HB 2426 — An Act amending the act of March 29, 1803 (P.L.542, No.156), entitled "An act to establish a Board of Wardens for the port of Philadelphia, and for the regulation of pilots and pilotages, and for other purposes therein mentioned," further providing for pilots in the Delaware Bay and River.

PRINTER'S NO.   3227

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 2426
                                                Session of
                                                  2026

     INTRODUCED BY BELLMON, CONKLIN, KHAN, HILL-EVANS, T. DAVIS,
        NEILSON, MALAGARI, DOUGHERTY, PARKER, CIRESI, CEPHAS,
        SOLOMON, ISAACSON, FIEDLER, CARROLL AND WAXMAN,
        APRIL 18, 2026

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, APRIL 18, 2026


                                     AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of March 29, 1803 (P.L.542, No.156), entitled
 2      "An act to establish a Board of Wardens for the port of
 3      Philadelphia, and for the regulation of pilots and pilotages,
 4      and for other purposes therein mentioned," further providing
 5      for pilots in the Delaware Bay and River.
 6      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 7   hereby enacts as follows:
 8      Section 1.    Section 17(a) of the act of March 29, 1803
 9   (P.L.542, No.156), entitled "An act to establish a Board of
10   Wardens for the port of Philadelphia, and for the regulation of
11   pilots and pilotages, and for other purposes therein mentioned,"
12   is amended to read:
13      Section 17.    (a)   Every person not now a licensed pilot, and
14   who desires to exercise the profession of pilot in the Delaware
15   Bay and River, shall apply to the Navigation Commission for the
16   Delaware River and its navigable tributaries for a license to
17   entitle the person to follow that occupation; and it shall be
18   the duty of the Navigation Commission to call to their
 1   assistance as many pilots of the first class as they may see
 2   fit, not less than three in number, to examine every person so
 3   applying, as to the person's fitness in all respects to perform
 4   the duties of a pilot, and to grant licenses to all such as they
 5   deem qualified, according to their respective abilities: Those
 6   of the first class, to persons capable of piloting vessels of
 7   any practicable draught of water; those of the second class, to
 8   persons capable of piloting vessels drawing forty-five feet of
 9   water, or under; those of the third class, to persons capable of
10   piloting vessels drawing forty feet of water, or under; those of
11   the fourth class, to persons capable of piloting vessels drawing
12   thirty-five feet of water, or under; those of the fifth class,
13   to persons capable of piloting vessels drawing thirty-two feet
14   of water or under; and those of the sixth class, to persons
15   capable of piloting vessels drawing [twenty-seven] twenty-nine
16   feet of water or under; which licenses shall be in force for one
17   year from the date thereof, and until the pilots, respectively,
18   shall next after the expiration of the year, arrive with any
19   vessel at the Port of Philadelphia, and no longer; but every
20   pilot delivering up the person's license shall be entitled to
21   receive a new one in lieu thereof, giving like security as
22   hereinafter directed, unless it shall appear to the Navigation
23   Commission that the person applying is disqualified from
24   exercising the duties of a pilot; and if any person shall in any
25   manner exercise or attempt to exercise the profession of a
26   pilot, except in vessels under one hundred tons burden, in the
27   Delaware Bay or River without license duly granted, or at any
28   time after the person's license shall have expired, the person
29   shall be liable for a civil penalty in an amount up to twice the
30   amount of pilotage, as calculated under existing law, and shall

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1   also be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof,
2   shall be imprisoned for not less than one month nor more than
3   one year, and be fined a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars,
4   at the discretion of the court.
5      * * *
6      Section 2.   This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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