Proctor family is forced to go back to court to protect their property rights

We shared a Spotlight PA story about how the Pennsylvania legislature passed a harmful, retroactive law that took away property rights from families. Under the measure, the Proctor family, and others, could lose their subsurface rights on property their relatives have held for over 100 years. This all happened just over a year after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously upheld those rights.

The General Assembly and Governor Josh Shapiro passed and signed into law the legislation at record speed, all without hearings, public comment, or much debate. Plus, they wrapped it into the flurry of late-night 2026-27 budget negotiations. 

Shortly after the legislation (Act 27 of 2026) was enacted, attorneys for the Proctor family argued in a legal filing that "the Pennsylvania Constitution does not permit the General Assembly to legislate away a party's day in court, to take one litigant's property and hand it to another, or to enact sweeping retroactive changes to century-old property rules on a single weekend, behind closed doors, on the eve of the trial."

At that Commonwealth Court hearing in early August, Judge Stacy Wallace said, "The two other branches of government worked together in a rapid fashion that doesn't pass the smell test...And so I want you to know that the third branch isn't hopping on the stinky trail."

And recently, Judge Stacy Wallace allowed the Proctor family's case to proceed — even though the Pennsylvania Game Commission continues to try to stop it — setting up a potential constitutional challenge to the statute. 

Unfortunately, taxpayers could be responsible for the state's bad legislative decision. The legal actions that families must take to protect their property rights could prove very costly to Pennsylvanians.