Pennsylvania State Capitol, Harrisburg. Photo: Waldteufel – Fotolia

Following is a listing of executive and legislative action from the week of March 23. Both houses of the General Assembly were in recess at press time, subject to recall by the Pennsylvania Senate president pro tempore and speaker of the House on 12 hours' notice. Each chamber has streamlined procedures by allowing remote voting in the Senate, voting by proxy in the House.

'Stay-at-Home' Order

Gov. Tom Wolf on March 25 expanded a "stay-at-home" order aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 to include Lehigh and Northampton counties, bringing 10 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties under the stay-at-home order.

At press time the order included Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton and Philadelphia counties.

The orders were put in place until April 6.

Under the order, individuals were ordered to leave residences only "to maintain health and safety, or the health and safety of their family or household members (including pets), such as obtaining medicine or medical supplies, visiting a health care professional, or obtaining supplies they need to work from home."

Exemptions were provided for life-sustaining services and business activities.

The state is maintaining a COVID-19 information web page.

COVID-19 Response

Wolf announced that he was prepared to sign a bill authorizing him to spend up to $50 million in transferred state funding to purchase medical equipment and supplies for hospitals, nursing homes and emergency workers to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania.

House Bill 1232, which was passed unanimously by both houses of the General Assembly, would deposit $50 million into a restricted account under Wolf's jurisdiction. The funds will be used if there are insufficient funds available from the disaster proclamation "to buy medical equipment and supplies for health care entities to meet urgent patient and staff needs to address surge demand. Health care entities include hospitals, nursing facilities and emergency medical services" according to the legislation.

A Wolf administration statement said HB 1232 would be signed March 27.

"We need more beds, more ventilators, more personal protective equipment, and so much more and we need it as soon as possible because the virus is here," Wolf said in the statement.

"I am working to get this funding moving as quickly as I can. We need to do everything we can to support our front-line medical workers to protect them and ensure they have the equipment to care for patients. This funding is a step in the right direction."

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said the state government was "navigating uncharted waters."

"In Pennsylvania, we worked together to dedicate this money to help those who are waging this extraordinary battle," Corman said.

The bill passed on the Pennsylvania Senate's first-ever remote vote, said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny.

The new funding comes on the heels of Wolf's announcement of a COVID-19 Capital Working Access Program designed to provide $60 million in loans to small businesses. These efforts combined are intended to get funding where it is needed most to save lives and livelihoods, a Wolf administration statement said.

Food Assistance

Wolf on March 25 sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asking that USDA waive eligibility requirements for the Emergency Food Assistance Program; reconsider Pennsylvania's request for temporary waivers to allow more food to be distributed at school feeding sites and food banks; and to be flexible and change its interpretation of recent changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

"In addition to ensuring that our most vulnerable citizens continue to have access to affordable, life-sustaining food, we now also have hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians filing for unemployment compensation as a result of necessary COVID-19 mitigation efforts in the commonwealth," Wolf said. "It is inhumane to consider that Pennsylvanians who are doing the responsible thing by staying home to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities would go hungry because of USDA's limiting interpretations and refusal to cut bureaucratic red tape during a national crisis.

"Our food banks are working around the clock to help those in need," Wolf said. "These waivers would remove the burden of extra time spent on paperwork and also remove the delay in access to food."

Ventilator Acquisition

A bill that would raise additional funding for the state to acquire ventilators for nursing homes serving Medicaid patients is getting new momentum in the Pennsylvania Senate during the coronavirus outbreak.

Senate Bill 959, sponsored by Pennsylvania Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, was introduced in November. It would dedicate additional Medicaid funding to facilities serving a substantial number of patients who require ventilator and tracheostomy care.

On March 26, Sens. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, and Maria Collett, D-Montgomery, said the pandemic makes it urgent to pass the bill.

"The majority of ventilator and tracheostomy patients are Medicaid recipients facing an uncertain future as care facilities across Pennsylvania are cancelling or decreasing their services," Collett said. "Without additional state funding, many patients will be transferred to more costly hospital facilities that are already strained during this public health crisis."

The coronavirus outbreak illuminates the concerns consistently identified by providers and advocates.

"It is critical we take the steps necessary to provide nursing homes with the appropriate amount of resources to care for their patients on ventilators," Hughes said. "We can reduce costs as well as the strain on our health care system, which is critical in battling the coronavirus."

Unemployment Relief

Both houses of the General Assembly on March 25 passed a bill aimed at providing relief to businesses and their employees impacted by mitigation efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

House Bill 68, sponsored by state Rep. Frank Ryan, R-Lebanon, is now on its way to Wolf's desk.

The bill would make temporary changes to Pennsylvania's Unemployment Compensation Law to ease requirements for both employers and their workers seeking unemployment relief.

"During the COVID-19 emergency, my bill would waive job search and registration waiting periods required of all claimants and relieve employers of charges they pay into the Unemployment Compensation Fund," Ryan said. "This includes employers who pay UC taxes and nonprofits and public employers who choose to pay a solvency fee into the UC Trust Fund.

The original intent of the bill is maintained to extend the 21-day appeal period from 15 days and provides automatic relief for benefit charges paid out during the emergency period."