A bill to amend the PA Constitution to limit an emergency declaration by the governor to 21 days has passed the state House and is on its way back to the Senate.
Under Senate Bill 1166, the governor would be allowed to put only a 21-day emergency declaration in place. In an interview with Indiana in the Morning on Tuesday, State Representative Jim Struzzi said that the power to extend the declaration would be in the hands of the state legislature.
Current state law says a governor can set an emergency declaration in place for 90 days.
On June 1st, the PA Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in favor of Governor Tom Wolf in a dispute with the legislature over House Resolution 836, which would have ended the Governor’s disaster declaration in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. After the resolution was sent to the Governor’s office, Wolf officially vetoed the resolution on Tuesday. While some Democrats supported the bill, it was not enough to make it veto-proof.
Senate Bill 1166 heads back to the Senate to approve some changes to the bill. The bill needs to pass two consecutive sessions of the state House and Senate before it goes to the voters as a referendum during an election.
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