House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

In the very near future, I will be introducing legislation to amend our PA Constitution to limit the authority of a Governor during a declaration of a disaster emergency.
 
I’m sure many of you are as frustrated as I am with way in which Governor Wolf has executed his authority during this pandemic, governing through press releases and determining on his own which businesses are essential without due process and equal application across the Commonwealth.
 
I believe we all agree that the Governor has the proper authority to declare disasters and public emergencies; however, it is what follows that declaration in terms of actions that create unnecessary hardship and chaos in the lives of every citizen of this Commonwealth.
 
To that end, my constitutional amendment will authorize the General Assembly to terminate, rescind or modify any disaster emergency declaration or order issued pursuant to a declaration at any time by a simple concurrent resolution and will prohibit the Governor from taking any action that is contrary to the concurrent resolution.
 
The approval of this constitutional amendment will achieve two very important goals.  First, the amendment will have to be placed before the electorate, the very people who have been negatively impacted by the decisions made by this administration; therefore, giving them an opportunity to have their collective voices heard in a direct manner and with no filters. Second, the amendment would establish a constitutional authority in Pennsylvania’s Constitution for the General Assembly to call balls and strikes on any action taken by the executive pursuant to a disaster emergency declaration.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring this very important constitutional amendment.