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Local lawmakers defended their votes this week to overturn the Wolf Administration's lists of life-sustaining and non-life sustaining businesses with the introduction of less-restrictive guidelines.
Calling Gov. Tom Wolf's orders "arbitrary and capricious," state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Muncy, voted with all but two Republican House members in favor of the measure.
"We aren't trying to open up Pennsylvania to normal business," he said. "We're trying to put Pennsylvania in the same spot as other states."
Everett and state Rep. Jeff Wheeland, R-Loyalsock Township, who also voted in favor of the bill, said too many businesses remain closed that should be operating, including those providing essential services such as construction and automobile dealerships and services.
Wolf, the lawmakers say, developed his own guidelines as to what businesses must shut down and those which can stay open. Other states, by contrast, followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in making that determination.
"That is one of the main reasons we lead all states in unemployment," Wheeland said. "We need to get people back to work following CDC guidelines, working for their employers and customers. It's being done successfully in other states, and we need to do it in Pennsylvania."
Everett said lawmakers had no choice but to take legislative action on the issue.
"We tried to negotiate with him (Wolf) to no effect," he said.
Wolf's guidelines, Everett said, are simply full of inconsistencies.
Why, he asked, can a big box retail box store which sells goods and supplies considered life-sustaining remain open, and a mom and pop store offering the same items, be forced to close?
The bigger stores, he noted, also create a bigger problem for keeping in check social distancing for customers.
"In other states, automobiles can be sold," Wheeland said. "The list just goes on and on as to how other states are following CDC guidelines."
Added Everett: "I don't think he's (Wolf) trying to destroy the economy. The majority of the Legislature thinks there's a better way to do it."
Wheeland noted that while Lycoming County has had few positive coronavirus cases -- 30 as of Thursday -- with respect to certain other parts of the state, it will most surely feel the economic impacts of COVID-19.
"The collateral damage that is being done to Lycoming County because the governor is not following CDC guidelines is yet to be determined, but it's not good," he said.
State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, who also voted in favor of the measure, noted that much of the state continues to report few positive cases of coronavirus.
"When you have so many counties with so few cases, it makes perfect sense to allow them to go back to work," he said.
His office, he said, is receiving numerous communications from entrepreneurs and other people anxious about the need to open businesses. Many people are also contacting him about not hearing back from the state on their unemployment claims.
When asked if he is hesitant about putting people back to work too quickly, he said, "People say you have to be sure. I am willing to weigh the risks involved versus the economic collapse of Pennsylvania and the U.S., and we have to be willing to do that."