With Harrisburg’s Act 47 state assistance plan in the works, the city’s state senator is drafting legislation that, were it in place, could essentially force city leaders to agree on some version of that plan, or face a state takeover akin to what the city’s schools faced 10 years ago.

View full sizeDAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News, fileSen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County

Pennsylvania Sen. Jeffrey Piccola circulated a co-sponsorship memo last week in which he detailed his plans to bolster the current state law regarding distressed municipalities.

Under the current law, the state can withhold certain grants and other funding if a municipality rejects a plan, but there is no provision for any hand-over of municipal authority.

Under Piccola’s concept, which applies only to third-class cities, like Harrisburg, in the absence of agreement by city officials on a fiscal recovery plan, a three-member “management board” would be named to implement the Act 47 plan. That board, whose members would be appointed by the governor and the county commissioners of the city involved, would have the power to direct the sale or lease of assets. Any affected city would not be permitted to file for bankruptcy.

For Piccola, this is borrowing from a familiar playbook.

In 2000, the Dauphin County Republican was the chief architect of the legislation that put Harrisburg School District under the management of former Mayor Stephen R. Reed.

But it is not clear if Piccola’s concept — first reported today by Harrisburg blogger Tara Leo Auchey — has been fleshed out in time to have any impact on Harrisburg’s decisions.

The city’s plan is expected to be released by mid-June and under the existing act’s timelines will likely be accepted, rejected or modified by Mayor Linda Thompson and City Council this summer.