File photo.
Lower Bucks County lawmakers and the governor have taken action to address the growing issue of porch pirating.
Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, who was previously the state’s attorney general, signed Senate Bill 527, known as Act 41 of 2023, into law earlier this month.
The bill, introduced by Republican State Sen. Frank Farry of Langhorne Borough, aims to impose specific penalties for mail theft, which includes packages, bags, or letters.
Previously in Pennsylvania, mail theft was prosecuted under general theft laws based only on the value of the stolen item. However, the new law introduces a more focused approach.
"With online shopping being a growing method of commerce, package thefts have been on the rise nationwide. It’s time to hold these thieves accountable,” Farry said. "This bill focuses on repeat offenders by using a grading system that would increase the penalties if the thief had prior convictions for theft of mail.”
The need for the legislation was recently underscored by a Forbes report, noting that Americans have spent $1.7 trillion on online shopping since 2020, with nearly eight in ten Americans experiencing package theft in 2022.
State Rep. Kristin Marcell, a Republican from Wrightstown Township, and KC Tomlinson, a Republican from Bensalem Township, introduced companion legislation in the House, House Bill 696.
"Here in the Commonwealth, package theft has impacted almost 2 million Pennsylvanians,” Marcell said. "When you consider the median value of stolen packages are valued at $50, you can see this crime leaves a sizable financial toll on families and businesses, not to mention the emotional distress of having your personal property violated.” "The increasing penalties within this bill for package theft will serve as a deterrent the way the current law does not,” Tomlinson said. "Our hope behind this legislation is that it will reduce the occurrence of these crimes and will lead to a safer community.”
With the enactment of the new law, Pennsylvania joins eight other states — Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas — in classifying porch pirating as a felony.
