A new Pennsylvania law gives Chester County seniors and their families a safeguard against losing a home to a tax sale: the ability to name a trusted person who will be notified when property taxes go unpaid.

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed House Bill 96 into law on Monday, July 13. The measure, now Act 27 of 2026, was sponsored by state Rep. Chris Pielli, D-Chester, whose 156th District covers the West Chester area.

The designation is voluntary. A property owner files a form naming someone — a son, daughter, neighbor, attorney — who will then get the same delinquent-tax notices the county sends to the owner. If a homeowner with dementia or another condition can't track bills, someone else finds out before the property hits the auction block.

The law tasks the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development with overseeing the new designation process, but the department has not yet published guidance on forms or filing procedures for county tax offices. Residents who want to learn more once that guidance is available can contact Pielli's district office at 121 W. Miner St., Suite 1E, West Chester, or call (610) 696-4990.

Pielli, a former West Goshen Township supervisor who chaired that board, said his experience as a court-appointed guardianship attorney in Chester County drove the bill.

"As a former court-appointed guardianship attorney, I saw clients who lost their homes as a result of unpaid property taxes," Pielli said in a statement. "Too often, these were individuals with cognitive impairment or those who were otherwise incapacitated and could not pay tax bills without assistance."

Some of those clients had the money to pay, Pielli said, but were too impaired to keep up with the paperwork.

The bill cleared the legislature with broad bipartisan support. The House passed it 201-2 on May 7, 2025. The Senate approved it 42-8 on July 12, 2026, and the House concurred in Senate amendments 167-35 the same day. Shapiro signed it the following morning.

The law will be in effect before Chester County's next scheduled sheriff's sales, set for Thursday, September 17, and Thursday, October 15, according to the county sheriff's office.