Senate and House Republicans will shortly put their suggestions for reopening businesses now shutdown by the COVID-19 virus on the Governor’s desk in the form of Senate Bill 327 (Argall-R-Schuylkill).

Votes so far on the bill have been entirely along party lines with no Democrats voting in favor.

The House and Senate Republicans have sent Senate Bill 613 (Mensch-R-Montgomery) to the Governor’s desk that requires the Department of Community and Economic Development to develop a Mitigation Plan based on the March 28 federal guidance identifying essential critical infrastructure workers within seven days.

The bill doesn’t include any provisions for the recovery of individuals or health care facilities and providers and does not address the needs of business and nonprofit groups comprehensively.

Senate Bill 327 would dramatically expand the number of essential businesses allowed to reopen immediately, including all private and public construction.  The definition of essential businesses would be taken from March 28 federal guidance identifying essential critical infrastructure workers.

It would also put the decision whether to reopen all other businesses and lift COVID-19 mitigation procedures in the hands of county commissioners instead of the Governor.

While Republicans are relying on the federal definition of “essential businesses” and would put it in law, the federal guidance itself says--

“Decisions informed by this list should also take into consideration additional public health considerations based on the specific COVID-19-related concerns of particular jurisdictions.

“This list is advisory in nature. It is not, nor should it be considered, a federal directive or standard.

“Additionally, this advisory list is not intended to be the exclusive list of critical infrastructure sectors, workers, and functions that should continue during the COVID-19 response across all jurisdictions.

“Individual jurisdictions should add or subtract essential workforce categories based on their own requirements and discretion.”

The debate on the floor of the Senate last week was emotionally charged as Republicans related stories about small businesses suffering under the shutdown and the unfairness of the Governor’s waiver process that allows some businesses to open, but similar ones to remain closed.

BTW, it was Senate Republicans who suggested the waiver process in the first place.

Democrats said they understood every well the economic impact the shutdown was having on individuals and business, but they did not believe workers should be forced to go back to work without the necessary protective equipment, like masks and gloves, that is still needed by medical professionals fighting COVID-19.

They also pointed to local hospital and public health officials in their districts and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine who said the Republican measure would put lives at risk and related their own stories about people dying from COVID-19.

The House will vote on Monday and Tuesday to concur in the Senate changes and send Senate Bill 327 to the Governor’s desk.

Gov. Wolf is expected to veto the bill because reopening businesses now is premature.

A bipartisan bill-- Senate Bill 841 (Martin-R-Lancaster)-- also went to the Governor for his action that includes a variety of provisions to help local governments and school districts deal with the COVID-19 emergency, plus authorizing electronic notarization of documents.

Death Toll Doubles

The death toll from COVID-19 virus in Pennsylvania  doubled over the past week from 507 on April 11 to 1,112 on April 19.  The number of infected people went from 22,833 to 32,284.

Governor’s Plan For Reopening

On April 17, Gov. Tom Wolf announced a broad Plan for Pennsylvania, with more promised next week, he said will provide citizens and businesses relief, allow for a safe and expedient reopening, and lay out a road to recovery from the challenges and hardships created by the 2019 novel coronavirus.

His reopening plan is based on these principles--

-- Our approach will be data driven and reliant upon quantifiable criteria to drive a targeted, evidence-based, regional approach to reopenings in Pennsylvania.

-- We will put forth guidance and recommendations for employers, individuals, and health care facilities for assured accountability as we reopen.

-- Reopening necessitates that adequate personal protective equipment and diagnostic testing are available.

-- Reopening requires a monitoring and surveillance program that allows the Commonwealth to deploy swift actions for containment or mitigation.

-- Protections for vulnerable populations must remain steadfast throughout the reopening process, such as limitations on visitors to congregate care facilities and prisons.

-- Limitations on large gatherings unrelated to occupations should remain in place for the duration of the reopening process.

From there, the Governor outlined 26 specific elements that should be in any plan to reopen Pennsylvania’s economy covering  individuals, business and health care systems and providers.

Senate Republicans said they were disappointed by the lack of specifics in the Governor’s Plan saying the plan they sent to the Governor is clear, fair and safe.  Read more here.

Senate Bill 327 (Argall-R-Schuylkill), which includes the other parts of the Republican plan, as noted above, is expected to be sent to the Governor this coming week.

Visit the Plan for Pennsylvania webpage for more.  Read the full announcement.

On April 13, Gov. Wolf also announced he would be working with the governors of six other states-- New York, New Jersey, Delaware Connecticut and Rhode Island-- to develop a regional approach to reopening. Massachusetts joined the group after the initial announcement.  Read more here.

Essential Worker Safety Measures

On April 15, Dr. Rachel Levine, under her authority as Secretary of the Department of Health to take any disease control measure appropriate to protect the public from the spread of infectious disease, signed an order directing protections for critical workers who are employed at businesses that are authorized to maintain in-person operations during the COVID-19 disaster emergency.

Compliance with the order will be enforced beginning Sunday, April 19 at 8:00 p.m..

The measures include providing masks to employees and denying customers entry into businesses without a mask.  Read more here.

Unemployment System

On April 17, the Department of Labor and Industry announced the March unemployment rate in Pennsylvania jumped 1.3 percent to 6 percent, but that was just at the beginning of the shutdowns.  Read more here.

One sign of things to come--  Lancaster County, which had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state in February-- 3.6 percent, was reported to have an estimated 18 percent of its labor force without work. Read more here.

House Republican Majority Leader Bryan Cutler is from Lancaster County.

What a contrast to back in January, when the Wolf Administration announced businesses would save over $552 million in 2020 by a reduction in unemployment compensation tax rates.  Read more here.

The state’s unemployment compensation system last week was still staggering under the avalanche of applications for assistance which totaled close to 1.5 million by the end of the week.  Read more here.

Gov. Wolf has several times acknowledged the obvious-- the system wasn’t able to handle the load, but insisted they are adding staff and resources to deal with the issues.

On April 18, the Department of Labor and Industry announced it is now accepting unemployment requests from individuals who are self-employed, independent contractors, gig workers and others as required and supported by the federal CARES Act, adding potentially thousands of new applicants to the mix.  Read more here.

And for all those seeking work, the Department of Labor and Industry has opened a new employment portal for those essential businesses that have positions they want to fill.  Read more here.

State Loan Forbearance/Sales Tax Deferral

On April 15, the Department of Community and Economic Development announced the forbearance of loans administered by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, the Commonwealth Financing Authority (excluding PennWORKS program loans), the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, and the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority.  Read more here.

The PA Infrastructure Investment Authority also posted a policy allowing a temporary three month payment deferral for recipients of its water and wastewater infrastructure funding.. Read more here.

The Department of Revenue has issued a notice saying it will provide a three month waiver for prepayments of sales taxes by businesses.  Read more here.

First State Working Capital Grants

On April 18, the Department of Community and Economic Development announced 126 companies in 30 counties have received approved funding through the COVID-19 Working Capital Access Program totaling more than $10 million. Read more here.

State Budget Deficit

Gov. Wolf last week estimated the Commonwealth faces a budget deficit of between $4.5 billion and $5 billion it will have to make up to cope with drastically reduced state revenues.  He made the estimate as he and other state Governors requested more aid from the federal government.  Read more here.

On April 8, the Independent Fiscal Office had estimated the state revenue impact of COVID-19 to be from $2.7 billion to $3.9 billion between the current and next fiscal years, depending on how long the shutdowns remain in place.  Read more here.

On April 16, the PA Gaming Control Board reported there was a 51 percent drop in total gaming revenue in March compared to last year due to the shutdown of casinos.  However, revenue from online casino-type games has increased by 24.5 percent in March compared to February.  Read more here.

It’s been 30 days since the statewide COVID-19 shutdown was put in place, but still no commitment by the leaders of the Senate and House to use any of their $172 million surplus to help the response to the virus or deal with the state budget deficit.

State-Owned Universities

With state-owned universities facing an immediate hit of up to $100 million in the current semester, the Chancellor of the system said they will have to dramatically accelerate their plan for reforming the system. Read more here.

On Friday, the state universities put over 700 employees on unpaid leave due to campus closures.  Read more here.

Last Wednesday, Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster), who sits on the state system board of governors, said the status quo won’t lead to the long-term solvency of the system and suggested the worst-case scenario is campus closure.  Read more here.

Liquor Stores

And on the controversial issue of state liquor store openings, closings, the Associated Press reported Sunday 175 of the 600 state liquor stores will start filling telephone orders for liquor curbside beginning April 20.  Click Here for details.

Mail-In Primary

Pressure is building to make the June 2 Primary election an all mail-in election. Counties nearly 3 million voters-- one-third of the voters in the state-- are calling for an all-mail-in primary.  Read more here.

Allegheny County is going a step further saying it will send a mail-in ballot application to every voter in the county.  Read more here.

As of Friday, Gov. Wolf is still considering the issues on how to conduct the June Primary.

What’s Next

The House announced it will now be in voting session April 20, 21, 27, 28 and 29.

The House is expected to take further action on their own bills to reopen businesses immediately, including House Bill 2400 (Turzai-R-Allegheny) to reopen construction businesses, House Bill 2376 (Roae-R-Crawford)  reopening all retail stores, House Bill 2388 (Mihalek-R- Allegheny) to reopen car dealers and House Bill 2412 (Polinchock-R- Bucks) reopening real estate services.

[Note: You can tell who’s doing the most effective lobbying by which industries are included in the bills.]

A concurrence vote is also anticipated for Senate Bill 327 (Argall-R-Schuylkill), the other part of the Republican plan to reopen businesses.

The Senate is expected to be in session on April 20, although it has not been announced officially.  Technically, the Senate is at the call of the President Pro Tempore.

Several Senate Committees have scheduled meetings for Monday.  Read more here.

NewsClips:

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[Posted: April 18, 2020]

4/20/2020