Wolf shutdown waiver process faces audit
In the face of complaints from business owners across Pennsylvania, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced Thursday that he will audit the Wolf administration’s coronavirus business shutdown waiver process.
“Some business owners complained that the department’s waiver process was too slow and not transparent enough,” DePasquale said, referring to the Department of Community and Economic Development.
“My audit is intended to help make sure that the waiver process is managed more smoothly should it be necessary to use it again in the future,” he said.
The audit of the process was requested this week by state Senate Republicans.
Gov. Tom Wolf ordered on March 19 that businesses not deemed “lifesustaining” must close their physical locations to help slow the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 42,000 businesses filed applications for waivers with DCED to reopen.
The applications were due by April 3. DCED still has not processed some of the waiver requests.
DePasquale said the governor and DCED are cooperating with his audit.
“I’m pleased that Gov. Wolf agrees that performing this audit is both appropriate and necessary,” DePasquale said. “I’m also pleased that DCED Secretary Dennis Davin has pledged to fully cooperate with my audit team.”
In a conference call with media Thursday, just minutes after DePasquale announced his plan, Wolf said he supports the effort.
“I welcome it; I think it is a great thing,” he said.
Wolf said he believes Pennsylvanians will be well-served by the audit, and that if mistakes were made in the waiver process they have a right to know what they were.
The governor also defended the process, saying it was an effort to ensure the business shutdown was done fairly and openly. Other states, he said, simply shut down businesses without giving them any recourse or ability to challenge the decision.
“I figured that probably wasn’t as fair and commonsensical,” he said.
Wolf said Pennsylvania’s process has objectivity. And, he said, it led to about two-thirds of the businesses that applied for waivers getting waivers or being told they didn’t need them to stay open.
The number of businesses to have waiver requests rejected represents only about 1% of the 1 million businesses in Pennsylvania, Wolf said.