Support grows urging ‘yes’ votes on May 18 disaster declaration ballot questions

The list of supporters continues growing for amendment questions slated for the May 18 ballot in Pennsylvania that would limit the governor’s emergency disaster declaration powers and give the state legislature power to end a declaration with a two-thirds majority vote.

Along with several state senators and representatives, the ballot questions recently garnered additional support from Americans for Prosperity-Pennsylvania (AFP-PA), a libertarian-conservative political advocacy group, and the Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, which engages entrepreneurs to lead free-market change in the Commonwealth. 

Organization leaders told Pennsylvania Business Report that the ballot measures would rein in a Democratic governor who has repeatedly extended emergency declarations that, in turn, threaten the state’s economy. 

“Governor Wolf issued an initial 90-day COVID-19 disaster emergency declaration — and then four extensions of that declaration without any form of constituent consultation,” said AFP-PA State Director Ashley Klingensmith. “The emergency declarations made unilaterally without citizens’ input during the pandemic, with minimal transparency and accountability, had a devastating impact on our lives and livelihoods. Pennsylvanians’ voices must be heard in Harrisburg concerning disaster declarations.”

Specifically, according to AFP-PA, passage of the ballot questions concerning the governor’s emergency powers would add state elected officials to the emergency declaration decision-making process by giving the General Assembly the ability to extend or terminate the declaration to ensure that the voices of Pennsylvanians are heard. It also would shorten the duration of declaration from 90 to 21 days to make responses more adaptive as situations rapidly develop. Finally, the governor would be prohibited from declaring a substantially similar emergency to one that has been ended by a majority vote of both houses of the General Assembly.

Voting yes to these amendments would start to turnaround the major blow that Wolf’s emergency declarations have had on Pennsylvania businesses, which struggled to stay open during the ongoing pandemic, and the thousands who lost their jobs, Klingensmith said, adding that AFP-PA activists now are working to help pass “the emergency power ballot questions on May 18 — to make sure residents from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia are given the final say in the policies that impact their lives.”

Also urging yes votes on the ballot measures is Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs President and CEO Matthew Brouillette, who said Wolf has neglected the people’s representatives in the legislature to the detriment of all Pennsylvanians for more than a year now. 

“A yes vote on these amendments would restore a legislative check and balance on Gov. Wolf’s, and any future governor’s, emergency powers,” said Brouillette.

Members of the Harrisburg, Pa.-based Commonwealth Partners work in a wide array of industries, including supply chain, hospitality and manufacturing. And like thousands of other businesses statewide, Brouillette said its members and their employees were negatively impacted by “Wolf’s arbitrary shutdown orders, his chaotic business waiver program, and his ever-changing reopening scheme.” 

Brouillette added that “Wolf’s go-it-alone approach unnecessarily harmed many lives and livelihoods.”

“Voting yes on these amendments would restore accountability so that people’s livelihoods cannot be arbitrarily shut down for an indefinite period of time at the order of one person,” said Brouillette. “The truth is these amendments are about restoring a balanced approach to handling emergencies so when future crises come, we can act quickly and reasonably to protect both lives and livelihoods.” 

Several sources say the Wolf administration also has worded the amendment questions in a misleading way on the ballot. For instance, State Senate and House Republican leaders called the language objectionable and emphasized that work needs to be done to ensure voters will vote yes.

“The ballot language for consideration by the voters is written in a way that shows the Wolf administration wants these measures to fail,” said Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman. “The questions are written in a way to scare voters away.”

Nevertheless, Corman said legislators will ensure voters understand the needed background. “We are going to work to educate our constituents on why — no matter how it is worded — this referendum needs to pass,” he said. “I’m confident that once the people learn the real initiative behind the amendment they will vote ‘yes’ in order to restore checks and balances back to Pennsylvania.” 

House Speaker Bryan Cutler, also a Republican, said Pennsylvanians already question the competency and credibility of the Department of State when it comes to processing constitutional amendments. “This question as written by the department is an attempt to tip the scales against the people’s right to control their own constitution and government,” he said. “This is yet another disgraceful action by a department that needs to take very deliberate steps to earn back the public’s trust.” 

AFP-PA’s Klingensmith agreed that it’s critical for voters to understand that these measures are designed to extend beyond this year, this administration, and even this moment in time. “These efforts will provide checks and balances into perpetuity, so our focus should be on the long-term impact these measures will have on all Pennsylvanians,” she said.

Klingensmith also said the Wolf administration continues to echo the talking point of compromised federal funding if the state’s COVID-19 disaster declaration is ended. 

“Suppose continued access to federal funding is an issue,” she said. “In that case, the governor can make that argument to the General Assembly. Then our representatives can evaluate that argument and factor that into any decision to vote to end or continue the emergency declaration in question.”

And besides, added Klingensmith, no single strand of red tape or promise of federal funding should supersede constituents’ voices in Pennsylvania. “Rather than allowing one unilateral government official, with limited exposure to the varied perspectives of millions, to dictate a blanket emergency shutdown,” she said.

House Republican Caucus Spokesman Jason Gottesman said May 4 that various administration officials also have been holding regular press conferences “that skew the facts and sow fear and division among Pennsylvanians rightly seeking information on these important ballot questions.” 

“Should the emergency disaster declaration amendments be adopted, the General Assembly would then be able to renew the emergency disaster declaration in whole or in part or not at all,” Gottesman explained. “To argue the emergency disaster declaration would automatically disappear is, at best, a half-truth. To also argue that having a legitimate debate about continuing an emergency disaster declaration is inappropriate is, of itself, undemocratic.”

Gottesman said discussions are ongoing in preparation for the legislature’s response to what happens on May 18. “What these amendments would ultimately do is reinsert the General Assembly — the voice of the people — into these discussions,” he said.