HARRISBURG, Pa. – Rep. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson/Indiana) joined with his Republican colleagues this week in advancing legislation to Gov. Tom Wolf which would require transparency and consistency in how the governor determines which businesses can operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With passage of Senate Bill 613, Pennsylvania’s governor has been provided the opportunity to take swift and definitive action to give more Pennsylvanians the freedom to support their families and pay their bills, while safeguarding public health by requiring businesses to fully adhere to proven and less restrictive federal operating guidelines,” said Dush.
“If the governor refuses to sign this family-sustaining job-saving and economy-sustaining legislation into law, our citizens will have even more reasons to question the purpose of his arbitrary and capricious COVID-19 business shutdown.
“The governor actually used the term ‘draconian’ to describe the steps he’s taking with his ever-increasing grip he is placing on the necks of our citizens. On this he and I agree. It’s time to legitimately save lives and provide Pennsylvanians the ability to do that while sustaining their livelihoods, not create the ideal launching point to expand the iron grip of third-world socialism.”
As amended in the House, Senate Bill 613 would not immediately or fully reopen the state’s economy, but would allow businesses that can comply with federal mitigation guidelines to resume operations and bring people back to work safely. It directs the governor to enact a mitigation plan to allow businesses that can follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency essential workforce guidelines to resume working in Pennsylvania.
“What our job-creating employers and hard-working employees need now more than ever is the realistic hope of returning to the normalcy of putting food on the table and the satisfaction of fulfilling the American Dream by contributing to the world’s greatest free market economy that was brought to a halt at their feet by several unconstitutional and far-overreaching executive edicts by this governor,” said Dush.
“By signing Senate Bill 613 into law the governor can join us in forging a plan for allowing businesses that can operate safely to reopen, and to save countless small business enterprises from shuttering forever.”
While the bill has strong support among Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine strongly opposes it, saying it would have a “devastating impact” on public health.
“There is no doubt that this legislation would lead to more Pennsylvanians infected with COVID-19, as it undermines the integrity and effectiveness of the Commonwealth’s collective response to this novel coronavirus,” Levine stated in a recent letter to senators.
According to PennLive, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said Gov. Tom Wolf will veto the bill, and plans to continue his aggressive measures to stem the spread of the virus.
The bill passed the House by a narrow 107-95 vote on Tuesday, with Montgomery County Republican Reps. Todd Stephens and Tom Murt standing with House Democrats to oppose it. The measure passed the Senate by a tight 29-21 vote, with the dissenting votes all coming from Democratic senators.
The narrow margins mean neither the House nor the Senate have enough votes to override a gubernatorial veto, which requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber.
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