Bill Text: PA HB886 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Providing for the possession of firearms in motor vehicles; prohibiting certain acts; imposing duties on employers; and providing for civil immunity under certain circumstances and for enforcement.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 64-7)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-02 - Referred to JUDICIARY [HB886 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HB886-Introduced.html

---

PRINTER'S NO. 942
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 886 Session of2011
INTRODUCED BY PYLE, AUMENT, BAKER, BEAR, BENNINGHOFF, BOBACK, BOYD, BROOKS, CAUSER, CHRISTIANA, CLYMER, COX, CUTLER, DAY, DENLINGER, ELLIS, EVERETT, FABRIZIO, FARRY, FLECK, GABLER, GEIST, GERGELY, GILLEN, GILLESPIE, GROVE, HARHART, HARRIS, HESS, HICKERNELL, HUTCHINSON, KAUFFMAN, M.K. KELLER, KNOWLES, KRIEGER, LAWRENCE, MAHER, MARSHALL, METCALFE, METZGAR, MILLER, MOUL, MURT, MUSTIO, OBERLANDER, PAYNE, PEIFER, PICKETT, RAPP, READSHAW, REED, REESE, REICHLEY, ROAE, ROCK, SAYLOR, SONNEY, STERN, STEVENSON, SWANGER, TALLMAN, TOEPEL, TURZAI, VULAKOVICH, HELM AND KORTZ, MARCH 2, 2011
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MARCH 2, 2011
AN ACT
Providing for the possession of firearms in motor vehicles;
prohibiting certain acts; imposing duties on employers; and
providing for civil immunity under certain circumstances and
for enforcement.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Preservation
and Protection of Firearms in Motor Vehicles Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Employee." A person who:
(1) works for salary, wages or other remuneration;
(2) is an independent contractor; or
(3) is a volunteer, intern or other similar individual
for an employer.
"Employer." A sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation,
limited liability company, professional association,
cooperative, joint venture, trust, firm, institution,
association or business entity that has employees.
"Firearm." The term includes ammunition and accoutrements
attendant to the lawful possession and use of a firearm.
"Invitee." A business invitee, including a customer or
visitor, who is lawfully on the premises of a public or private
employer.
"Motor vehicle." An automobile, truck, minivan, sports
utility vehicle, motor home, recreational vehicle, motorcycle,
motor scooter or any other vehicle operated on the roads of this
Commonwealth and required to be registered under the laws of
this Commonwealth.
"Parking lot." Real property that is used for parking motor
vehicles and is available to customers, employees or invitees
for temporary or long-term parking or storage of motor vehicles.
Section 3. Legislative intent.
The General Assembly finds and declares that:
(1) This act is intended to codify the long-standing
legislative policy of the Commonwealth that individual
citizens have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms,
that they have a constitutional right to possess and keep
legally owned firearms within their motor vehicles for self-
defense and other lawful purposes and that these rights are
not abrogated by virtue of a citizen becoming a customer,
employee or invitee of a business entity.
20110HB0886PN0942 - 2 -
(2) A citizen's lawful possession, transportation and
secure keeping of firearms and ammunition within the
citizen's motor vehicle is essential to the exercise of the
fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms and
the constitutional right of self-defense.
(3) Protecting and preserving these rights is essential
to the exercise of freedom and individual responsibility.
(4) No citizen can or should be required to waive or
abrogate the right to possess and securely keep firearms and
ammunition locked within the citizen's motor vehicle by
virtue of becoming a customer, employee or invitee of any
employer or business establishment within this Commonwealth,
unless specifically required by Federal or State law.
Section 4. Prohibited acts.
The following acts are prohibited:
(1) No public or private employer may prohibit any
customer, employee or invitee from possessing any legally
owned firearm when the firearm is lawfully possessed and
locked inside or locked to a private motor vehicle in a
parking lot and when the customer, employee or invitee is
lawfully on the premises of the public or private employer.
(2) No public or private employer may violate the
privacy rights of a customer, employee or invitee by verbal
or written inquiry regarding the presence of a firearm inside
or locked to a private motor vehicle in a parking lot or by
an actual search of a private motor vehicle in a parking lot
to ascertain the presence of a firearm within the vehicle.
(3) No public or private employer may take any action
against a customer, employee or invitee based upon verbal or
written statements of any party concerning possession of a
20110HB0886PN0942 - 3 -
firearm stored inside a private motor vehicle in a parking
lot for lawful purposes.
(4) A search of a private motor vehicle in the parking
lot of a public or private employer to ascertain the presence
of a firearm within the vehicle may only be conducted by on-
duty law enforcement personnel, based upon due process and
must comply with constitutional protections.
(5) No public or private employer may condition
employment on:
(i) the fact that an employee or prospective
employee holds or does not hold a license for a firearm
under the laws of this Commonwealth; or
(ii) an agreement by an employee or a prospective
employee that prohibits an employee from keeping a legal
firearm locked inside or locked to a private motor
vehicle in a parking lot when the firearm is kept for
lawful purposes.
(6) No public or private employer may prohibit or
attempt to prevent any customer, employee or invitee from
entering the parking lot of the employer's place of business
because the customer's, employee's or invitee's private motor
vehicle:
(i) contains a legal firearm;
(ii) the firearm is being carried for lawful
purposes; and
(iii) the firearm is out of sight within the
customer's, employee's or invitee's private motor
vehicle.
(7) No public or private employer may terminate the
employment of or otherwise discriminate against an employee
20110HB0886PN0942 - 4 -
or expel a customer or invitee for exercising the
constitutional right to keep and bear arms or for exercising
the right of self-defense as long as a firearm is not
exhibited on company property for any reason other than
lawful defensive purposes.
Section 5. Applicability.
Section 4 applies to all public-sector employers, including
those already prohibited from regulating firearms under the laws
of this Commonwealth.
Section 6. Duty of care of public and private employers.
(a) General rule.--A public or private employer subject to
the provisions of section 4 has no duty of care relating to the
actions prohibited under section 4.
(b) Immunity.--
(1) A public or private employer is not liable in a
civil action based on actions or inactions taken in
compliance with this section.
(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to civil actions based
on actions or inactions of public or private employers that
are unrelated to compliance with this act.
(c) Construction.--Nothing contained in this section shall
be construed to expand any existing duty or create any
additional duty on the part of a public or private employer,
property owner or property owner's agent.
Section 7. Enforcement.
(a) Attorney General.--
(1) The Attorney General shall enforce the provisions of
this act on behalf of any customer, employee or invitee
aggrieved under this act.
(2) If there is reasonable cause to believe that the
20110HB0886PN0942 - 5 -
aggrieved person's rights under this act have been violated
by a public or private employer, the Attorney General shall
commence a civil or administrative action for damages,
injunctive relief and civil penalties and such other relief
as may be appropriate, or may negotiate a settlement with any
employer on behalf of any person aggrieved under this act.
(b) Private causes of action.--
(1) Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit
the right of a person aggrieved under this act to bring a
civil action for violation of rights protected under this
act.
(2) In any successful action brought by a customer,
employee or invitee aggrieved under this act, the court shall
award all reasonable personal costs and losses suffered by
the aggrieved person as a result of the violation of rights
under this act.
(c) Court costs and attorney fees.--In any action brought
pursuant to this act, the court shall award all court costs and
reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party.
Section 8. Exceptions.
The prohibitions in section 4 do not apply to:
(1) Real property owned, leased or controlled by an
educational institution.
(2) A correctional institution in this Commonwealth.
(3) Real property on which a nuclear-powered electricity
generation facility is located.
(4) Real property owned or leased by a public or private
employer or the landlord of a public or private employer upon
which are conducted substantial activities involving national
defense, aerospace or homeland security.
20110HB0886PN0942 - 6 -
(5) Real property owned or leased by a public or private
employer or the landlord of a public or private employer upon
which the primary business conducted is the manufacture, use,
storage or transportation of combustible or explosive
materials regulated under Federal or State law, or real
property owned or leased by an employer who has obtained a
permit required under 18 U.S.C. § 842 (relating to unlawful
acts) to engage in the business of importing, manufacturing
or dealing in explosive materials on such property.
(6) A motor vehicle owned or leased by a public or
private employer or the landlord of a public or private
employer.
(7) Any other real property owned or leased by a public
or private employer or the landlord of a public or private
employer upon which possession of a firearm or other legal
product by a customer, employee or invitee is prohibited
pursuant to any Federal law, contract with a Federal
Government entity or law of this Commonwealth.
Section 9. Applicability to causes of action.
This act shall apply to causes of action that accrue after
the effective date of this section.
Section 10. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
20110HB0886PN0942 - 7 -