Weekly Wrap

On Monday, Governor Tom Wolf provided guidance that details procedures businesses must follow to conduct in-person operations in counties that move from the red to yellow phase of the reopening process. All businesses, including non-profits, permitted to conduct in-person operations are subject to the guidance. The guidance is based on the building safety and business safety orders under which life-sustaining businesses have been operating during the red phase.

Thursday, the Governor extended the stay-at-home order for all counties in the red phase, and signed a new order for the 24 counties moving to the yellow phase on May 8. The extended stay-at-home order remains the same as the original statewide stay-at-home order announced on April 1, which was set to expire on May 7, and is now extended to June 4.

The 24 counties able to reopen in the yellow phase on May 8 are: Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren.

13 additional counties will move to the yellow phase on May 15. Those counties include Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland.

At the Capitol this week, the House of Representatives held two voting session days.

On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee reported out S.B. 320 (Killion, R-Delaware), the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. The bill would give people the power to plan for the management and disposition of their digital assets in the same way they can make plans for their tangible property. Also, the House State Government Committee reported out H.B. 2465 (Miller, R-Lancaster), which would require that during an emergency declaration all records granting or denying any waiver, exclusion or other exception to an executive order shall be publically available within 24 hours.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the Senate Local Government Committee held a joint public hearing on the process to reopen Pennsylvania. In addition, the Joint Legislative Budget and Finance Committee had a meeting to release two reports: A Study of the Statutory Cap on the Pennsylvania State Police Complement and The Impact of Tavern Gaming on the Pennsylvania State Lottery.

The following bills passed on the House floor and will go to the Senate for consideration:

  • H.B. 1439 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne) and H.B. 1696 (Murt, R-Montgomery), which would require insurers to attest to efforts to comply with laws and regulations relating to mental health and substance use disorder parity;
  • H.B. 1983 (Causer, R-McKean), which would extend the sunset date of the funding provision for Pennsylvania Race Horse Testing Program for two years;
  • H.B. 2455 (Lawrence, R-Bucks), which would require the Governor submit a plan for COVID-19 testing and provide for local health department COVID-19 antibody testing; and
  • H.B. 2408 (Markosek, D-Allegheny), which would:
    • Exclude an individual’s stimulus check and Paycheck Protection Program loans under the CARES Act from the state personal income tax.
    • Increase the limit on the amount of funds allowed to be expended by a nonprofit corporation or charitable trust from an endowment from 7% to 10% for a calendar year in which there is a proclamation of disaster emergency or state of disaster emergency is in effect and the succeeding calendar year.

Tuesday, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out H.B. 99 (Zimmerman, R-Lancaster), which would require the Department of Environmental Protection to create and maintain an online permit tracking system. The Senate Labor and Industry Committee and the Senate Communications and Technology Committee held a joint public hearing to discuss unemployment compensation issues.

Two bills of note passed on the House floor: H.B. 2065 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would allow municipalities to participate in the Public-Private Partnership (P3) Program, increase reporting requirements, and provide for additional transportation-related services; and H.B. 2463 (Grove, R-York), which would prohibit state agencies from suspending consideration of Right-to-Know Law requests during a disaster declarations.

While no votes took place the remainder of the week, the following hearings took place:

  • The Senate Law and Justice Committee held a public hearing on the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic;
  • The Senate Aging and Youth Committee and Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a joint public hearing on the challenges nursing homes are facing during the pandemic; and
  • The House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee held an informational meeting on COVID-19 in long term care facilities.

The Week Ahead

The Senate will be in session Monday-Wednesday next week. There are only two committee on the calendar so far. On Monday, the Senate Education Committee will hold a public hearing on the continuity of education during COVID-19. Tuesday, the Senate Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing on COVID-19’s impact to the transportation system.

When more meetings are announced, the full schedule can be found here. 

In Other News

  • Governor Wolf signed an executive order to afford health care practitioners protection against liability for good faith actions taken in response to the call to supplement the health care provider workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The Governor signed an executive order that protects Pennsylvanians from foreclosures or evictions through July 10.
  • The Governor announced the creation of the Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps, a public service initiative that will support efforts to increase testing and contact tracing and provide critical new job opportunities in the public health sector.
  • Nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians applied for a mail-in ballot for the June 2 primary election.
  • The Pennsylvania Department of Education submitted an application to U.S. Department of Education to obtain $523.8 million in emergency, one-time funds to help schools respond to COVID-19 impacts.