The General Assembly passed a bill amending the Vehicle Code to expand the use of golf carts and low-speed utility vehicles on public highways. Gov. Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 785 into law on Nov. 29, 2017.

The bill's primary sponsor, Sen. John C. Rafferty, re-introduced legislation from the 2015-2016 session with updates that would authorize golf carts on public-highway crossovers for recreational purposes as well as golf carts and low-speed utility vehicles for incidential travel on public highways for campus maintenance purposes.

Senate Bill 785 also adds a new paragraph to Section 1302 - Vehicles exempt from registration. Paragraph 23 includes all-terrain vehicles exempt from registration under Chapter 77 (relating to snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles) and operated as emergency vehicles by police, fire, or emergency medical services when the vehicle is primarily for off-highway use and is only operated incidentally on the highway for less than two miles. These vehicles must comply with Section 4571 (visual and audible signals on emergency vehicles). The bill takes effect Jan. 29, 2018.