The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is working on a measure that would allow businesses to reopen, trumping Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to close businesses that aren’t life sustaining to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The legislation, approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday on a party-line vote, would apply to any type of businesses conforming with a federal list of essential critical infrastructure. Under the bill, those businesses would still have to comply with the recommended guidance for mitigating exposure to COVID-19 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is unclear at this time how soon the House would vote on the measure.

Dr. Rachel Levine, state health secretary, has voiced her opposition to the measure. She said it would be premature and undermine “the integrity and effectiveness of the commonwealth’s collective response to the novel coronavirus.”

To date, 14,559 Pennsylvanians have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and 240 have died, according to the state Department of Health. Cases have now been found in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

The legislation comes in response to complaints lawmakers have heard from businesses and consumers alike about the hardships caused by the governor’s order to shut down businesses. Businesses and trade groups have derided what they call a lack of clarity and transparency associated with the Wolf Administration’s waiver process that has allowed some companies to remain open.

House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Montgomery County, said during a phone call with reporters late Tuesday afternoon the goal of the measure the House is offering is to standardize the types of businesses that can be open at this time.

He pointed out inconsistencies exist that allow big box stores to be open while forcing small businesses that sell some of the same products to be closed.

“We’re going to take that into consideration as we move forward on that proposal,” Cutler said. In working with their counterparts in the House and Senate and the governor, he said they are going to “try and figure out what makes sense in terms of the data, the projected peak, the impact going forward" as the state looks to get people safely back to work.

“Do I think that additional business could in fact be open? It would depend on who chooses to do so because it would be their individual choice if their workers can safely return to work,” Cutler said. “What we’re looking for is to strike that balance to make sure individuals who can safely do so and want to can safely go back to work.”

Republican lawmakers have made the argument that Pennsylvania has been the only state in the nation to not adopt or use some version of the March 28 advisory identifying essential workers during the COVID-19 response issued by the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

They said the governor’s sweeping closure order, which took effect just hours after it was announced on March 19, is why this state leads the nation in the number of unemployment compensation claims. This week, those claims surpassed 1 million.

“We want everybody to be safe in this state in the way they operate,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York County, during the committee’s consideration of the bill. “The key is to do this in a way that keeps our citizens safe while keeping them off the breadlines and not being homeless which the current governor’s guidelines do."

The governor will review the legislation if it reaches his desk, said Lyndsay Kensinger, a spokeswoman for Wolf.

House Democratic Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Bradford of Montgomery County called the measure reckless and unwise.

During the meeting, he read a letter from the state’s health secretary voicing her opposition. She called it “irresponsible” to approve the legislation at this time.

“The only way to shorten the length of time we need to weather these conditions is through aggressive social distancing,” Levine wrote. “That is to say in order to bend the curve and assure we can adequately and equitably care for our friends and neighbors during this pandemic, people need to stay home. Encouraging increased social movement of Pennsylvanians at this time by reopening a significant amount of businesses would be reckless and irresponsible.”

Her letter went on to say: “Before we can save livelihoods, we need to save lives.”

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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