PA House Votes To Terminate Wolf's COVID-19 Disaster Declaration

HARRISBURG, PA — The Republican-controlled state House has voted to terminate Gov. Tom Wolf's coronavirus disaster emergency declaration that has been in effect since the pandemic began last year. The bill passed Tuesday night in a 113-90 vote that was along party lines.

The measure now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate. If the measure is approved, the disaster declaration would expire as soon as the results of the May 18 primary are certified.

Voters approved primary referendums limiting future disaster emergency declarations to 21 days and giving the House and Senate the authority to extend them if both chambers agree.

According to House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, who sponsored the bill, the resolution terminates the administration's ability to use the COVID-19 emergency disaster declaration "to engage in no-bid, single-source contracting; reestablish work search requirements currently waived by the Department of Labor and Industry; and end the ability of the governor to use the emergency disaster declaration to mandate occupancy limits, business closures and stay-at-home orders."

Wolf can neither sign nor veto the bill. He said at a news conference on Tuesday that he had no issue with Republicans attempting to rein in his authority on such declarations.

That could be because the legislation largely is moot at this point. Other than a mask mandate, all of Wolf's coronavirus mitigation orders have been lifted.

But Senate approval would mean that various state regulations that have been suspended or waived during the disaster declaration will go back into effect.

Also, as Benninghoff noted, Senate approval would rescind Wolf's waiver of work-search requirements for those collecting unemployment benefits. But the administration already was planning to resume the work-search mandate in July.

Wolf first declared COVID-19 a disaster emergency on March 6, 2020. He since has extended the declaration repeatedly.

Contributing: Kara Seymour/Patch