Pennsylvania Act 1925-153 — FOREST FIRES, COMPENSATING PERSONS KILLED OR INJURED

Act text

FOREST FIRES, COMPENSATING PERSONS KILLED OR INJURED
                 Act of Apr. 11, 1925, P.L. 232, No. 153              Cl. 32
                                  AN ACT

     Making an appropriation; and providing for the hearing,
        adjusting, and paying of moral claims against the
        Commonwealth for injury to, or death of, persons while
        fighting forest fires under orders of agents of the
        Department of Forests and Waters.

        Compiler's Note:  Section 302(h) of Act 18 of 1995, which
            created the Department of Conservation and Natural
            Resources and renamed the Department of Environmental
            Resources as the Department of Environmental Protection,
            provided that the Department of Conservation and Natural
            Resources shall exercise the powers and duties conferred
            upon the Department of Forests and Waters and the
            Secretary of Forests and Waters by Act 153 of 1925.
        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That the sum of six thousand
     dollars ($6,000) is hereby specifically appropriated to the
     Department of Forests and Waters for the purposes of reimbursing
     parents or dependent relatives of persons killed or persons
     themselves seriously injured while in the service of the
     Commonwealth in fighting forest fires under orders from any
     forest fire warden or other agent of the Department of Forests
     and Waters, and who are unable to secure, or barred by operation
     of law from securing, compensation under the workmen's
     compensation laws.
        Section 2.  Any such parent or dependent relative of any
     person heretofore, or hereafter killed, or any such person
     heretofore or hereafter seriously injured while fighting fires,
     as provided in section one of this act, may present a claim
     therefor to the Board of Finance and Revenue, and for the
     purpose of hearing and adjusting such claims the Secretary of
     Forests and Waters shall become a member of said Board with full
     powers of a member thereof.
        Section 3.  The said Board shall hear and determine all such
     claims, and if in any case the Board is of the opinion that a
     moral claim exists against the Commonwealth for any such injury
     or death, and that such claim is not properly adjustable or
     cannot then be adjusted under the workmen's compensation laws,
     it shall make a finding to that effect, and shall fix the sum
     which in its opinion will compensate the parent, parents, or
     dependent relative or relatives of the person killed or the
     person seriously injured. Any amount so fixed by the Board shall
     be payable from the appropriation hereinbefore made by warrant
     of the Auditor General, after requisition by the Secretary of
     Forests and Waters, and to each such requisition shall be
     attached the findings of the Board. The action of the Board in
     allowing or disapproving a claim shall be final and there shall
     be no appeal therefrom, but the Board in its discretion may
     grant rehearings on any claim and make any new findings, in
     accordance with this act.