Section 56803 - Evasion of advertising requirements(a)(1) No commissioner or commissioners shall evade the provisions of section 1802 as to advertising for bids by purchasing or contracting for services and personal properties piecemeal for the purpose of obtaining prices under eighteen thousand five hundred dollars, subject to adjustment under section 1802(a.2), upon transactions, which transactions should, in the exercise of reasonable discretion and prudence, be conducted as one transaction amounting to more than eighteen thousand five hundred dollars, subject to adjustment under section 1802(a.2).(2) This subsection is intended to make unlawful the evading of advertising requirements by making a series of purchases or contracts, each for less than the advertising requirement price, or by making several simultaneous purchases or contracts, each below the price, when in either case, the transactions involved should have been made as one transaction for one price.(3) Any commissioners who vote in violation of this subsection and know that the transaction upon which they so vote is or should be a part of a larger transaction and is being divided in order to evade the requirements as to advertising for bids, shall be jointly and severally subject to surcharge for ten percent of the full amount of the contract or purchase.(4) If it appears that a commissioner may have voted in violation of this section, but the purchase or contract on which the commissioner voted was not approved by the board of commissioners, this section shall not apply.(b) Any commissioner who votes to unlawfully evade the provisions of section 1802 and who knows that the transaction upon which the member votes is or should be a part of a larger transaction and is being divided in order to evade the requirements as to advertising for bids commits a misdemeanor of the third degree for each contract entered into as a direct result of that vote. The penalty under this subsection shall be in addition to a surcharge that may be assessed under subsection (a).1931, June 24, P.L. 1206, art. XVIII, § 1802.1, added 1951, May 10, P.L. 255, § 2. Amended 1957, May 17, P.L. 168, § 1; 1967, Oct. 9, P.L. 375, § 1; 1976, Nov. 23, P.L. 1135, No. 243, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1978, Oct. 4, P.L. 1042, No. 237, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1981, Dec. 22, P.L. 535, No. 154, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1990, July 10, P.L. 389, No. 92, § 3, effective in 60 days; 2011, Nov. 3, P.L. 345, No. 85, § 2, imd. effective; 2020, Oct. 29, P.L. 782, No. 96, § 66.1, effective in 60 days [Dec. 28, 2020].