Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes

45 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 501 (2026)

Definitions.

✓ current as of May 2026

Coverage note: this corpus holds the consolidated Pa.C.S. titles only. Unconsolidated P.S. statutes (UTPCPL 73 P.S. § 201-1, Liquor Code, wage payment laws) are not included; a miss here does not mean the statute does not exist. Check palegis.us.

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section PA-LEGpalegis.us JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

PART II

PUBLICATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF

COMMONWEALTH DOCUMENTS

Chapter

5. General Provisions

7. Codification and Publication of Documents

9. Effectiveness of Documents

Enactment. Part II was added July 9, 1976, P.L.877, No.160, effective in 60 days.

CHAPTER 5

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec.

501. Definitions.

502. Joint Committee on Documents.

503. General administration of part.

504. Payment for documents (Deleted by amendment).

505. Distribution of publication expenses.

506. Judicial notice.

507. Form of citation.

508. Effect of future legislation.

509. Format of documents.

Enactment. Chapter 5 was added July 9, 1976, P.L.877, No.160, effective in 60 days.

§ 501. Definitions.

Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent provisions of this part which are applicable to specific provisions of this part, the following words and phrases when used in this part shall have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the meanings given to them in this section:

"Adjudication." Any order, decree, decision, determination or ruling by an agency affecting personal or property rights, privileges, immunities, duties, liabilities or obligations of any or all of the parties to the proceeding in which the adjudication is made.

"Administrative regulation." Any regulation except a proclamation, executive order, executive directive or other similar document promulgated by the Governor, and the term includes a regulation which may be promulgated by an agency only with the approval of the Governor.

"Agency." A Commonwealth agency.

"Agency text." The text of a document as issued, prescribed or promulgated by the issuing, prescribing or promulgating agency.

"Authenticate." To attest to the genuine nature. The term includes providing a method for a user to determine that an electronic record is unaltered.

"Bulletin." The Pennsylvania Bulletin published under this part.

"Bureau." The Legislative Reference Bureau. The powers conferred by this part upon the bureau shall be exercised by the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, or, in his absence, by the Assistant Director thereof.

"Code." The Pennsylvania Code published under this part.

"Department." The Department of General Services.

"Document." Any proclamation, executive order, executive directive or similar instrument promulgated by the Governor, and any other order, regulation, rule, statement of policy, adjudication, certificate, license, permit, notice or similar instrument issued, prescribed or promulgated by or under the authority of this Commonwealth. The term shall also include any home rule charter heretofore or hereafter adopted by the electors of any part of this Commonwealth or any optional plan of government.

"Electronic." Relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities.

"Joint committee." The Joint Committee on Documents existing under this part.

"Official text." The text of a document issued, prescribed or promulgated by an agency as published by authority of this part which has become in the manner provided by this part the only valid and enforceable text of such document.

"Publish." To present to the public in any medium.

"Record." Information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

"Regulation." Any rule or regulation, or order in the nature of a rule or regulation, promulgated by an agency under statutory authority in the administration of any statute administered by or relating to the agency, or prescribing the practice or procedure before such agency. The term includes a proclamation, executive order, executive directive or other similar document promulgated by the Governor.

"Statement of policy." Any document, except an adjudication or a regulation, promulgated by an agency which sets forth substantive or procedural personal or property rights, privileges, immunities, duties, liabilities or obligations of the public or any part thereof, and includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, any document interpreting or implementing any statute enforced or administered by such agency.

(Sept. 24, 2014, P.L.2461, No.133, eff. 60 days)

2014 Amendment. Act 133 added the defs. of "authenticate," "electronic," "publish" and "record."

Cross References. Section 501 is referred to in section 103 of Title 62 (Procurement).

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 25 cases (7 in the last 5 years), 1980–2026 · leading case: Snyder Bros., Inc. v. Pa. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 198 A.3d 1056 (Pa. 2018).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Snyder Bros., Inc. v. Pa. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 198 A.3d 1056 (Pa. 2018). “17 Senator Joseph Scarnati, the President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate who served on the House/Senate Conference Committee which produced the final version of the legislation that became Act 13, H.”

Finnegan v. Pennsylvania Bd. of Prob. & Parole, 838 A.2d 684 (Pa. 2003). · cites it 2× “To the contrary, the guidelines have not been promulgated pursuant to the notice and comment procedures in the Commonwealth Documents Law, 45 Pa.C.S. § 501 et seq., and the Regulatory Review Act, 71 P.”

Germantown Cab Co. v. Philadelphia Parking Auth., 993 A.2d 933 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2010). · cites it 2× “" 45 Pa.C.S. § 501. Section 208 of the unconsolidated parts of the Commonwealth Documents Law requires compliance with Section 409, which has been repealed and replaced with Chapter 5 of Title 45 of the consolidated statutes.”

Cash Am. Net of Nevada, LLC v. Commonwealth, Dep't of Banking, 8 A.3d 282 (Pa. 2010). · cites it 2× “First, the CDCA authorizes the Secretary to issue binding "rules and regulations as may be necessary for the protection of the public, for insuring the proper conduct of the business contemplated by this act, and for the enforcement of this act, which .”

The Marcellus Shale Coalition v. DEP of PA & Env't Quality Bd. of PA, 193 A.3d 447 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2018). “§§ 1102 -1602, and 45 Pa. C.S. §§ 501 -907. Act of April 9, 1929, P.”

Cary v. Bureau of Prof'l & Occupational Affairs, 153 A.3d 1205 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2017). “§§ 1102-1602, and 45 Pa.C.S. §§ 501- 907, which, collectively, are known as the “Commonwealth Documents Law.”

Cutler v. State Civil Serv. Comm'n, 924 A.2d 706 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2007). “An “administrative regulation” is "[a]ny regulation except a proclamation, executive order, executive directive or other similar document promulgated by the Governor, and .”

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. v. Comwlth. of PA, 206 A.3d 51 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2019). “§§ 1102 -1602, and 45 Pa. C.S. §§ 501 -907,] known as the "Commonwealth Documents Law," shall have the force and effect of law.”

Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church & Our Lady of Victory Preschool v. DHS, 153 A.3d 1124 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2016). “§§ 1102-1602; 45 Pa. C.S. §§ 501- *1132 907. 7 . Act of June 25, 1982, P.”

Einsig v. Pennsylvania Mines Corp., 452 A.2d 558 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1982). “*372 Einsig finally argues that the adjudication of the Board is actually a regulation which is invalid because it was not promulgated pursuant to the provisions of the Commonwealth Documents Law, 45 Pa. C. S. §501, et seq. We find no merit in this assertion.”

Pennsylvania Dep't of Health v. North Hills Passavant Hosp., 674 A.2d 1141 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1996). “A "regulation" is defined in the Commonwealth Documents Law, 45 Pa.C.S. § 501, as: Any rule or regulation, or order in the nature of a rule or regulation, promulgated by an agency under statutory authority in the administration of any statute administered by or relating to such…”

Gloeckl v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Crime Victim's Comp. Bd., 425 A.2d 877 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1981). “202, 45 Pa. C.S. §501 et seq. We must dismiss this argument as the formula is within the province of an interpretative rule and not a regulation promulgated pursuant to a specific grant of authority by the legislature.”

Show all 25 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.