Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
POLS SPLIT ON VETO OF RESTAURANT BILL
Lawmakers from Chester County split on whether to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of legislation that would have allowed restaurants in the state to reopen at full capacity in some circumstances, a vote said to pit economic concerns against public health and safety.
All three of the county’s Republican members of the state House of Representatives voted Tuesday in favor of the override,
whose supporters said the governor’s stance put the entire restaurant industry in the state in jeopardy. The effort ultimately failed by the narrowest ofmargins, meaningWolf’s veto stands.
Those voting to override the veto included state Reps. Steve Barrar, R- 160th, of Chadds Ford, Tim Hennessey, R- 26th, of North Coventry, and John Lawrence, R- 13th, of West Grove. They were joined by a single county Democrat, state Rep. Christina Sappey, D- 158th, of East Marlborough.
All five othermembers of the
Democratic caucus from the county — state Reps. Carolyn Comitta, D- 156th, of West Chester, Kristine Howard, D- 167th, of Malvern, Danielle Friel- Otten, D- 155th, of Uwchlan, Melissa Shusterman, D- 157th, of Tredyffrin, and Dan Williams, D- 74th, of Sadsbury — voted against the measure, agreeing that the legislation would put the health of patrons and restaurant employees at risk.
The override required two- thirds approval to be sent to the Senate, but it failed on a vote of 133- 69. It would have allowed taverns and restaurants to operate at half of capacity, or more if theymet state and federal social distancing standards or erected appropriate barriers.
“I have not and will not vote to take away the authority of our governor to manage this public health crisis, or any crisis,” said Comitta onWednesday, defending her vote against the override. “That is no a good way to manage a crisis.”
Comitta accused those Republicans in the Legislature who have pushed back against Wolf’s orders concerning the coronavirus pandemic of “second guessing” those experts in the administration tasked with handling the matter.
She said the proper way to grapple with the impact of the virus is to work alongside the governor and other stakeholders to adjust his policies to find solutions that would work. She pointed to the successful effort she waged to change policies concerning the hours that alcohol may be served in restaurants, lengthening them by an hour, from 10 to 11 p. m.
“We worked to educate the governor and his team,” Comitta said. That change, “came directly from our borough, the restaurant owners, and me, doing what I said I am going to do.”
Minority Leader Frank Dermody, Democrat of Allegheny County, said the higher capacity limits Republicans demanded would not have required federal or state approval if barriers were erected, “and they don’t even define physical barriers in this bill.”
Democratic Whip Jordan Harris, of Philadelphia, noted that infections and deaths have both risen in Pennsylvania since the bill passed a month ago.
“We are in a pandemic,” Harris said. “Now I know to some people this isn’t real. I understand that. I get that. To some people this is just fuzzy math, funny science. I understand that. But tell that to the people that lost their loved ones.”
Friel- Otten noted in comments on her vote that she had spent years working in the restaurant industry.
“I understand deeply just how much this pandemic has hurt restaurant operators, staff and patrons,” she said Wednesday. “The sad reality is that the restaurant industry is not going to bounce back until we get this virus under control and people feel safe and have confidence to dine indoors at restaurants.
“To move toward a true recovery – for restaurants, for small businesses, for safe, in- person school – we first need to manage this virus, and that includes all of us wearing masks when in public, practicing good hygiene, keeping a physical distance from our peers and staying home when we are sick,” Friel- Otten said.
On the other hand, Sappey was among 23 Democrats who broke with their leadership to override, leaning on the side of business support. In a phone interviewWednesday, she called her decision, “a really tough vote.
“But I voted my district, with only my district in mind,” the first- term legislator, whose 158th Legislative District covers communities in the Unionville, West Chester, and Avondale areas. “Our communities have done an outstanding job with mitigation, and our restaurant owners, and their suppliers, have done a terrific job. That is who I was voting for.
“This is a health and safety issue,” said Sappey, who voted for the bill in its initial form. “But it is also an economic issue, And I am trying to balance that.”
Republican backers said the bill was needed to save financially distressed enterprises and aid their desperate employees.
“Every day more businesses are being put out of business because of unrealistic rules,” said Rep. Kurt Masser, Republican of Northumberland County. “Don’t cripple an entire industry over some bad actor.”
Bob Rafetto, a former owner of theDilworthtown Inn in Birmingham, who has worked with the Chester County commissioners on their effort to shore up restaurants and other industries in the county during the pandemic, Restore Chester County, expressed dismay at the results of the vote.
“I would say I amgravely disappointed,” he said by phone on Wednesday. “It is awfully def lating. We thought we had a way to re- open and stay in business, and this, from a business standpoint, just sucks.”
Rafetto said he believed that Democrats like Comitta had refused to look at data that supported the effort to re- open at fuller capacity than the 50 percent allowed by Wolf, and that the governor had threatened them if they did not support him.
“They don’t have the backbone” to stand up to the governor, he said. “They don’t have the leadership skills.”
Rep. Dan Moul, Republican of Adams County, said Wolf’s business closures and other mitigation policies have lacked a basis in science.
“The bottom line is, all this was pulled out of thin air,” Moul said. “There is no science, there is no data in which these decisions were made to shut down or drastically reduce beyond repair the restaurant situation in Pennsylvania.”
The Republican- majority Legislature has repeatedly attempted to modify or reverse some of the efforts by Wolf to control or cope with the COVID- 19 pandemic, but so far none of their veto override attempts has succeeded.
In a veto message issued last week, Wolf called the bill “another meaningless attempt to change a necessary tool for fighting the pandemic.”
The bill passed both chambersamonth agowith margins that, if they had been repeated, would have been large enough to overrideWolf: 43- 6 in the Senate on Sept. 22 and 145- 56 in the House on Sept. 23.
Along with loosening capacity, the legislation also would have ended a requirement that Pennsylvania customers buy food when they purchase alcohol and would have let people be served drinks at the bar.
The vote came as officials point to a rise in COVID- 19 cases across the state, including the Philadelphia suburbs. In the past four weeks, the coronavirus incidence rate per 100,000 people in Chester County has climbed from 49.2 to 52.1; in Delaware County, it went from 40.1 to 76.6 per 100,000.
If the trend continues, officials say it could jeopardize in- school hybrid education, which relies on metrics based on community transmission.
As of Oct. 15, the statewide percent- positivity rate increased to 4.3 percent from 3.9 percent the previous week. Overall, Chester County’s positivity rate for the week ending Oct. 15 is 3.2 percent, Delaware County’s rate is 4.1 percent, Philadelphia County’s rate is 4.5 percent, Bucks County’s rate is 3.1 percent and Lehigh County’s rate is 2.8 percent.
There have been 7,701 positive COVID- 19 cases in the county since march and 374 deaths. In the past week, the county Health Department has reported 149 new cases of the virus.