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Gov. Wolf: Disaster declaration remains in place despite reversal in Legislature

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Gov. Tom Wolf

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Sen. Camera Bartolotta

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Cook

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Rep. Jason Ortitay

Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that the state Legislature didn’t have the power to override the Constitution and end his COVID-19 disaster declaration a day earlier.

Wolf said he’s prepared to take the resolution that passed in the state House and Senate to court for clarification over his right to declare disasters.

“It stays in place. I’m standing for safety,” Wolf, a Democrat, said during a Wednesday afternoon briefing on the resolution.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding that the governor end the disaster declaration and allow the public to resume their lives as normal.

The declaration was issued March 6 when the first positive cases of the novel coronavirus cases were discovered in Pennsylvania. Since that time, the virus has killed 6,062 people statewide, with 48 new deaths announced Wednesday. The declaration was extended June 3.

There have been 76,846 people who tested positive for the virus, with 410 new cases added to that total Wednesday.

Washington County recorded another case that day, taking its total to 151. Greene County remained at 28 positive cases.

Most of Western Pennsylvania is in the state’s green phase, meaning most nonessential businesses can reopen under social distancing guidelines. People are prohibited from gathering in crowds larger than 250 people.

The commonwealth’s general counsel, Gregory Schwab, said lawmakers only planned to send Wolf a copy of the resolution, something that would require the governor’s signature.

He said the only way the declaration would be over would be if the governor ends it. He said the declaration remains in effect.

Wolf said if the declaration was lifted, it would end enhanced unemployment compensation rules and halt the ban on evictions and utility shutoffs.

The food distribution program for children would also come to an end, as well as the easing of licensing requirements allowing retired health-care professionals to return to work.

Wolf said claims that the resolution ended business guideline orders is not true. Those orders were issued by state Health Secretary Rachel Levine.

“Those orders remain in place,” Wolf said.

State Rep. Jason Ortitay, a Cecil Republican, countered that many people “have suffered financially and mentally through this pandemic. It is time to get back to work and daily life. The state Supreme Court has been clear that the General Assembly has the right to terminate the order. I have heard loud and clear from my constituents, it is time to move forward.”

State Rep. Bud Cook, a Republican from West Pike Run Township, said he and other lawmakers who voted to end the disaster declaration are trying to save businesses. He also said the vote was the start of “a long journey,” since he believed the fate of the resolution would end up being decided in court.

“This has been the most trying time of my life,” Cook said.

The vote in the House was largely along party lines, with Ortitay and Cook being joined by other Republicans from the region. Pam Snyder, a Democrat from Greene County, was one of the few Democrats to break ranks and vote with the GOP in the House.

In the Senate, state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, a Republican from Carroll Township, supported the resolution, while state Sen. Pam Iovino, a Democrat whose district includes Peters Township, opposed it.

“The emergency is over,” Bartolotta said. She also said Wolf cannot veto a resolution of this kind.

“It’s time to set Pennsylvania free,” according to Bartolotta.

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