The House State Government Committee recently approved a bill designed to enable small businesses to serve customers while complying with public health officials’ recommendations for social distancing.
Under the legislation, retail businesses staffed by one employee can allow only one customer into the store at a time. The bill also would prevent Gov. Tom Wolf from closing retail stores that comply with the rule.
The bill allows shoppers to avoid the crowds often associated with big-box stores by frequenting small-venue retailers.
“My goal is to enhance social distancing by enabling Pennsylvanians to shop at smaller stores rather than large grocery chains or big box stores,” Rep. Brad Roae (R-Crawford/Erie), who introduced the bill, said. “This would limit the customer’s interaction to one person, whereas if they go to a big box store, they could come in contact with hundreds of other people.”
Wolf has issued a statewide shutdown of all businesses he deemed nonlife sustaining enterprises. For a time, the administration had a waiver application process, but waivers stopped being accepted on Friday.
The bill heads to the full House for consideration.
Many of the committee’s members voted remotely from their districts. The remote voting process was made possible under a rule change approved by the House in response to the coronavirus outbreak.