York County House GOP Delegation Votes to Reopen PA Business

May 29, 2020

HARRISBURG – With the governor stopping legislative efforts at every turn to safely reopen the state’s economy, the York County GOP delegation to the state House joined a bipartisan vote last night to terminate the portion of the governor’s emergency declaration that has held millions of business owners and employees across the state hostage.

Under House Resolution 836, which must also be approved by the Senate, the governor could no longer regulate so-called non-life-sustaining businesses differently than those business operations deemed life-sustaining under his March 19 business closure order. In other words, he can no longer decide which businesses remain open and which will remain closed.

Once the Senate approves the measure, the governor’s emergency orders to close or open businesses are terminated. House Resolution 836 never goes to the governor for any action thus it cannot be vetoed.

York County Republican House members, House Appropriations Chair Stan Saylor (R-Red Lion) and Reps. Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg), Kate Klunk (R-Hanover), Seth Grove (R-Dover) and Mike Jones (R-York Township), issued the following statement:

“More than a quarter of the state’s workforce is unemployed as a result of the governor’s actions, and countless small business owners may never be able to reopen their doors because they were never given a chance to operate their businesses safely. Meanwhile, big box stores, selling many of the same products as small retailers, were permitted to remain open through the duration of the pandemic.

“We see and hear every day what carnage the governor’s haphazard orders have wreaked. The governor says, ‘we are in this together.’ But the folks we speak with everyday don’t see that. The governor has told them they must lose their jobs, but he will give them unemployment compensation. The jobs are lost and many have yet to receive a dime of unemployment. That’s not ‘being in it together.’

“As we only terminated the business closure portion of the declaration, the Commonwealth is in no danger of losing any federal disaster response money.

“It’s time to fully reopen our state’s economy. We can do it safely.”

York County House Republicans
Media Contact: Charles Lardner
717.260.6443
clardner@pahousegop.com