Corbett Signs Bill To Give State Control Over Cash-Strapped Harrisburg

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Governor Corbett has signed a bill that would pave the way for a state takeover of Pennsylvania's financially choked capital city.

Governor Corbett's signing of the Harrisburg takeover bill comes just a week after city council voted to petition for bankruptcy. Dr. Randall Miller, professor of history at St. Joseph's University, says municipal bankruptcy is unusual but the state takeover of a city is even more rare.

He says states have the power to create cities and thus have the implicit power to take this kind of step, but "that's going to be the rub, especially for people who don't want this takeover to occur. They will argue that an implied power is not the same as an expressed power, and that this takeover is unconstitutional."

The bill signed by the governor gives Harrisburg city officials one last chance to devise a fiscal recovery plan acceptable to the state. Otherwise, a receiver will be appointed to develop and implement that recovery plan.

Reported by Tony Romeo, KYW Newsradio 1060