---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in assault, further providing for the offense of assault by prisoner; in sexual offenses, further providing for the offense of institutional sexual assault; and, in registration of sexual offenders, further providing for sexual offenses and tier system."
description: "An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in assault, further providing for the offense of assault by prisoner; in sexual offenses, further providing for the offense of institutional sexual assault; and, in registration of sexual offenders, further providing for sexual offenses and tier system."
jurisdiction: "us/states/pa"
legislature: "Pennsylvania General Assembly"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 256"
citation: "Pennsylvania HB 256 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Metzgar"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-29T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2020-07-23T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/08fe4c4b-7716-417b-a528-ae27ba7801e6"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=256"
source_hash: "7c1873462880193753409ab2987cbe0263022c24e072d4150400ed463efecdbd"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-pa"]
---

# Pennsylvania HB 256 (2019-2020) — An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in assault, further providing for the offense of assault by prisoner; in sexual offenses, further providing for the offense of institutional sexual assault; and, in registration of sexual offenders, further providing for sexual offenses and tier system.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **House Amendment A03155** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/HA/Public/HaCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sYear=2019&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0256&pn=0227&aYear=2019&an=03155)
2. **Printer's No. 0227** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0256&pn=0227)
3. **Printer's No. 2919** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0256&pn=2919)
4. **Printer's No. 4021** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0256&pn=4021)
5. **Printer's No. 4054** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0256&pn=4054)
6. **Senate Amendment A06389** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/HA/Public/HaCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sYear=2019&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0256&pn=2919&aYear=2019&an=06389)
7. **Senate Amendment A06480** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/HA/Public/HaCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sYear=2019&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0256&pn=4021&aYear=2019&an=06480)

## Votes

- HB 256 PN 4054, CONCUR — **173–28** (pass) · lower
- Committee vote (APPROPRIATIONS): Re-Reported as Committed — **22–2** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE — **146–51** (pass) · lower
- HB 256 PN 4021, A6480, REGAN AMENDMENT NO. A-6480 — **36–14** (pass) · upper
- Committee vote (JUDICIARY): Reported as Amended — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE — **50–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Metzgar — primary (person)
- Barrar — cosponsor (person)
- Benninghoff — cosponsor (person)
- Deluca — cosponsor (person)
- Gillen — cosponsor (person)
- Goodman — cosponsor (person)
- Irvin — cosponsor (person)
- James — cosponsor (person)
- Kauffman — cosponsor (person)
- Kortz — cosponsor (person)
- Masser — cosponsor (person)
- Mcneill — cosponsor (person)
- Oberlander — cosponsor (person)
- Readshaw — cosponsor (person)
- Reese — cosponsor (person)
- Sankey — cosponsor (person)
- Saylor — cosponsor (person)
- Snyder — cosponsor (person)
- Struzzi — cosponsor (person)
- Topper — cosponsor (person)
- Zimmerman — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-29T05:00:00+00:00** PN 0227 Referred to JUDICIARY `referral-committee`
- **2019-11-19T05:00:00+00:00** PN 2919 Reported as amended `committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-11-19T05:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-11-19T05:00:00+00:00** Laid on the table
- **2019-11-21T05:00:00+00:00** Removed from table
- **2019-12-17T05:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-12-17T05:00:00+00:00** Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-12-18T05:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-12-18T05:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-12-26T05:00:00+00:00** Referred to JUDICIARY `referral-committee`
- **2020-06-24T04:00:00+00:00** PN 4021 Reported as amended `committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2020-06-24T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2020-06-29T04:00:00+00:00** PN 4054 Second consideration, with amendments `reading-2`
- **2020-06-29T04:00:00+00:00** Re-referred to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2020-06-30T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2020-06-30T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-07-07T04:00:00+00:00** Referred to RULES `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-07T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported on concurrence, as committed `committee-passage`
- **2020-07-07T04:00:00+00:00** House concurred in Senate amendments
- **2020-07-07T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in House
- **2020-07-13T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in Senate
- **2020-07-13T04:00:00+00:00** Presented to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-23T04:00:00+00:00** Approved by the Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/08fe4c4b-7716-417b-a528-ae27ba7801e6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Pennsylvania legislature records).