject, except costs of the sale and of the
writ upon which the sale was made, and real estate taxes and
municipal claims against the property, but shall be subordinate
to mortgages and other liens existing and duly recorded or
entered of record prior to the recording of the tax lien. In the
case of a judicial sale of property subject to a lien imposed
under this section upon a lien or claim over which the lien
imposed under this section has priority, the sale shall
discharge the lien imposed under this section to the extent only
that the proceeds are applied to its payment, and the lien shall
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continue in full force and effect as to the balance remaining
unpaid.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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