The state House voted Monday to approve a resolution that would create a special COVID-19 response committee.
The resolution instructs the Speaker of the House to appoint seven members to a committee to monitor the Commonwealth’s response to the COVID-19 emergency. The committee’s structure would be based on other House committees and would be comprised of four members of the majority party and three from the minority party.
The committee would have the power to hold hearings, take testimony, make investigations, and issue subpoenas. It would identify issues that require government action and report its recommendations.
“This pandemic has stretched the government response and the reach of the government into so many aspects of our daily lives, like no other event in our lifetime,” House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), who authored the resolution, said. “Making sure the response was effective, appropriate and in the best interest of all Pennsylvanians is crucial to every decision we make now, and arguably more importantly, to being better prepared should we ever have to face this type of an event ever again.”
The committee will address many questions constituents have about what is happening during the pandemic and how the state will recover, Cutler said.