PA House Approves Pandemic Recovery Task Force

(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania House Republicans approved a measure Tuesday that aims to create a pandemic recovery task force and give the Legislature an opportunity to refinance the state’s debt load and generate savings amid dwindling tax revenues.

Senate Bill 327 passed along party lines on a vote of 108-93 after Democrats levied, at times, hostile criticism against the majority party for congregating lawmakers in pursuit of what they called a partisan and unnecessary bill.

“This bill doesn’t do what you say it does,” said House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny. “It creates a task force that makes no sense, that ties the governor’s hands and that is imbalanced.”

SB 327 would form the COVID-19 Cost and Recovery Task Force to focus on rebuilding the state’s economy after the pandemic recedes. The plan also authorizes the Legislature to reevaluate its debts and forces the governor to give proper notice to each chamber before suspending or changing laws – as he did when he ordered nonessential businesses across the state close down on March 23.

“All we are asking for is proper notice whenever the governor takes action,” said House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster. “We shouldn’t have to rely on daily press releases.”

Except, Democrats argue, the bill’s language is riddled with partisanship and has little to do with responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed 260 residents and sickened more than 14,500 others. Several members chided Republicans for releasing the proposal over the weekend and forcing a vote within 48 hours, without time for debate or opportunity for other amendments.

“This is about our body trying to interfere with work of the executive branch,” said Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery. “You may not like everything he [governor] does … but I respect that in this difficult time these people are working 24 hours a day to protect the commonwealth.”

The task force would evaluate the state’s overall response to the outbreak and identify issues that require legislative, executive or judicial action. It would also develop a recovery plan to conceive an approach for “expeditiously resuming mission-critical functions.”

“When you can’t argue against the policies, you argue against the process,” Cutler said. “I think that’s what we are seeing here because I think every Pennsylvanian would want these things. It is their [Democrats] no-vote that makes it partisan – not the simple offering of ideas.”

The bill now moves to the Senate for a concurrence vote.

Christen Smith

Staff Reporter

Christen Smith follows Pennsylvania’s General Assembly for The Center Square. She is an award-winning reporter with more than a decade of experience covering state and national policy issues for niche publications and local newsrooms alike.