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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 13, 2023 02:47 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Sheryl M. Delozier |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Targeting Enforcement Officer COVID-19 Benefits |
| Please join me as a co-sponsor of legislation to more specifically target the requirements of legislation adopted during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Act 17 of 2020 enacted Title 35 Pa.C.S., Chapter 57A, which extended the Enforcement Officer Disability Benefits Law (Act 193 of 1935, also known as the Heart and Lung Act) to apply to enforcement officers that contract, are diagnosed with, or required to quarantine due to COVID-19. This provided a level of benefits above and beyond the standard sick leave and disability policies that would otherwise be provided to enforcement officers for other communicable diseases because of the higher probability of exposure. Act 17 of 2020 was enacted on April 29, 2020, which was during the earliest stages of the pandemic. At that point, the COVID-19 pandemic was in its early stages and the declaration of disaster emergency was less than 8 weeks old. Much was unknown at that time and the General Assembly was preparing for the worst-case scenario. As our prevention and treatment options have improved in the last 3 years—and as the Federal government’s public health emergency winds down this spring—not every new case of COVID requires the level of benefits provided under Heart and Lung Act. Instead, standard enforcement officer sick leave and other standard benefit policies can apply. Further, maintaining the parallel benefits system for enforcement officers with COVID-19 can be burdensome for local governments and other employers of enforcement officers. While taking away important dollars from the fund that works to help enforcement officers with long term injury’s. Under this legislation, the Heart and Lung Act benefits under Title 35 Pa.C.S., Chapter 57A would be available for the duration of a declaration of disaster emergency for COVID-19. This would relieve local governments of the additional burden from Act 17 of 2020, while preserving the ability to re-activate these important benefits in the event of a future resurgence of COVID-19. I look forward to working with you on this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB1060