HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives failed to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto on a bill that would allow school districts to decide how many fans to allow into school sports events.
HB 2787 originally passed 155-47, well over the two-thirds majority required for a veto override.
The Sept. 23 vote came in at 130-71.
An override would have required a two-thirds majority from each chamber, 136 of 203 votes in the House and 33 of 50 votes in the Senate.
The governor had vetoed the measure on Sept. 21.
"This bill is entirely unnecessary," Gov. Wolf said in a statement following the veto. "While I recommended against holding school sports before January 2021, it was a recommendation and neither an order nor a mandate. Local school governing bodies have maintained the authority to decide how extracurricular activities, including school sports, proceed at the local level."
Bill proponents said even if school districts did already have enough local authority, the measure would protect districts from future arbitrary rule changes.
“We want to make sure they have this authority today, tomorrow and in the future regardless of who’s governor, said House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, (R-Centre/Mifflin).
The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Mike Reese (R-Westmoreland/Somerset), framed the bill as one way for school districts to guide their own COVID-19 mitigation response, rather than a way to avoid safety measures.
“This bill does not propose to simply open the entrance to every athletic stadium, every gymnasium and every auditorium, as though COVID 19 never existed,” Reese said.
The bill had originally passed 155-47 in the house and 39-11 in the senate.
However it appeared to lose some support from its first vote in the House on Sept. 2.
“When we first considered this bill, Mr. Speaker, I was genuinely sympathetic to it,” said State Rep. Mike Zabel (D-Delaware). “But the hard fact is capacity limits have saved lives in Pennsylvania—thousands—and it is not time to do away with them.”
All 25 votes lost in the Sept. 23 veto override vote came from Democratic legislators.
Republican State Rep. Lee James (R-Venango/Butler) responded to the vote’s outcome,
“Safety should never be a partisan issue, and the veto override vote definitely feels like public service took a backseat to politics today.”
State Senate officials had expected the measure to pass. The office of Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said via email the Senate could schedule their own veto override vote as early as Thursday if it passed the house.
There are currently no restrictions on the capacity of gatherings, as a judge has ruled those limits unconstitutional. The Wolf administration is appealing that decision.
Democratic Leader Frank Dermody issued this statement:
“Despite an effort by House Republicans to dismantle an important health protection measure related to school sports, the House voted today to sustain Gov. Wolf’s veto of the bill.
“It’s regrettable that the majority party spent so much time and effort on this misdirected effort when many more serious matters demand attention, including providing hazard pay and PPE for frontline workers, time-sensitive election reforms, help for small businesses and ensuring the continuation of health insurance coverage. House Democrats have sought movement on these urgent issues for months while Republicans flailed about in a pointless political skirmish with the governor."