Pennsylvania Ordinances (2026)

Pennsylvania's Bee Law requires all beekeepers to register their colonies annually with the Department of Agriculture for inspection and disease control.

Pennsylvania state law prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific legislation that restricts dogs solely based on their breed or appearance.

Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act limits municipal restrictions on normal agricultural operations including chickens and livestock on qualifying farmland.

Pennsylvania's Dog Law requires all dogs to be confined, leashed, or under reasonable control by their owner whenever off the owner's property.

Pennsylvania requires Exotic Wildlife Possession Permits for keeping bears, big cats, wolves, and other dangerous exotic species under Game Commission rules.

Pennsylvania sets no statewide cap on how many dogs or cats a household may keep. The line that matters is the Dog Law's kennel definition in § 102: any establishment in or through…

Pennsylvania Game Commission regulations prohibit intentionally feeding bears and elk statewide, with deer feeding restricted in chronic wasting disease zones.

Pennsylvania regulates electronic cigarettes and vape products under Act 84 of 2016, imposing a 40 percent wholesale tax on e-liquids and devices and requiring tobacco product…

The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act establishes statewide siting rules for dispensaries, including a 1,000-foot setback from schools and daycares, while allowing reasonable local…

Pennsylvania prohibits home cultivation of cannabis by patients, caregivers, and recreational users. The Medical Marijuana Act limits production to state-permitted growers, and…

Commercial drone operators in Pennsylvania must hold an FAA Part 107 certificate and comply with state crimes under Act 78 of 2018 (18 Pa.C.S. Section 3505). That law preempts local…

Pennsylvania Act 78 of 2018 (18 Pa.C.S. Section 3505) criminalizes drone surveillance of a private place, menacing operation, and contraband delivery, and preempts most local drone…

The Pennsylvania Floodplain Management Act (Act 166 of 1978) requires identified flood-prone municipalities to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances meeting National Flood Insurance…

The Pennsylvania Storm Water Management Act (Act 167 of 1978) requires counties to prepare watershed-based stormwater plans and obligates municipalities to adopt implementing…

Under Pennsylvania's 1905 Line Fence Act (29 P.S. § 41), adjoining owners of improved and occupied land must build and maintain equal halves of any boundary or division fence, and…

Consumer-grade (1.4G) fireworks are legal in Pennsylvania for adults 18 and older. Act 43 of 2017 legalized them; Act 74 of 2022 recodified the law to 3 Pa.C.S. Ch. 11. A 150-foot…

Pennsylvania DEP regulations under 25 Pa Code Chapter 129 prohibit open burning of trash and most refuse statewide. Air pollution rules apply universally and supplement local fire…

Pennsylvania regulates propane and LP-gas storage statewide under the Propane and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act (Act 61 of 2002). The Department of Labor and Industry enforces National…

Pennsylvania's Forest Fire Protection Law makes it a crime to set fire to any woodlot, forest, or wild land anywhere in the Commonwealth. Accidental ignition is a misdemeanor…

Pennsylvania is a shall-issue state requiring a License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) issued by the county sheriff for concealed carry or carry in a vehicle, with statewide rules under 18…

Pennsylvania law comprehensively preempts local regulation of firearms under 18 Pa.C.S. §6120. Cities and counties cannot regulate lawful ownership, possession, transfer, or…

Open carry of firearms is generally legal in Pennsylvania for adults 18 or older without a permit outside Philadelphia, but a License to Carry Firearms is required statewide for…

Under 18 Pa.C.S. Section 6106, carrying a firearm in a vehicle anywhere in Pennsylvania generally requires a valid License to Carry Firearms, with limited exceptions for unloaded…

Pennsylvania's Food Code requires all mobile food units to obtain retail food facility licenses through the Department of Agriculture or local health departments.

Pennsylvania caps mini-casinos at ten Category 4 slot machine licenses statewide under 4 Pa.C.S. § 1305.1, each barred from sitting within 25 linear miles of an existing Category 1, 2…

Pennsylvania nonprofits can't run raffles, punchboards, or 50/50 drawings for charity until their own municipality's voters approve it in a referendum. Once approved, the county…

Pennsylvania's gambling code has no social-game or private-residence exception. 18 Pa.C.S. § 5513 makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to let people 'collect and assemble for the…

Pennsylvania channels all sports wagering through Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board certificates, and only an existing slot machine licensee can hold one under 4 Pa.C.S. § 13C11…

Under Pennsylvania's Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315, an association has an automatic lien on a unit for unpaid assessments and fines from the time they become due…

A Pennsylvania association's bylaws must call at least one owners' meeting a year, and notice has to go out not less than ten and not more than 60 days before it, stating the time, the…

Pennsylvania's American, Commonwealth and Military Flag Act overrides any HOA covenant that bans flags. Whatever the declaration says, an association may not stop a unit owner from…

Pennsylvania sets no dollar ceiling on a homeowners association fine. Under the Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5302(a)(11), an association may levy "reasonable fines" for…

A Pennsylvania planned community association gets a lien on a lot the moment an assessment or fine falls due, and 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a) lets it foreclose that lien in a like manner as a…

Pennsylvania never enacted a cottage food law, so there is no sales ceiling to stay under and no exemption to claim. Instead 3 Pa.C.S. § 5734(a) makes it the duty of every person…

Pennsylvania requires Department of Human Services certification for family child day care homes serving four to six unrelated children, with statewide background checks, training, and…

Sobriety checkpoints are lawful in Pennsylvania, and the authority is a single clause in 75 Pa.C.S. § 6308(b) permitting an officer to stop a vehicle whenever he is engaged in a…

Pennsylvania is an all-party consent state, and 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703 grades an intentional interception of an oral communication as a felony of the third degree, one of the harshest…

Pennsylvania has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute, so a person stopped on the street in this Commonwealth has no statutory duty to state a name or produce…

Pennsylvania does not require an officer to obtain written consent before searching a car, and it does not require a warning that you may refuse. Since 5 December 2025 it does require…

Pennsylvania PUC regulations universally authorize utilities to trim or remove trees within rights-of-way and easements to ensure electric service reliability statewide.

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Services Code authorizes the Governor to impose mandatory statewide drought water-use restrictions that override local rules during declared…

The Pennsylvania Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Act requires all property owners statewide to control designated noxious weeds, preempting any conflicting local exemptions.

Pennsylvania draws a hard line between a golf cart and a neighborhood electric vehicle. Chapter 77A of the Vehicle Code makes it unlawful to operate a golf cart on any highway at all…

Pennsylvania Title 75 Chapter 73 governs abandoned vehicles statewide, defining when a vehicle is abandoned and authorizing law enforcement and authorized salvors to remove, store, and…

A Pennsylvania private parking lot cannot tow you unless it is posted. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3353(b)(2) the trespass-parking rule does not reach a private parking lot at all unless the…

Pennsylvania's Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act allows neighbors and nonprofits statewide to petition courts for conservator appointments.

Under 68 P.S. Section 250.501, a Pennsylvania landlord must serve a written notice to quit before eviction: 10 days for nonpayment of rent, and 15 days (term of one year or less) or 30…

Pennsylvania Landlord-Tenant Act establishes uniform eviction notice and procedure requirements applicable statewide, governing all residential tenancy terminations universally.

Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 caps a residential security deposit at two months' rent during the first year and one month's rent in the second and later years…

Pennsylvania's general adverse possession period is 21 years under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 5530. A shorter 10-year period applies under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 5527.1 to a parcel of one-half…

Pennsylvania protects agricultural land through Agricultural Security Areas under Act 43 of 1981 and the Agricultural Area Security Law, working alongside municipal zoning to limit…

Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act (Act 133 of 1982, 3 P.S. §951 et seq.) protects established agricultural operations from local nuisance lawsuits and overly restrictive municipal…

Pennsylvania charges a 6% state hotel occupancy tax on every short-term rental booked for fewer than 30 days to the same guest, whether arranged directly or through an online broker…

Placing a political sign, banner, or any advertising matter within the legal limits of a Pennsylvania state highway is unlawful without PennDOT's written consent under Section 425 of…

Pennsylvania's Public Bathing Place Act regulates safety, lifeguards, and water quality at public, semi-public, and apartment swimming pools statewide.

Pennsylvania Act 112 of 2019 raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, aligning with the federal Tobacco 21 law (Dec 2019). The state law covers all tobacco…

Pennsylvania does not currently impose a statewide ban on flavored tobacco or menthol cigarettes, though federal FDA marketing rules restrict which flavored vape products and…

Pennsylvania's Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act of 1988 (Act 101) mandates curbside recycling in municipalities over 10,000 residents and requires statewide…

Pennsylvania allows a passenger vehicle or light truck exactly one pair of approved auxiliary driving lamps and fog lamps, mounted at least 20 inches apart from center to center and no…

Pennsylvania has never written a dash cam allowance into the Vehicle Code. 75 Pa.C.S. § 4524(a) bars nontransparent material on the front windshield that materially obstructs the…

Lane splitting is expressly illegal in Pennsylvania. Section 3523(c) of the Vehicle Code says no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or…

Pennsylvania flatly prohibits a tinted registration plate cover. Section 1332(b)(5) of the Vehicle Code makes it unlawful to display a plate that "has a tinted plate cover," with no…

A radar detector is legal in a private passenger vehicle in Pennsylvania. The full text of Title 75, the Vehicle Code, contains no occurrence of the word "detector" at all, and the…

Studded snow tires are legal in Pennsylvania only between November 1 and April 15 of the following year, and the studs may project no more than two thirty-seconds of an inch beyond the…

Pennsylvania sets no separate front-and-rear tint percentages the way most states do. 75 Pa.C.S. § 4524(e)(1) simply bars driving with any sun screening device that does not permit a…