Updated at 9:08 p.m.: This story was updated with additional comments from state Department of Community and Economic Development spokesperson Casey Smith.`

Businesses across Pennsylvania submitted more than 42,000 requests to stay open amid Gov. Tom Wolf’s March 19 shutdown order. At least 6,000 were approved, according to a list released late Friday by the Pa. Department of Community and Economic Development.

Scrolling the list shows that many waiver recipients are construction-related businesses or other industries that probably don’t require most of their workers to sit in crowded offices.

But one business that got a waiver is catching the eye of plenty of Pennsylvanians who are critical of Wolf’s shutdown order — DaViece Hair Team & Day Spa in Harrisburg.

How this business qualified for a waiver is unclear from just the information DCED posted on its website.

A message on the company’s website says, “we will be scheduling a press conference in the next (several) days to address basic questions about our Exemption Waiver Status we have been fortunate to receive.”

Messages left Tuesday afternoon were not returned.

Hair salons and barbershops are among the businesses that must remain closed even in counties that move from the red to yellow phase of restrictions. Dauphin County is still in the red phase, meaning many retail businesses must remain closed.

Casey Smith, a spokesperson for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said DaViece Hair Team & Day Spa was granted an exemption to “provide critical PPE to other local businesses.”

Later, Smith said the “company indicated that it would be selling bulk hand sanitizer.” And a check of the business’s website shows hand sanitizer listed prominently as one of its products. She said the department is reaching out to DaViece Hair Team & Day Spa to “make it clear that they can only operate the portion of their business that was authorized for exemption and that they cannot open for any other salon service.”

An online appointment tool said no appointments were available this month or the rest of the year.

Smith said businesses that received a waiver are typically not free to continue all normal operations — only the life-sustaining activities listed on their application.

A member of the ReOpen PA group on Facebook singled out DaViece Hair Team & Day Spa in a post on Monday, saying her own salon had been shut down since March 18.

Other businesses that received waivers are also drawing scrutiny. LNP described how the owner of a martial arts studio was surprised that his waiver was approved. A comic book shop in Bucks County and a taxidermist in Adams County were also on the list, WHYY reported.

A state exemption allowed a scuba shop to stay open to supply service equipment for water rescues in Presque Isle Bay and elsewhere, GoErie.com reported.

The state closed the waiver application process on April 3 after receiving 42,380 applications. By the end of the day April 22, 8,187 had been approved, 18,875 had been denied, and 14,662 were found to have been submitted by businesses to cover activities that required no special exemption, Smith said last month. At a hearing on April 23, Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin said state workers were continuing to evaluate the list of businesses that received waivers.

News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS are affiliates of PA Post.

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• Ed Mahon, PA Post

The head of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development said he’s not sure when the state will release the names of businesses that received waivers to operate amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“We’re working on that as quickly as we can. I just don’t have a timeline right now,” DCED Secretary Dennis Davin told lawmakers on Thursday during a  Senate hearing.

By the time the state closed the window for waiver applications on April 3, it had received 42,380 requests, a DCED spokesperson said. As of Wednesday, the state had approved 8,187 waivers, denied 18,875, and determined 14,662 requests didn’t require one.

But frustration with how that process was conducted was on display at Thursday’s hearing. Multiple business leaders and lawmakers criticized the governor’s waiver process for its lack of transparency and apparent inconsistency — with similar businesses receiving different results when they applied.

“This process was inconsistent to say the least from the get-go, and I worry that it may end companies,” Jon O’Brien, executive director of the General Contractors Association of Pennsylvania, wrote in testimony submitted to the committee.

The waiver process was launched with Wolf’s March 19 order closing more than 100 types of “non-life sustaining” workplaces, including most construction work, some manufacturing operations and many retail businesses.

News reports have described waivers being approved for construction projects that don’t appear to meet the definition of life-sustaining, including work on a casino in Philadelphia and the Mariner East pipeline.

O’Brien said waivers were granted inconsistently to contractors, and the state’s responses didn’t make it clear why waiver requests were denied. Others, he said, are still awaiting a response while impatient clients pressure them to return to work.

Another witness, Matt Stuckey, president of an auto dealership in Blair County, said he applied for a waiver three times and was denied. But he said he personally talked with three other car dealers who received a waiver.

Earlier this month, WHYY reported on a Pennsylvania car dealership that worked its waiver letter into advertisements.

On Thursday, DCED spokesperson Casey Smith said she didn’t know how many car dealerships received a waiver, but she said car dealers were sent a letter on April 1 to clarify that they cannot conduct in-person sales or leases of vehicles.

The department initially granted a waiver for the governor’s former kitchen cabinet and building supply company then withdrew it after Spotlight PA and PA Post asked how it met the life-sustaining criteria. The company’s CEO, Craig Danielson, later said it applied for the waiver as a precaution and would continue operating because it met other life-sustaining criteria. The governor is no longer a shareholder in the business.

In the weeks since the shutdown and waiver process began, Republican legislators pushed to ease the governor’s restrictions on employers, particularly for outdoor jobs like construction work. That pressure, in part, led Wolf to announce Wednesday that construction work can resume May 1. He also said the state would lift other restrictions beginning May 8 based on the volume of new coronavirus cases in different regions, and he’s currently targeting north-central and northwestern Pennsylvania as the first regions where many businesses, including retail, could reopen first.

Despite those moves, some lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — continue to raise concerns about how the Wolf administration handled the business waiver process.

At Thursday’s hearing, state Sen. Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) wanted to know who was making the decisions to grant waivers and what training they received.

“There’s so much discrepancy, and they’re not very uniform,” Ward said.

State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny) said small business owners in her district “have a lot of frustration with the opaque waiver process.”

State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), the sponsor of a longshot measure to revoke the governor’s emergency powers, said the waiver decisions seem random.

“Picking winners and losers obviously is a very emotional event. And it puts a lot of power in your hands, as well as the governor,” Mastriano said.

He urged the department to provide lawmakers with a list of the waivers. He compared the secrecy around the process to the last scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, where the prized artifact is boxed up and taken to a vast warehouse to be lost again.

“I feel like I’m stuck in this spot right now that the Ark of the Covenant is going down Area 51 while you have top men on it,” Mastriano said. “So please, could you give me a timeline?”

Davin, secretary for the department, defended the process to lawmakers.

He said about 40 to 45 state employees are reviewing the waiver applications, and he said those employees have a lot of experience working with businesses, including helping them receive loans.

“These are professionals that are doing this,” Davin said. “We’re not picking winners and losers. I refuse to even believe that people think that because it’s just not happening.”

Davin acknowledged that the system wasn’t perfect. He said two similar businesses might have applied for a waiver, but if they provided different information on the application it could mean one was approved while the other wasn’t.

In declining to provide a timeline for releasing the information, Davin said the department wants to ensure it provides good information that doesn’t reveal any proprietary details about businesses. He said department staff are reviewing the entire list to make sure the appropriate quality-control measures are in place.

“We’re putting together this information the best way we can,” Davin said.

Davin also noted the department is facing other challenges, including ensuring that businesses have the right personal protective equipment.

The legislature isn’t alone in not getting answers from the state about which businesses received waivers. The DCED is also not processing requests from citizens and media organizations under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

The state’s Office of Open Records, which handles appeals when agencies deny access to records, issued guidance on April 2, saying agencies “should continue processing RTKL requests to the greatest extent of their ability to do so.” But it also said that days that an agency is closed do not count as “business days” under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

Normally, the department would have five business days to respond to such a request, with the option to invoke an additional 30-day extension. The department told PA Post that a Right-to-Know request submitted on March 24 would be processed when the office reopens.

DCED’s Smith said there is no set date for when the office will reopen and begin processing open records requests.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is also not processing Right-to-Know Law requests.

At Thursday’s hearing, state Sen. Mike Regan (R-York) urged Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine to do so.

“I think one of the constant themes that’s come through this entire meeting is that there has been a lack of transparency and openness,” Regan said. “Pennsylvanians are nervous. They’re upset and they’re scared, and they would like to know, and they should be responded to.”

Levine said she would discuss the issue with the governor’s Office of General Counsel.

“I think that one of the issues is just the bandwidth of our attorneys who are working full-time on, you know, COVID-19,” Levine said.

The state Senate and House are still accepting and processing Right-to-Know requests, officials with the chambers said.

The state’s Right-to-Know Law gives the General Assembly more leeway to release fewer records than the executive branch and state and local government agencies.

Stay tuned to News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS and talkwilliamsport.com for developments on this story.

 

News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS are affiliates of PA Post.

PA Post is an independent newsroom covering Pennsylvania government and public policy.

Find us online at PaPost.org

The bill would ban doctors from using telemedicine for any drug on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy list.

• Ed Mahon, PA Post

(Harrisburg) — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf plans to veto a bill that would expand telemedicine options in Pennsylvania but also would restrict its use for abortions.

The measure passed out of the state Senate on Tuesday with a  29-21 party line vote.

State. Sen Michele Brooks, R-Mercer, said the legislation — which would require insurers to cover health care services provided remotely through certain audio and video technology — would be especially useful for people living in rural areas.

“I found it very, very disappointing that the governor,  on philosophical differences, would put the health and well being of rural residents at risk,” said Brooks, who criticized the idea that women could receive an abortion without seeing a doctor in person. “You can have an abortion over the internet.”

The bill would ban doctors from using telemedicine for any drug on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy list. The list includes mifepristone, which can be used to end a pregnancy that is less than 11 weeks along.

It is not available in pharmacies. The American Academy of Family Physicians has recommended removing the drug from that federal list of drugs with greater risk, saying that it has a high degree of effectiveness and a minor complications risk.

Emily Callen, executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, said telemedicine is currently used to connect people at different health care centers.

She said the patient will typically see a nurse or similar provider in-person and then video conference with a physician at a different site.

“Like many other healthcare providers, we see telemedicine as an important way to expand healthcare to folks who need it, and that’s what lawmakers should be doing right now, not using this as an opportunity to enact new barriers to abortion care,” Callen said.

Republicans argued that it didn’t add any restrictions beyond what’s allowed under existing law.

“This does not change anything as far as any woman’s right to reproductive rights or any access to current medications. This changes nothing,” said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre).

The Senate passed the legislation last year 47-1 without the abortion restrictions written in. But the House added that language in.

And Corman said it’s clear the House won’t pass the bill without the abortion restrictions.

“So the bigger picture to me is the importance of telemedicine,” Corman said. “And there’s probably never been a time where telemedicine was more important than it is today.”

Wolf’s press secretary, Lyndsay Kensinger, said in an email that Wolf supported the earlier version of the bill, but plans to veto it because of the abortion restrictions, which she called “unnecessarily restrictive.”

Correction: This story was updated to correct the spelling of the last name of Emily Callen, executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates.

News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS are affiliates of PA Post.

PA Post is an independent newsroom covering Pennsylvania government and public policy.

Find us online at PaPost.org

• Ed Mahon, PA Post

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says it’s time to start talking about reopening the state’s economy, but during a Friday afternoon news conference, he avoided providing dates for when he will lift restrictions on Pennsylvania residents and businesses.

“Unfortunately, we cannot flip a switch and reopen the commonwealth,” Wolf said. “There isn’t going to be one big day. We need to make smart, data-driven decisions, and we can’t be impulsive. We can’t be emotional.”

Starting next week, Wolf said he plans to describe specific steps for lifting restrictions in Pennsylvania. Those steps will follow guidelines released by the Wolf administration on Friday that emphasize a data-driven approach to create quantifiable criteria and take into account conditions in different regions of the state.

The state will also:

• Provide guidance and recommendations for employers, residents and health care facilities;
• Take into account the need for adequate personal protective equipment and diagnostic testing (Wolf said he’s not sure how much exactly is needed);
• Maintain limitations on access to group care facilities and prisons;
• Continue to limit large gatherings unrelated to people’s work.

Wolf’s effort to describe how the state will return to normal came nearly a month after his March 19 order requiring more than 100 types of businesses to close their physical locations.

He later closed schools for the academic year. His stay-at-home order for the entire state lasts until April 30.

From the start, Wolf’s order to close non-life-essential businesses was panned by many Republican state legislators. The GOP-controlled General Assembly passed legislation this week to allow more businesses to reopen, including home construction. Wolf said he plans to veto it.

Protestors plan to gather in Harrisburg Monday against the state’s restrictions. Similar demonstrations took place in Virginia, Michigan and Minnesota this week. On Friday, President Donald Trump appeared to encourage those protests, tweeting, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”

Asked about the Monday protest and the president’s tweets, Wolf said he thinks everyone in Pennsylvania is eager to get back to work.

“I’m included in that,” Wolf said. “We are working, all of us, as hard as we can to make sure that we reopen as quickly as possible.”

He said he wants to make sure the health care system isn’t overrun by lifting coronavirus restrictions too soon.

“Right now, I think we’re making good progress. And let’s continue to make this good progress in keeping people safe,” Wolf said. “And then, when the time is right, we’re going to reopen and we’ll liberate every single Pennsylvanian.”

In a statement Friday, Pennsylvania Senate Republican leaders criticized Wolf for not offering more details on his plan for lifting restrictions — and for his opposition to legislation passed this week that would allow more businesses to operate.

“We are tired of hearing his rhetoric that he wants to work with us, while at the same time making unilateral decisions,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said in the statement. “It is far past time for him to abandon his go-it-alone approach and come to the table to work with the General Assembly on real solutions.”

News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS are affiliates of PA Post.

PA Post is an independent newsroom covering Pennsylvania government and public policy.

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Gov. Wolf plans to veto GOP bill to reopen businesses shuttered by coronavirus shutdown

• Ed Mahon

Legislation to reopen more Pennsylvania businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak cleared the legislature on Wednesday, but not by enough votes to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto.

The state Senate passed a bill to require the governor to follow federal guidelines to determine which businesses are essential.

Those guidelines from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, would allow more industries to open, such as home construction.

Just hours after the Senate voted, a Wolf spokesperson said the governor would veto the bill for “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.”

Wolf and Health Secretary Rachel Levine have said repeatedly that mitigation efforts can’t be relaxed without raising the possibility that coronavirus infections would surge again.

GOP legislators say local officials and employers should be trusted to make those decisions.

“Every business is life sustaining,” state Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) said during Wednesday’s debate.

She said the bill would create a more fair and transparent process for deciding which businesses can remain open.

The Senate’s final passage of the bill with a 29 to 21 vote came on the same day the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports that more than 26,000 Pennsylvanians have tested positive for the coronavirus with 647 related deaths.

Pennsylvania has also seen a surge in unemployment claims, with more than 1.1 million since mid-March.

State Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) said people want to be safe, but they also want to work.

“I have homes waiting to be finished for construction so families can move in,” Martin said.

But state Sen. Steven Santarsiero (D-Bucks) said that loosening restrictions would undo progress that the state has made to control the growth of coronavirus infections.

“Not only would that be a public health catastrophe, but economically it would set us back months,” Santarsiero said. “…Now is not the time to risk the lives of the people of Pennsylvania.”

The Wolf administration is opposed to loosening restrictions on businesses. When lawmakers proposed the measure last week, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said in a letter that encouraging increased social movement by “reopening a significant amount of businesses would be reckless and irresponsible.” She said the federal guidelines are too broad.

“In fact, there are very few industries out of retail (which would also see large exemptions) that wouldn’t be able to make an argument that they could open under this legislation,” Levine wrote.

Wolf’s March 19 shutdown order applied to more than 100 types of businesses, but his office created a waiver process for any affected employer.

As of the end of the day Sunday, the state had approved 7,648 waivers, denied 18,662, and determined 14,392 were submitted unnecessarily, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Several Republicans lawmakers said the administration has not been consistent in how it approves waivers, and legislators and journalists alike have protested the Wolf administration’s refusal to release the full list of businesses that have had waiver applications approved and denied.

“The current process has created more confusion, and that confusion has begun to lead to chaos,” said Phillips-Hill.

State Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery) echoed some of the criticism of the waiver process, but she said the proposal would create too much of a health risk.

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said the proposal represents a targeted approach.

“This is not a massive opening of the economy,” he said.

During a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Wolf defended the shutdowns he has ordered, and he declined to say whether he would veto legislation requiring the state to follow federal guidelines.

“The course we’re on now is the least bad choice we have to make” and is the “right course for Pennsylvania,” he said.

Before the bill heads to the governor, legislative leaders in both the Senate and House must sign it. The House is not in session today, but House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) told lawmakers to be prepared to return to session on 12-hour notice.

Lawmakers in the state Senate also debated a measure that would give county leaders the power to decide when businesses can re-open. That passed out of the Senate Wednesday, but it still needs approval from the House before it would reach the governor. Wolf said he doesn’t support it.

As lawmakers debated opening up more businesses, the Wolf administration took action on its own Wednesday to require additional health and safety practices at businesses that are already allowed to remain open.

Levine, the state’s health secretary, said businesses must require employees to wear masks while at work, with exceptions for using break time to eat or drink. Businesses must also supply masks to employees.

The new order takes effect immediately and will be enforced beginning 8 p.m. Sunday.

News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS are affiliates of PA Post.

PA Post is an independent newsroom covering Pennsylvania government and public policy.

Find us online at PaPost.org

Unknown whether Wolf will veto it

• Ed Mahon, PA Post

Legislation to reopen more Pennsylvania businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak is headed to Gov. Tom Wolf.

The state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would require the governor to follow federal guidelines to determine which businesses are essential.

Those guidelines from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, would allow more industries to open, such as home construction.

“Every business is life sustaining,” state Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) said during Wednesday’s debate.

She said the bill would create a more fair and transparent process for deciding which businesses can remain open.

The Senate’s final passage of the bill with a 29 to 21 vote comes as the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports that more than 26,000 Pennsylvanians have tested positive for the coronavirus with 647 related deaths.

Pennsylvania has also seen a surge in unemployment claims, with more than 1.1 million since mid-March.

State Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) said people want to be safe, but they also want to work.

“I have homes waiting to be finished for construction so families can move in,” Martin said.

But state Sen. Steven Santarsiero (D-Bucks) said that loosening restrictions would undo progress that the state has made to control the growth of coronavirus infections.

“Not only would that be a public health catastrophe, but economically it would set us back months,” Santarsiero said. “…Now is not the time to risk the lives of the people of Pennsylvania.”

The Wolf administration is opposed to loosening restrictions on businesses. When lawmakers proposed the measure last week, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said in a letter that encouraging increased social movement by “reopening a significant amount of businesses would be reckless and irresponsible.” She said the federal guidelines are too broad.

“In fact, there are very few industries out of retail (which would also see large exemptions) that wouldn’t be able to make an argument that they could open under this legislation,” Levine wrote.

Wolf’s March 19 shutdown order applied to more than 100 types of businesses, but his office created a waiver process for any affected employer.

As of the end of the day Sunday, the state had approved 7,648 waivers, denied 18,662, and determined 14,392 were submitted unnecessarily, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Several Republicans lawmakers said the administration has not been consistent in how it approves waivers, and legislators and journalists alike have protested the Wolf administration’s refusal to release the full list of businesses that have had waiver applications approved and denied.

“The current process has created more confusion, and that confusion has begun to lead to chaos,” said Phillips-Hill.

State Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery) echoed some of the criticism of the waiver process, but she said the proposal would create too much of a health risk.

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said the proposal represents a targeted approach.

“This is not a massive opening of the economy,” he said.

Before the bill heads to the governor, legislative leaders in both the Senate and House must sign it. The House is not in session today, but House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) told lawmakers to be prepared to return to session on 12-hour notice.

Lawmakers in the state Senate also debated a measure that would give county leaders the power to decide when businesses can re-open. That passed out of the Senate Rules Committee Wednesday.

As lawmakers debated opening up more businesses, the Wolf administration took action on its own Wednesday to require additional health and safety practices at businesses that are already allowed to remain open.

Levine, the state’s health secretary, said businesses must require employees to wear masks while at work, with exceptions for using break time to eat or drink. Businesses must also supply masks to employees.

The new order takes effect immediately and will be enforced beginning 8 p.m. Sunday.

News Talk 104.1 & 1600 WEJS are affiliates of PA Post.

PA Post is an independent newsroom covering Pennsylvania government and public policy.

Find us online at PaPost.org