Pa. House, Senate Republicans approve bills to reopen business
The state Senate on Wednesday approved a proposal put forward by House Republicans Tuesday aimed at reopening businesses they claim can safely operate in the midst of the as-yet unabated COVID-19 pandemic.
“Protecting lives and livelihoods are inextricably linked and that’s why I voted for Senate Bill 613,” said state Sen. Tom Killion, R-9 of Middletown. “Businesses open during the shutdown have demonstrated the ability to operate safely. The Walmarts and big-box stores have effectively protected the health and welfare of their employees and customers. It’s time to plan to let other Pennsylvania businesses do the same using the scientifically based guidelines from the (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and (U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) as 45 other states are doing.”
“We all want to return to our normal lives, but we’re not there yet,” said state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26 of Swarthmore. “Republican legislators have rushed to reopen businesses ahead of the recommendation of medical experts. This is a dangerous action that would put everyone’s lives at risk. That is why I voted against this bill.”
Those comments pretty fairly summarize both parties’ views on the subject, which passed 107-95 in the state House and 29-21 in the state Senate, largely along party lines. Every Democrat and two Republicans in the House opposed the bill, while every Republican was in favor in the Senate and every Democrat voted against it.
The Senate additionally approved Senate Bill 327 on concurrence Wednesday, which was passed along party lines in the House last week, 108-93, and would allow county governments to develop and implement their own COVID-19 mitigation plans, as well as their own determinations for what industries may operate.
Wednesday’s votes came as the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced 1,145 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 26,490. The department also reported 63 new deaths, bringing the statewide total to 647. Both bills now go on to Gov. Tom Wolf, who ordered all “nonlife-sustaining” businesses in Pennsylvania to close March 19. That response has caused unemployment figures in the state to soar, with more than 1.3 million residents filing new jobless claims over the last month, according to state data.
As part of the closure order, Wolf instituted a waiver program for businesses that believe they should have the ability to carry on, but Republicans say that process has been inconsistent and unfair. SB 613 would change the way waivers are handled by structuring categories of businesses more uniformly, said state Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168 of Middletown.
“This was not a full-court press to reopen business,” said Quinn, who voted in favor of the measure Tuesday. “This is a bill to open up transparency and that is something that has been lacking …The process outlined in the legislation I supported today gives businesses clear standards that they must meet in order to be open. These measures would ensure the safety and protection of employees and the public at large.”
Though Wolf’s initial order aligned with keeping open “essential” businesses as outlined by CISA, the bill approved this week would also require him to adopt rules in line with guidance for businesses from the CDC.
Wolf said in a conference
call with reporters Tuesday that he would withhold judgment on reopening legislation until he sees details, but acknowledged there are differences over the best approach. He announced a multi-state council Monday that included governors from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts aimed at gradually lifting “stay-at-home” orders in a bid to restore the economy and safely get people back to work.
State Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-161 of Nether Providence, labeled the bills pushed by Republicans “an attempt to override the governor’s orders” and said they flew in the face of recommendations from public health officials to slow the progression of COVID-19.
“We have to put public health over corporate profits,” she said. “I absolutely feel for the small business owners whose businesses are closed and the workers who have filed for unemployment for the first time, but there are some estimates showing that the death numbers in Pennsylvania are going to peak this week, potentially, and it would be foolish to suddenly force open every single business in Pennsylvania.”
Krueger added that Republicans rejected amendments from her Democratic colleagues Tuesday to ensure hazard pay, personal protective equipment and sick leave for workers who might be forced to go back to work ahead of a timeline recommended by Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine.
“Obviously I want to see the economy reopen as soon as possible, but I want to make sure when we do that the doctors, the medical experts and even the economists are telling us that it’s safe and that it’s time to do so,” said state Rep. Jennifer O’Mara, D-165 of Springfield. “Dr. Levine and other medical professionals have warned us that opening now is going to potentially cause a public health tsunami because they’re worried that even more people are going to be infected, and we still don’t have enough (protective gear) to protect essential workers now. I’m worried that if we send people back to work without proper equipment, we’re going to endanger employees and consumers.”
O’Mara also said the process by which the bill was passed was political and “forced,” with Republicans attaching amendments in the final hour and giving representatives very little time to read what they were actually voting on.
“You ever notice when they’re not happy with a bill that was passed and they … don’t want to take a position on the content of the bill, then, ‘Oh, the process wasn’t fair,’” said state Rep. Steve Barrar, R-160 of Upper Chichester. “We hear that crap all the time. They’ve been the ones politicizing this process to an unbelievable level of what I think is scary rhetoric.”
Barrar claimed Democrats had been pushing images of body bags on social media pages, saying, “Republicans want to kill people, they want people to die,” but he maintained the party is just trying to keep the state economy from tanking entirely.
“They haven’t offered a plan to do anything but sit on their hands and wait and see what happens,” he said. “That’s not a plan. I believe we need to worry not just about the health of our citizens, but the economic health of our commonwealth and our country, because the devastation that’s going to be caused by so many businesses not being able to reopen when this is all over is going to have a huge impact.”
But state Rep. Margo Davidson, D-164 of Upper Darby, categorized this week’s votes as a Republican
“power grab,” noting Wolf is already in the process of developing his own reopening plan.
“They want a task force to handcuff the executive powers of Gov. Tom Wolf,” she said. “They want to open companies for business as usual when COVID-19 cases are increasing by a hundred or more every day in Delaware County and people in my hometown are dying. They say they can open businesses safely when health care professionals, doctors and epidemiologists say that’s not possible. As I said in my remarks on the House floor, ‘I say no to death, and I say no to increased sickness and hospitalization.’ I voted ‘no’ to putting essential workers and health care workers at greater risk.”
Kearney said the votes this week were largely symbolic political theater at any rate because there is likely little chance the governor will sign either bill, but added that the process was nonetheless profoundly disappointing.
“I think this was a point where we could have gone beyond out partisan ways to try to figure out what was going to work and what would be best, and we don’t seem to be able to do that,” he said. “We seem to be stuck in this ‘it’s all my way or all your way’ kind of thing. What we really needed today was a bill that was somewhere in the middle.”