Reps. Kenyatta, Snyder urge legislature to provide COVID-19 relief to Pennsylvania businesses

On Tuesday, state Reps. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) and Pam Snyder (D-Green/Fayette/Washington) urged the state legislature to pass a bill that would expand business interruption policies for businesses that suffered losses during the governor’s disaster declaration.

The bill would provide business interruption insurance coverage to business that suffered financial loss due to pandemic closings by clarifying that business interruption policies in effect as of March 6, 2020 (the date of the governor’s disaster declaration) would include coverage of losses related to COVID-19, allowing insurers to receive reimbursement for business interruption insurance claims paid due to COVID-19, and providing a mechanism to make funds available for those reimbursements immediately.

Kenyatta said protecting businesses would, in turn, protect Pennsylvanians’ livelihoods.

“Countless local businesses — generationally owned and community mainstays — have been forced to permanently shutter because of the devastating effects of this economic crisis. This has also resulted in loss of income for both family business owners and employees,” Kenyatta said. “We can no longer be idle in protecting working people, and our bill would provide these small businesses reeling from this devastation the vital lifeline they desperately need to protect livelihoods.”

Snyder said the legislation required an immediate vote to protect independent businesses.

“So many of our local businesses have been – and continue to be – severely impacted by the ongoing pandemic,” Snyder said. “We’ve also heard from several businesses that their insurance providers would not cover business interruption losses, making their situations all the more dire. Our bill would provide the necessary clarification for them to recoup any pandemic-related business disruption losses and help these businesses recover faster.”

The legislation comes months after Kenyatta and Snyder hosted a virtual discussion with businesses across Pennsylvania about the impacts of COVID-19. The discussion featured testimony from experts in the restaurant industry regarding the need to include the impacts of business losses because of COVID-19 in business coverage insurance claims.