House bill approved for amendment to limit governor’s emergency declarations

HARRISBURG — The state House Government Committee on Wednesday approved a bill backing proposed constitutional amendments, including one to limit emergency declarations made by Gov. Tom Wolf to 21 days.

Another amendment would end Wolf’s ability to stop a General Assembly-passed measure to end a governor-declared disaster declaration. Wolf exercised that power when such a measure was passed by the General Assembly last year by declining to sign it, and he ultimately got support from the state Supreme Court.

“If the General Assembly — a co-equal branch of government — does not believe that the governor is acting properly, then the General Assembly should have a right to override that governor’s disaster emergency order,” Republican state Rep. Russ Diamond of Lebanon County, a prime backer of the package, said Wednesday.

Constitutional amendments require passage in two consecutive legislative sessions, followed by approval by voters.

The package of amendments passed the General Assembly last session. If it gets approval of the full House and Senate by mid-February, it could appear on the May 18 primary election ballot.

Diamond said the amendments “will still allow an executive to act unilaterally and swiftly in response to an emergency and will give that executive 21 days to do so.”

In a written statement, Wolf, a Democrat, blasted the partyline vote of 15-10 by the Republican-led committee.

He said it would hinder the state’s ability to respond to disasters by requiring governor’s declarations to be affirmed by lawmakers every three weeks.

“This would force partisan politics into the commonwealth’s disaster response efforts and could slow down or halt emergency response when aid is most needed,” Wolf said. He called it “the latest in a long line of efforts by Harrisburg Republicans to undermine the current COVID-19 disaster declaration.”

The action by the State Government Committee came on the same day another committee voted to approve a proposed constitutional amendment to change the way many judges are elected in Pennsylvania.

The committee vote came in its first meeting of the new, two-year legislative session.

Both of the proposed amendments tied to disaster declarations grew out of dissatisfaction with Wolf ’s handling of shutdowns during the pandemic.

Wolf signed a 90-day disaster emergency declaration for COVID-19 on March 6 and has since renewed it three times. In addition, Wolf in January 2018 signed a similar declaration for the opioid-driven drug crisis and has renewed that declaration 12 times.

Committee Chairperson Rep. Seth Grove of York County said Pennsylvania is one of the only states with a 90-day emergency provision. Most states, he said, have it set around 30 days.

Democratic Chairperson Rep. Margo Davidson of Delaware County called it a dangerous bill that puts an arbitrary limit on the governor’s powers.

Davidson said people continue to die at a record rate from COVID-19, and the disaster of the pandemic has lasted longer than 21 days.

The package also included a third proposed constitutional amendment, this one adding anti-discrimination language. It would read, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because of the race or ethnicity of the individual.”

Davidson and Rep. Malcom Kenyatta of Philadelphia were among those who asked why the language did not include a similar statement of protection regarding gender and gender identity. Grove said the wording was added in Senate amendments to the measure last session.

Grove pointed out that the constitutional amendment process requires the wording of the proposed amendment to be exactly the same in its consecutive-session approvals by the General Assembly. Hence, Grove said, making a change now would start the clock over.

Kenyatta said starting the clock over was worthwhile.

“It is important that folks, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity, don’t have to worry about being kicked out of their homes, don’t have to worry about being thrown out as it relates to public accommodations,” Kenyatta said.

Wolf has issued several shutdown orders since the pandemic hit Pennsylvania, where the state Health Department has counted more than 17,000 deaths from the coronavirus.