Governor Tom Wolf wrote a letter to legislators Wednesday asking them to pass a statewide mandate for masks in schools, the Associated Press reported.
According to the AP, Wolf sent a letter to Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R-Centre) and House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) to call legislators back to Harrisburg to work on the bill.
In the letter obtained by the AP, Wolf said he has "become increasingly concerned about misinformation being spread to try to discredit a school district’s clear ability to implement masking” as well as “local control being usurped by the threat — implicit or explicit — of political consequences for making sound public health and education decisions.”
Wolf added that by the end of July, 59 of Pennsylvania's 474 school district submitted plans to the Education Department that mandated masks.
The AP reached out for comment from Cutler and Corman, but hadn't heard back. House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre) said the State House GOP is against voting on statewide mask mandates.
“Just because there’s not a statewide mandate requiring people to wear masks doesn’t mean people don’t have the option to wear masks,” Benninghoff spokesperson Jason Gottesman told The AP.
Last week, two of Pennsylvania's largest teachers unions recommended masks in K-12 schools.