The House passed the bill Tuesday in a vote along mostly party lines.
The bill would have the governor develop a COVID-19 plan for businesses based on guidance from the CDC and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Related
During the House debate, Republicans, including Rep. Greg Rothman, argued that businesses are suffering and claimed that the process of granting waivers is “capricious and arbitrary.”
“In fact, we’ve learned stories this week about businesses that accidentally hit the waiver process question button twice … and received both a waiver and a denial,” he said.
Republican Rep. Bryan Cutler, the House majority leader, defended the use of CDC guidelines.
“Forty-two other states currently follow these guidelines that we’re looking to implement,” he noted.
Delaware County Democratic Rep. Margo Davidson said the bill would end up exposing many more people to the virus.
“Who among us, as legislators, are epidemiologists?” she asked.
Democratic Rep. Matt Bradford from Montgomery County added: “Do you really want to second guess epidemiologists, the governor — the executive — those who are put in power to make these choices?”
All House Democrats voted “no,” but the bill still passed and has been sent to the state Senate.