HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania state legislator is pushing the state to update its guidelines on which businesses to consider essential by following a list developed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Gov. Tom Wolf's list of "life-sustaining" businesses is long, detailed and even color coded, yet many Pennsylvania business owners are still having trouble navigating it.
"This is all I do. This is I have been doing for the past three weeks," said State Rep. Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg). "It`s 12- to 15-hour days of helping businesses navigate this archaic system."
The governor's non-essential business shutdown order is arbitrarily enforced, Keefer said, and confusing.
Guidelines have changed since they first came out; laundromats and gun stores were two businesses that were closed, then later deemed essential.
Businesses can now find no relief, Keefer claimed, as the state stopped granting waivers from the shutdown order on Friday. The shutdown order still has no end date.
"Waiting until May 1 to see what our plan is, is not a plan," Keefer said.
Keefer, along with 10 other co-sponsor legislators, introduced House Bill 2384, to protect essential businesses from any civil or criminal liability for operating during the COVID-19 crisis.
She also drafted legislation to require the governor to follow the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce advisory list to determine whether a business is life-sustaining. The list was developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the Department of Homeland Security.
Several states already follow the CISA guidelines, including Maryland and Louisiana.
In a letter dated April 5, Keefer wrote this legislation would be amended into a Senate Administrative Code bill, along with OSHA and CDC COVID-19 guidance.
Keefer said she expects votes on both pieces of legislation by Tuesday.
Gov. Tom Wolf's office advocates for continuing to use the current essential business list. Lyndsay Kensinger, the governor's press secretary, told FOX43 in a statement:
"The governor's highest priority remains protecting Pennsylvanians' health and safety as the state works to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. As we prepare for the surge, we should be focused on the implementation of our mitigation plan. Now is not the time to ease up on the commonwealth’s strong mitigation tactics that can help flatten the curve and ease the burden likely to be placed on our healthcare system. The governor is as eager as anyone to see Pennsylvanians headed back to work, but irresponsibly going against the direction of the Secretary of Health and reopening businesses too early will only extend the length of the economic hardships created by the pandemic."