PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two questions on Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary ballot, about the governor's powers to make emergency declarations, have both been approved by voters. They will give lawmakers much more power.
Pennsylvania is now the first state in the nation to impose restrictions on a governor's authority under a disaster declaration. Republican lawmakers across the country are reeling in emergency powers that governors wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, a simple majority in the state legislature can overturn a governor’s emergency declaration, whereas previously the constitution required a two-thirds majority vote by lawmakers.
And now, a governor's emergency declaration is limited to 21 days, unless the legislature gives the green light to continue. Previously, a disaster declaration lasted 90 days and could be renewed indefinitely.
The two proposals were mostly supported by state Republicans, who accused Wolf of fear-mongering and said that the framers of the constitution never intended for a governor to hold so much power to suspend regulations, order mask-wearing and businesses and schools shut down.
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Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and his emergency disaster director have called the proposals reckless, political and a threat to a functioning society if it prevents a fast and wide-ranging response to increasingly complicated disasters.
The Legislature did not hold hearings on the measures, and they may end up in court now that voters have approved them, because their effect is in dispute.
Republicans claim the governor cannot order shutdowns without a disaster emergency in effect. Wolf disagrees, saying a governor's authority during a public health emergency rests on separate public health law and is unaffected by the ballot questions.
All four ballot questions that went before every Pennsylvania voter passed in Tuesday's primary. Voters overwhelmingly chose "yes" on a proposal that would add a section to Pennsylvania's constitution outlawing discrimination because of someone's race or ethnicity. The other question that passed will give 22 fire departments access to loans to buy equipment.
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