HB 2157 | Increased and mandatory penalties for fireworks violations

Session: 2021-2022

ACLU-PA Position: Opposes

HB 2157 would repeal the fireworks provisions in the Tax Reform Code and would add those provisions—with increased and new criminal penalties—to Title 3 (Agriculture).

These new penalties include establishing mandatory minimum fines for existing fireworks violations as well as four new suboffenses with even higher mandatory minimum fines for each type of violation.

This kind of overly punitive response—for violating restrictions on the use or sale of fireworks, no less—undermines judicial discretion, widens Pennsylvania’s carceral net, and, at best, offers hollow promises of deterrence.

Governor Wolf signed HB 2157 into law on July 11, 2022 as Act 74 of 2022.