Pennsylvania businesses and schools need liability protection
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association is calling on lawmakers to enact liability protections for schools. As one board member notes, it is unfair for schools to follow all available public health guidance and “end up being sued because someone got sick from the coronavirus.” I wholeheartedly agree. But it’s not just schools that need protecting. Pennsylvania manufacturers, small businesses, and nonprofits are also grappling with similar concerns; they are shuttering their doors at an already dire economic time.
This cannot continue. I had the privilege of serving Pennsylvanians in Congress for four years — working with anyone to advance fair and thoughtful solutions. I am calling on our state’s current Congressional delegation to push for commonsense liability protections so our small businesses and schools can safely reopen.
Our state has experienced great loss from the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 11,000 of our family members and neighbors have lost their lives, a large chunk coming from Philadelphia County.
Pennsylvania’s economy has also suffered unprecedented economic hardship at the hands of COVID-19. Our state’s unemployment rate hovers at just over 8 percent. That’s double the rate from one year ago.
Many businesses have had no choice but to shut their doors, especially small businesses with thin operating margins. As one Philadelphia coffee shop owner lamented, “Small businesses rely on people coming in and interfacing with you on a one on one basis so I just fear that we will lose a lot of really great businesses.”
These economic hardships are not unique to the Commonwealth, this is the same story across the nation. According to data from Harvard researchers, more than 110,000 small businesses across the nation shut down permanently between March and May. And according to the Congressional Budget Office, it’s expected to take more than a decade for our nation to recover from pandemic-related shocks to the labor market.
Our schools are not immune to the woes brought on by this pandemic, with many teachers worrying students’ education will suffer as a result of remote learning. After all, an average of 20 percent of students across the state studying in remoteonly districts do not have access to high-speed internet.
If Pennsylvania’s economy hopes to recover from the devastating economic consequences of this pandemic, we need some commonsense solutions from Washington — and fast — to safeguard our job creators and schools trying to safely reopen.
Currently, many establishments feel hesitant to open their doors because they worry trial lawyers and other bad actors are looking to get rich off this public health crisis. How? By exploiting existing legal loopholes that allow them to sue if someone falls ill — even if that establishment is adhering to all public health guidelines.
Thankfully, there is an effort in Washington, D.C., to enact national liability protections. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, for example, have introduced legislation to fix these loopholes, giving small businesses, schools, and other establishments legal safeguards so they can feel confident about reopening safely.
Not surprisingly, the American
public overwhelmingly supports liability protections. In fact, 80 percent of those surveyed believe Congress should enact legislation that protects businesses from lawsuits being filed “related to the coronavirus.” That includes nearly 75 percent of Democrats and 90 percent of Republicans.
I hope my former colleagues in Congress — especially the Pennsylvania delegation — will push their leaders to back liability protections. COVID-19 is not a Republican or Democrat issue; our elected leaders cannot retreat to their corners. This is an American problem, and it’ll take a united effort to fight back — allowing Pennsylvania’s entrepreneurs, mom and pop shops, teachers, students, and many other institutions to regain some sense of normalcy.