Administration

Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 response began on March 6, when Governor Tom Wolf announced the first two presumptive positive cases in the Commonwealth and subsequently signed an emergency disaster declaration to provide increased support to state agencies involved in COVID-19 response. The declaration included:

  • Emergency funding for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency;
  • Allowed for the utilization of emergency procurement procedures; and
  • Suspension of regulations, the strict compliance with which, would hinder necessary response action.

Since then, the Administration took numerous additional COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Most notably, on March 16 when the Governor strongly encouraged non-essential businesses to close and all restaurants and bars to close their dine-in facilities. This was done with the hope that businesses would act now “before the Governor or the Secretary of Health finds it necessary to compel closures under the law for the interest of public health.”

Then on March 18, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced all retail licensees, clubs, permittees and producers under its jurisdiction must cease the sale of food and alcohol for on-premises consumption. Any licensee that fails to comply with the mandate risks citation, suspension of operating authority and even further enforcement action and closure.

COVID-19 mitigation efforts reached a tipping point on March 19, when Governor Wolf ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania to close their physical locations as of 8 p.m. Enforcement actions against businesses that do not close physical locations will begin at 12:01 a.m. on March 21.

More information can be found here:

  • Wolf’s order is here.
  • A video statement from Gov. Wolf is here.
  • Secretary of Health’s order is here.
  • A list of life-sustaining businesses is here.

Failure to comply with these requirements will result in enforcement action that could include citations, fines, or license suspensions. Additionally, businesses will forfeit their ability to receive any applicable disaster relief and/or may be subject to other appropriate administrative action. Such action may include termination of state loan or grant funding, including Redevelopment Assistance Capital Project (RACP) grant funding and/or suspension or revocation of licensure for failing to follow the Governor’s mandate.

Finally, in addition to any other criminal charges that might be applicable, the Department of Health is authorized to prosecute noncompliant entities for the failure to comply with health laws, including quarantine, isolation or other disease control measures. Violators are subject to fines or imprisonment.

Businesses that are defined as non-life sustaining under the Governor’s order may request a waiver to be allowed to operate from the Department of Community and Economic Development by submitting a letter to dcexemption@pa.gov.  General queries about business operations may be sent to ra-dcedcs@pa.gov. DCED is working on an electronic exemption form that will be accessible from the web which is expected to be available later today.

State Agencies

Below is a list of actions taken by administrative departments in response to COVID-19.

Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED)

  • The Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) authorized the transfer of $40 million to the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA). These funds will ultimately be combined with existing funds in PIDA’s Small Business First Program. Loans of up to $100,000 will be available to small businesses (100 or fewer full time employees) to use as working capital. Interest rates are being dropped from approximately 3% to 0%. In addition, there will be no application fees and the terms will include no payments and no interest during the first year of the loan.

Department of Education (PDE)

  • Governor Wolf announced a statewide closure of schools for ten business days, effective March 16.
  • PDE will not penalize districts/schools that fail to meet the minimum 180-day/hours requirements.
  • PSSA testing and Keystone Exams for the 2019-20 school year are cancelled.

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

  • All offices will remain closed for two weeks, beginning on March 17. Staff are still able to perform duties such as reviewing permits and responding to complaints and environmental emergencies.
  • Permittees and operators are expected to meet all terms and conditions of their environmental permits, including conditions applicable to cessation of operations.
  • Entities operating under a DEP permit that have ceased or suspended operations or construction, should refer to their permit terms and conditions, as they contain regulatory obligations and details regarding cessation or temporary stoppage of work.
  • DEP is suspending the timeframes for providing permit decisions established in the Policy for Implementing the Department of Environmental Protection Permit Review Process and Permit Decision Guarantee.

Department of Labor and Industry (L&I)

  • L&I issued guidance on when displaced employees might be eligible for unemployment compensation (UC) or workers’ compensation (WC) benefits.

Department of State (DOS)

  • The Governor granted DOS the ability to suspend certain regulations and requirements for medical providers and facilities in order to give them additional flexibility to respond to the crisis. Suspensions granted thus far include allowing expedited temporary licensure to practitioners in other states, as well as allowing licensed practitioners in other states to provide services to Pennsylvanians via the use of telemedicine, without obtaining a Pennsylvania license, for the duration of the emergency.

Department of Transportation (PennDOT)

  • All driver license and photo license centers are closed for two weeks, effective March 16. All PennDOT district and county maintenance offices are also closed.
  • Construction projects have been suspended in all counties until further notice, however PennDOT crews are available to perform critical functions and emergency maintenance as needed.

Public Utility Commission (PUC)

  • The PUC’s upcoming public meeting – scheduled for Thursday, March 26 – will be conducted telephonically.
  • An emergency order was signed that suspended all door-to-door, in-person and public event sales activities by agents of competitive electric and natural gas suppliers.
  • Another emergency order was signed that prohibits electric, natural gas, water, wastewater, telecommunication and steam utility terminations for as long as the Governor’s Proclamation of Disaster is in effect.

Legislature

The House of Representatives will hold voting session on Tuesday, March 24 and Wednesday March 25. The Senate of Pennsylvania is in recess until the call of the President Pro Tempore, with the session calendar in flux. The legislature is taking measures to keep large groups and nonessential personnel out of Capitol office buildings.

The House and Senate have both implemented rule changes intended to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. On March 16, the House passed H.R. 834 (Cutler, R-Lancaster), which are temporary rules that will no longer require members to be present on the House floor. According to the House Republicans, highlights of the rule changes include:

  • Allowing designated voting. Under this temporary rule, members will notify their party’s whip of their voting position on legislation, and the whip, or a member designated by the whip, will file a member’s vote on the House floor. As for the floor itself, only the speaker, leaders, whips or designated members to those positions would need to be present. The process is the same for committee votes, with the relevant party chairperson collecting the votes ahead of a scheduled vote.
  • Suspension of legislative time requirements. This temporary rule shortens all required wait periods related to legislation to three hours. Specifically, the 24-hour posting requirement for bills before a committee is now three hours, the 12-hour requirement after a bill is amended on second consideration is now three hours, and the six-hour wait requirement for a bill to be voted on concurrence is now three hours.
  • Blackout mailing period adjustment. Under current rules, no legislative mailing can be sent out within 60 days of an election. The temporary rule passed today lifts the restrictions to allow members to send electronic communications related strictly to COVID-19 information.

The Senate adopted similar temporary rules on March 18. The rules create a mechanism for members to file bills electronically and to participate in committee meetings and session through the use of communications technology. The emergency powers are scheduled to expire July 31, 2020 or 10 days following the expiration of the governor’s emergency order, whichever is sooner.