(a) There shall be, and there is hereby established in the Governor's Office a non-partisan, departmental administrative commission for the administration of this act, which shall be known as the “Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission,” and which is hereinafter referred to as the “Commission.”

(b) Said Commission shall consist of eleven members, to be known as Commissioners, who shall be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of a majority of the members of the Senate, not more than six of such Commissioners to be from the same political party, and each of whom shall hold office for a term of five years or until his successor shall have been duly appointed and qualified. Vacancies occurring in an office of a member of the Commission by expiration of term, death, resignation, removal or for any other reason shall be filled in the manner aforesaid for the balance of that term. Commission members failing to attend meetings for three consecutive months shall forfeit their seats unless the chairperson of the commission receives written notification from the member involved that the absence was due to personal illness or the death or illness of an immediate family member.

(c) Subject to the provisions of this act, the Commission shall have all the powers and shall perform the duties generally vested in and imposed upon departmental administrative boards and commissions by the act, approved the ninth day of April, one thousand nine hundred twenty-nine (Pamphlet Laws 177), known as “The Administrative Code of one thousand nine hundred twenty-nine,” and its amendments, and shall be subject to all the provisions of such code which apply generally to departmental administrative boards and commissions.

(d) The Governor shall designate one of the members of the Commission to be its chairperson who shall preside at all meetings of the Commission and perform all the duties and functions of the chairperson thereof. The Commission may designate one of its members to act as chairperson during the absence or incapacity of the chairperson and, when so acting, the member so designated shall have and perform all the powers and duties of the chairperson of the Commission.

(e) Six members of the Commission or a majority of those duly appointed and qualified shall constitute a quorum for transacting business, and a majority vote of those present at any meeting shall be sufficient for any official action taken by the Commission.

(f) Each member of the Commission shall receive per diem compensation at the rate of sixty dollars ($60) per day for the time actually devoted to the business of the Commission. Members shall also receive the amount of reasonable traveling, hotel and other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties in accordance with Commonwealth regulations.

(g) The Commission shall adopt an official seal by which its acts and proceedings shall be authenticated, and of which the courts shall take judicial notice. The certificate of the chairperson of the Commission, under the seal of the Commission and attested by the secretary, shall be accepted in evidence in any judicial proceeding in any court of this Commonwealth as adequate and sufficient proof of the acts and proceedings of the Commission therein certified to.