What is Act 27 and Why Does it Threaten Everyone's Property Rights?
On July 12, 2026, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Act 27 into law after lawmakers quickly passed the legislation. The act retroactively tries to strip families of property rights they have legally owned, in some cases for generations.
The Proctors and other families have legally owned subsurface mineral rights in parts of Pennsylvania since the 1800s. But Act 27 attempts to take away their property and give it to the state government, benefiting oil and gas companies.
The issue began a decade ago when some government agencies and private companies challenged the Proctor family and claimed that when a landowner failed to pay his property taxes, and then he or his agent purchased that property back at the resulting tax sale, he somehow also gained ownership of someone else’s subsurface rights. In 2025, however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously said that was wrong and ruled in favor of the Proctors.
But opponents didn't like that ruling and focused on getting Act 27 passed. Now, every property owner is at risk of having their property rights denied. Tell your lawmaker and the governor that this is wrong and must be reversed!
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THE BLOG
THE LATEST FROM PA PROPERTY RIGHTS COALITION
Supreme Court Ruling: Commonwealth vs. Proctor
A Definitive Victory For Fairness and the Rule of Law
Over a decade ago, some state government agencies and private companies argued in court that when a landowner failed to pay his property taxes, and then he or his agent purchased that property back at the resulting tax sale, he somehow also gained ownership of someone else’s untaxable subsurface rights.
After years of litigation, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a unanimous 7-0 decision in favor of the Proctors and other families (Commonwealth v. Proctor Heirs Trust) last year. The court said the Proctor family members are the rightful owners of their subsurface rights.
The Supreme Court strictly enforced a foundational principle of American law — that no property owner can profit from their own intentional wrongdoing or build a superior title based on their own neglect of duty. A surface owner cannot use a tax sale to steal a neighbor's centuries-old mineral rights.
While the Supreme Court decision only applies to a relatively small amount of land across the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, it was an important victory for property rights.
By rejecting the claims of speculators and reaffirming that the generational owners of these lands have clear title, the high court paved the way for families to continue ownership of subsurface land.
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Who benefits from Act 27?
Oil and Gas Companies
The real beneficiaries of Act 27 are private oil and gas companies and private entities – not Commonwealth agencies. The Proctor case involved Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company (CPLC) tax sales. Although the majority of CPLC’s lands were sold to the PA Game Commission and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, CPLC’s “successors in interest” are these private oil and gas companies and private entities that have eliminated the Commonwealth agencies’ claims to a significant portion of the lands involved.
Trying to Overturn the Court Ruling
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protect property rights
Despite the unanimous ruling by the highest court in our Commonwealth, a harmful new threat has emerged. Legislators and the governor passed and signed Act 27, which they want to use to overturn the court ruling.
Special corporate interests and institutional forces, along with some lawmakers and the governor, rushed through legislation to take away property rights. This happened without public hearings or a chance for those negatively impacted to speak out.
Act 27 is designed to completely erase the Supreme Court's decision and retroactively strip generational subsurface-owning families of their valid property rights.
What this means now is that state taxpayers could face years of litigation and likely be on the hook for multi-billion-dollar court judgments and legal fees.
And while the Supreme Court’s decision pertained to only a few thousand acres of land, the threat this Act imposes now impacts everyone.
It calls into question whether property rights that are enshrined in Pennsylvania law, actually mean what they say – or if our rights can be eliminated by powerful interests after they lose in court.
We believe this is an unconstitutional "taking" of private property that sets a dangerous precedent in the Commonwealth. If the legislature can work behind closed doors to retroactively alter settled property rules and wipe out a unanimous Supreme Court ruling to satisfy special interests, then no citizen’s property is safe in Pennsylvania.
Clearing Up Misinformation:
Supreme Court ruling has no liability for DCNR, PGC, others
The Supreme Court's ruling did not create liability for either the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) or the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC). In fact, DCNR's dispute with the ruling involves only 741.6 acres of a single 964-acre tract. Nevertheless, the agency continues to cite a $1.3 billion figure when discussing the issue — a number that represents revenue generated from all of its leased lands, not the small parcel at the center of the issue. This number is nothing more than a scare tactic.
DCNR has leased approximately 250,000 acres for oil and gas production, and the Supreme Court decision does not involve any of that leased land.
Even PGC's own title examiner concluded that tax sales did not eliminate the Proctor family’s subsurface property rights.
Also, there is a desperate campaign claiming people who have received Marcellus Shale royalties for years will face lawsuits because of the Supreme Court ruling. This is not true. The ruling secures rights; it does not erase them.
ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE COALITION