DAWN KEEFER, MEMBER District Office: STRICT 12N.Balimore Street raed Dilisburg, PA 17019 Hartsburg Office: Phone, (717) 432.0792 P.O. Box 202092 Fax. (717) 432-0795. Harrisburg, PA 17120-2002 Phone: (717) 783-8783 Fax: (717) 782-2920 Committees i ‘Aging and Older Adult Services Sates House of Representatibes nes ‘dkeefer@pahousegop.com Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Health Harrisburg April, 2020 The Honorable Mike Regan The Honorable David Arnold The Honorable Kristen Philips-Hill The Honorable Doug Mastriano The Honorable Judy Ward The Honorable John DiSanto ‘The Honorable Scott Martin The Honorable Ryan Aument Pennsylvania State Senate Senate Box 203031 Harrisburg, PA 17120-3031 Dear Senators: ‘As my office continues to navigate hundreds of calls and emails every day, the tone of constituents is becoming more desperate and hostile. My staff and | are working overtime to help alleviate the panic ‘and chaos facilitated by the Wolf Administration's ambiguous and capricious orders. The largest percentage of the calls we are receiving are coming from business owners attempting to understand the Governor's arbitrary Industry Operation Guidelines. | know your offices have been hit hard as well and appreciate all the efforts you have been making to chores te cours 28S SA LSS 2 IR Ge AEC ies ar cals haveIt is my understanding from PA House Leadership that my language will be amended into a Senate ‘Administrative Code bill, long with Rep. Diamond's OSHA and CDC COVID19 guidance language, {identical to Senator Mastriano’s), and they plan to put the amended bill up for a vote on Monday or ‘Tuesday in the House. | implore the Senators from South Central PA to champion your Senate Leaders to call this bill to an immediate vote upon receipt in your chamber. understand there is comfort in the status quo, and a sense of safety in a “wait and see” approach, but the status quo is a luxury Pennsylvanians can’t afford right now. There are serious health consequences ‘will result from sustained business closures that we can’t ignore, such as poverty. The negative health outcomes stemming from poverty are long-term and systemic and will Become all too relevant for too many Pennsylvanians if we continue this course. We should not exchange one health crisis for another. Allowing the sectors of our economy that are able to continue with the least amount of risk must be part of a recovery plan The Governor can allow businesses to open in a safe, orderly and planned manner AND work to defeat the virus at the same time, these are not mutually exclusive objectives. All of Pennsylvania's bordering states have either already adopted the federal CISA guidelines or implemented business closure order policies that allow for construction, real estate transactions and automobile sales, placing our PA businesses and our economy at an extraordinary disadvantage. I've attached a document with links to ‘compare border state business operations. We must acknowledge that the economy is also a health factor to be considered now, not simply a barrier to safety. Hunkering down and seeing what happens on May ist is not a plan. We must all work together now more than ever. These are challenging times not seen since 9/11, but {'m confident we can persevere, and emerge even stronger. Let's start by putting Pennsylvania on equal footing with our bordering states and positioning our economy so we can immediately excel as limitations are lifted. ‘Thank you forall you do for our Commonwealth. | am grateful to have such strong leaders in South ‘Central Pennsylvania and | am confident that we can be successful in this effort to align Pennsylvania ‘business operations with our bordering states as well as the rest of the nation.