53 Pa. Stat. § 5571
No political subdivision of this Commonwealth shall file any petition in any district court of the United States under the Municipal Bankruptcy Act, adopted by the Congress of the United States, approved the twenty-fourth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four, Public Act Number two hundred fifty-one, Seventy-third Congress, entitled "An act to amend an act, entitled 'An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States,' approved the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and acts amendatory thereof, and supplementary thereto," alleging that it is insolvent or unable to meet its debts as they mature, and expressing its desire to effect a plan of readjustment of its debts, unless such petition has first been submitted to, and the filing thereof has been first approved, in writing, by the State Department of Internal Affairs. Said department is hereby designated, in accordance with said act of Congress, as the agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which shall have power to approve or disapprove the filing of any such petition of a political subdivision, and to approve or disapprove any plan of readjustment of the debts of any such political subdivision prepared, filed, and submitted with the petition to the court, as provided in said act of the Congress.
53 P.S. § 5571