May. 14, 2020
HARRISBURG – State Rep. Chris Quinn (R-Delaware) voted on Thursday in favor of four separate bills to move all of Pennsylvania toward reopening.
The bills would allow real estate, barbershops and salons, vehicle dealerships, lawn and garden centers, messenger services, animal grooming services, and manufacturing operations to reopen with proper COVID-19 mitigation efforts in place across Pennsylvania including counties that remain in the red. The legislation passed on Thursday also included a bill that would allow individual counties to create a plan for mitigation procedures for all businesses to reopen.
“The stay-at-home orders by Gov. Tom Wolf initially made sense; however, that is no longer the case,” Quinn said. “We needed to prepare our health care facilities to ensure they could handle this pandemic. For the most part, they have certainly handled the bulk of cases. We now need to begin allowing people to get back to work.
“The death toll experienced here in Delaware County has been truly tragic” Quinn continued. “We also know the vast majority of deaths have been in our senior homes, and we need to continue to protect the most vulnerable among us and allow others to continue to earn a living.”
During the pandemic, Pennsylvania has been the most restrictive state in the country when it comes to real estate transactions, and most states have allowed all real estate business to continue.
“I cannot fathom why real estate was not deemed a life-sustaining business by Gov. Wolf,” Quinn said. “Anyone can tell you that shelter is a basic human need, and housing is clearly ‘life-sustaining.’ By preventing access to housing during the pandemic, Gov. Wolf has endangered lives, and that needs to end.”
Senate Bill 327 enables county governments to develop their own mitigation plans for businesses to allow commerce to reopen. Quinn said he believes Delaware County is ready for this move. Quinn added that every municipality in Delaware County has a health inspector to ensure that businesses adhere to the new mitigation standards.
“Delaware County Council has already requested that the governor count cases from senior homes separately from the rest of cases to allow us to reopen our economy more quickly,” Quinn said. “The Delaware County Council has shown that it wants to reopen and do so as safely as possible. We should allow them to do so since they have a better idea of the situation on the ground locally than statewide officials.”
Representative Chris Quinn
168th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Rene Morrow
717.260.6273
rmorrow@pahousegop.com
RepChrisQuinn.com / Facebook.com/RepChrisQuinn