Suspended officers would be able to reapply for certification when their suspension period ends. In the case of the 15 officers, that would be March.
Gov. Corbett signed the bill, said a spokesman for State Sen. Dominic Pileggi (R., Chester).
Attorney S. Stanton Miller, who represented 12 of the 15 officers decertified in 2011, called the measure "enormously important, necessary, and long overdue."
Under the current system, revoking a police officer's certification was "a professional death sentence regardless of the circumstances," Miller said.
The commission stripped the 15 officers of their certification after a state investigation. They were accused of having access to answers on a routine certification examination.
Miller said he expects his clients will seek to be reinstated. He said all his clients said they did not use the answers and several denied having access to answers.
The legislation had multiple sponsors, as well as much support among lawmakers. It passed the House in a 190-1 vote and cleared the Senate, 49-0.
State Rep. Joseph Hackett (R., Delaware), a cosponsor of the bill and MPOETC board member, said the changes were warranted.
In the cheating case, he said there were "different variations" of culpability. However, "there was no continuum of punishment."
Pileggi was a supporter a the measure.
"Accountants, doctors, lawyers and other professionals have a licensing system that allows for suspensions and revocations, with a procedure for reinstatement," he said in a written statement. "This bill provides the same kind of common-sense procedure for police officers."
"I think it's excellent," said Ridley Park Police Chief Tom Byrne. "It gives MPOETC some flexibility to move. Before, they didn't really any."
A former Ridley Park officer, Ian Cleghorn, was one of those decertified. Byrne said he was an "excellent" officer who would be welcomed back.
In the cheating scandal, some officers received test answers in an e-mail and failed to notify the commission or their chief, Byrne said. What has long bothered him, he said, is that the source of the answers has never come out.
Les Neri, president of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police, also applauded the bill.
"It fixes a void," he said.
Contact Rita Giordano at 610-627-2649 or rgiordano@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @ritagiordano.
