HB 513 — An Act providing for Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System, for notation requirements and for duties of State Geospatial Coordinating Board; and making a repeal.

PRINTER'S NO.   495

                   THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                       HOUSE BILL
                       No. 513
                                              Session of
                                                2025

     INTRODUCED BY DAVANZO AND JAMES, FEBRUARY 5, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS AND
        OPERATIONS, FEBRUARY 5, 2025


                                   AN ACT
 1   Providing for Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System, for
 2      notation requirements and for duties of State Geospatial
 3      Coordinating Board; and making a repeal.
 4      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 5   hereby enacts as follows:
 6   Section 1.   Short title.
 7      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pennsylvania
 8   State Plane Coordinate System Act.
 9   Section 2.   Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System.
10      (a)   System.--The most recent system of plane coordinates
11   based on the National Spatial Reference System, known as the
12   State Plane Coordinate System, which has been established by the
13   National Geodetic Survey or its successors for defining and
14   stating the horizontal positions or locations of points on the
15   surface of the earth within this Commonwealth, shall be known as
16   the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System.
17      (b)   Parameters.--The defining parameters of the Pennsylvania
18   State Plane Coordinate System, including zone definitions, shall
 1   be defined and published by the National Geodetic Survey or its
 2   successors as a part of the overall State Plane Coordinate
 3   System. The defining parameters may be requested to be changed
 4   by the State Geospatial Coordinating Board or the Department of
 5   Transportation or the successors or designees of the State
 6   Geospatial Coordinating Board or the Department of
 7   Transportation.
 8      (c)   Geodetic datums.--The official geodetic datums to which
 9   geodetic coordinates, including, but not limited to, latitude,
10   longitude, ellipsoid height, orthometric height or dynamic
11   height, are referenced within this Commonwealth shall be as
12   defined for the National Spatial Reference System or its
13   successors and may be accessed via the National Oceanic and
14   Atmospheric Administration Continuously Operating Reference
15   Stations Network.
16      (d)   Previous versions.--Previous versions of the
17   Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System shall include the
18   Pennsylvania Coordinate System of 1927 and the Pennsylvania
19   Coordinate System of 1983 as specified by the act of June 2,
20   1937 (P.L.1208, No.310), entitled "An act to describe, define,
21   and officially adopt a system of coordinates for designating the
22   positions of points on the surface of the earth within the
23   Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."
24   Section 3.     Description of Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate
25                  System.
26      The Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System shall consist
27   of two layers of zones as follows:
28            (1)   a single zone with full coverage of this
29      Commonwealth; and
30            (2)   a set of smaller regional zones, as specified under

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 1      section 5, that together provide the same coverage as
 2      specified under paragraph (1).
 3   Section 4.     Use of layers and zones.
 4      (a)   Uses.--The layer specified under section 3(1) is
 5   designed for Statewide geospatial datasets. The layer specified
 6   under section 3(2) is designed for engineering or surveying
 7   projects.
 8      (b)   Determination.--The determination of which layer and
 9   zone to use shall be a user decision based on individual and
10   specific needs.
11   Section 5.     Regional zones.
12      For use of the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System,
13   this Commonwealth shall be divided into smaller regional zones
14   as established by the National Geodetic Survey or its successors
15   as specified under section 2(b).
16   Section 6.     Coordinates and distances.
17      (a)   Coordinates.--The plane coordinates of a point on the
18   surface of the earth, to be used for expressing the geographic
19   position or location of the point in the appropriate zone of the
20   Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System, shall consist of two
21   distances expressed in meters and decimals of a meter or
22   International Feet and decimals of a foot.
23      (b)   Distances.--
24            (1)   One of the distances specified in subsection (a),
25      which shall be known as the "east or x-coordinate," shall
26      give the distance east of the y-axis. The other distance
27      specified under subsection (a), which shall be known as the
28      "north or y-coordinate," shall give the distance north of the
29      x-axis.
30            (2)   The y-axis of any zone shall be parallel with the

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 1      central meridian of that zone.
 2          (3)   The x-axis of any zone shall be at right angles to
 3      the central meridian of that zone.
 4          (4)   An International Foot, which equals 0.3048 meters
 5      exactly, shall be used for all foot distances and coordinates
 6      unless the distances or coordinates are tied to one of the
 7      previous versions of the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate
 8      System specified under section 2(d).
 9          (5)   The U.S. Survey Foot, which equals 1200/3937 meters
10      exactly or 0.3048006 meters approximately, shall be
11      superseded by the International Foot as specified under
12      paragraph (4) as determined by the National Institute of
13      Standards and Technology.
14   Section 7.   Notation requirements.
15      All of the following shall be named in any land description,
16   plat, map, report of survey or other document in which
17   coordinates based on the Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate
18   System are used:
19          (1)   The Pennsylvania State Plane Coordinate System.
20          (2)   The name of the zone, either Statewide or regional,
21      as established by the National Geodetic Survey or its
22      successors in accordance with section 2(b).
23          (3)   The source geodetic datum and decimal-year epoch
24      date of the survey or coordinate derivation or calculation.
25   Section 8.   Duties of State Geospatial Coordinating Board.
26      The State Geospatial Coordinating Board shall transmit a
27   notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in
28   the next available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin upon the
29   release of the State Plane Coordinate System 2022 by the
30   National Geodetic Survey or its successors.

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 1   Section 9.    Construction.
 2      Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit the
 3   appropriate use of other datums and other geodetic reference
 4   networks.
 5   Section 10.    Repeals.
 6      The act of June 2, 1937 (P.L.1208, No.310), entitled "An act
 7   to describe, define, and officially adopt a system of
 8   coordinates for designating the positions of points on the
 9   surface of the earth within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,"
10   is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with this act.
11   Section 11.    Effective date.
12      This act shall take effect as follows:
13          (1)    The following shall take effect immediately:
14                 Section 8.
15                 This section.
16          (2)    The remainder of this act shall take effect upon
17      publication of the notice under section 8.




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