§ 23.110. Conferring powers and imposing duties.
(a) Background.—Under the structure established by the Administrative Code, powers and duties are vested in and imposed upon administrative departments, as such. Section 206 of the Administrative Code (71 P. S. § 66) provides that the head of each administrative department, either personally, by deputy or by duly authorized agent or employee of the department, shall exercise the powers and perform the duties imposed by law upon the department. In this manner adequate provision is made for vacancies in office, the absence or disability of the department head and for functions which by their nature require delegation to a lower administrative level.
(b) General rule.—Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d), powers and duties shall be expressly conferred and imposed by statute upon departments, boards, commissions and other offices in their institutional capacities, rather than upon the secretary or chief executive officer of the agency or upon any individual administering or serving within the agency or unit thereof, regardless of the title of such officer or individual or the language of the prior statutory provision.
(c) Limitation on agency authority.—In cases where the constitutional or other authority which authorizes the statute purports to confer the relevant power or to impose the relevant duty upon an officer or individual rather than upon the agency or unit thereof, a definition of the agency or unit should be utilized indicating that the agency or unit acts through the appropriate officer or individual, as follows:
Department.—The Department of Education of the Commonwealth. Where any provision of this part confers powers or imposes duties upon the department which under any Federal statute may be exercised by or imposed on only the Secretary of Education, the reference to the department shall be construed to mean the department acting by and through the Secretary of Education, or the person for the time being acting as the Secretary of Education, personally.
(d) Conferring power upon officer.—The power of appointment may be conferred upon an officer, as such, where it is intended that only that officer, or the person for the time being acting as that officer, may exercise the power.
Cross References This section cited in 101 Pa. Code § 25.22 (relating to elimination of departures from uniform style of the Statutes).
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