---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act amending Titles 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) and 11 (Cities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in mayor, further providing for president or vice president of council to act as mayor; in taxation and finance, further providing for tax levy and for tax ordinance; in ordinances, further providing for ordinances and resolutions, for enactment, approval and veto, for recording, advertising and proof and for codification of ordinances; in council, further providing for ordinances and resolutions, for journal of proceedings, recording and withholding of vote, for records of ordinances maintained by city clerk and for time ordinances go into effect; and, in taxation, further providing for tax levies."
description: "An Act amending Titles 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) and 11 (Cities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in mayor, further providing for president or vice president of council to act as mayor; in taxation and finance, further providing for tax levy and for tax ordinance; in ordinances, further providing for ordinances and resolutions, for enactment, approval and veto, for recording, advertising and proof and for codification of ordinances; in council, further providing for ordinances and resolutions, for journal of proceedings, recording and withholding of vote, for records of ordinances maintained by city clerk and for time ordinances go into effect; and, in taxation, further providing for tax levies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/pa"
legislature: "Pennsylvania General Assembly"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "HB 548"
citation: "Pennsylvania HB 548 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emrick"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-02-19T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2019-07-02T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/363ac24e-d957-4632-91d0-87753f003866"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=548"
source_hash: "24752c88ab0de3eff5fa8a6a895aed3725eaa9f8e3687a7db1671df962556e94"
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 548 (2019-2020) — An Act amending Titles 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) and 11 (Cities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in mayor, further providing for president or vice president of council to act as mayor; in taxation and finance, further providing for tax levy and for tax ordinance; in ordinances, further providing for ordinances and resolutions, for enactment, approval and veto, for recording, advertising and proof and for codification of ordinances; in council, further providing for ordinances and resolutions, for journal of proceedings, recording and withholding of vote, for records of ordinances maintained by city clerk and for time ordinances go into effect; and, in taxation, further providing for tax levies.

## Version chain

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

1. **House Amendment A00100** (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=0548&pn=0539&aYear=2019&an=00100)
2. **House Amendment A00166** (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=0548&pn=0539&aYear=2019&an=00166)
3. **House Amendment A00167** (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=0548&pn=0539&aYear=2019&an=00167)
4. **House Amendment A00177** (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=0548&pn=0539&aYear=2019&an=00177)
5. **House Amendment A00277** (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=0548&pn=0539&aYear=2019&an=00277)
6. **Printer's No. 0539** (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=0548&pn=0539)
7. **Printer's No. 0887** (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=0548&pn=0887)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE — **195–1** (pass) · lower
- Committee vote (APPROPRIATIONS): Re-Reported as Committed — **24–0** (pass) · upper
- Committee vote (LOCAL GOVERNMENT): Reported as Committed — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Emrick — primary (person)
- Masser — cosponsor (person)
- Millard — cosponsor (person)
- Neilson — cosponsor (person)
- Pickett — cosponsor (person)
- Simmons — cosponsor (person)
- Zimmerman — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-19T05:00:00+00:00** PN 0539 Referred to LOCAL GOVERNMENT `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** PN 0887 Reported as amended `committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** Laid on the table
- **2019-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** Removed from table
- **2019-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-03-29T04:00:00+00:00** Referred to LOCAL GOVERNMENT `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-30T04:00:00+00:00** Reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-30T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-05-06T04:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-05-06T04:00:00+00:00** Re-referred to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-03T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-25T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-06-25T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in House
- **2019-06-26T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in Senate
- **2019-06-26T04:00:00+00:00** Presented to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-02T04:00:00+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/363ac24e-d957-4632-91d0-87753f003866`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Pennsylvania legislature records).