Pennsylvania lawmakers, who have been inundated with complaints from business owners and consumers frustrated by Gov. Tom Wolf’s business closure order, are returning to session this week with a desire to get more businesses operating.
Lawmakers are looking to redefine what is and isn’t an essential business in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic.
The House is expected to vote possibly later on Monday aimed at addressing some of the confusion that the governor’s order has created, along with several other COVID-19-related response bills. The Senate has a number of budget-related bills it is positioning for action at a later date. And the Senate State Government Committee is considering a bill, sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Frankln County, that would allow for remote notarization.
Both chambers are scheduled to convene this afternoon. Many of the representatives and senators will be participating remotely from their districts, taking advantage of temporary rule changes that the House and Senate have adopted to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by avoiding large gatherings.
Those who show up to the Capitol, members and staffers alike, are being provided masks, a pair of gloves and hand sanitizer as a precautionary measure. Additionally, both chambers were sanitized since last week’s session.
Wolf has called for all businesses that aren’t considered life-sustaining to be closed indefinitely. Efforts to stray from the order are considered ill-timed by the governor.
“The governor’s highest priority remains protecting Pennsylvanians’ health and safety as the state works to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” said Lyndsay Kensinger, Wolf’s press secretary.
“As we prepare for the surge, we should be focused on the implementation of our mitigation plan,” she said. “Now is not the time to ease up on the commonwealth’s strong mitigation tactics that can help flatten the curve and ease the burden likely to be placed on our healthcare system. The governor is as eager as anyone to see Pennsylvanians headed back to work, but irresponsibly going against the direction of the Secretary of Health and reopening businesses too early will only extend the length of the economic hardships created by the pandemic.”
The construction industry and auto dealers with lots full of new and used vehicles available for sale are among the businesses that have been heavily impacted by the Wolf Administration’s decisions as to what constitutes a life-sustaining business. Lawmakers say the governor’s list is creating chaos with what appears to them to be inconsistencies in how a life-sustaining business is defined.
Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-York County, is seeking to address that with a proposal that is scheduled to be considered in the House on Monday; it’ll be an amendment to a Senate-passed bill.
Keefer wants to require the governor in a disaster emergency to follow the lead of the federal government. Specifically, her measure would call for the governor to use the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce advisory list developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the U.S Department of Homeland Security in determining if the business is life-sustaining.
Another amendment to be added to the bill is one from Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon County, that sets conditions for businesses to operate to blunt the spread of COVID-19. It mirrors language included in a separate bill that Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County, has introduced.
In anticipation of it winning the House’s approval, Keefer sent a letter on Monday to eight senators representing southcentral Pennsylvania, imploring them to call on Senate leaders to bring it to a vote immediately.
“This is a measured response, providing clarity, consistency and equity for all businesses and alleviates the current chaos paralyzing our businesses,” she stated in her letter. “Additionally, this course of action would not only align Pennsylvania business operations with our neighboring states, but with the majority of the country,” she wrote.
Her letter was addressed to Sens. Mike Regan, R-Cumberland/York counties; David Arnold, R-Lebanon County; Kristen Phillips-Hill, R-York County; Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County; Judy Ward, R-Blair County; John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County; Scott Martin, R-Lancaster County; and Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster County.
“There are serious health consequences which will result from sustained business closures that we can’t ignore, such as poverty,” Keefer’s letter states. “The negative health outcomes stemming from poverty are long-term and systemic and will become all too relevant for too many Pennsylvanians if we continue this course.”
Keefer went on to say the state shouldn’t be exchanging one health crisis for another. “Allowing the sectors of our economy that are able to continue with the least amount of risk must be part of a recovery plan.”
