An Amendment to Limit Despotic Governance

This post may seem a little more parochial than most of what appears on VP, but since many of our readers are residents of the state of Pennsylvania in the U.S., I thought it was worth bringing this content to our readers' attention.

Pennsylvanians, like many Americans and, indeed, people worldwide, have been deeply affected during the current pandemic, not only by the corona virus itself, but by the actions of government in dealing with it. In Pennsylvania, as elsewhere, the government response has been crushingly heavy-handed.

The governor of our state, Democrat Tom Wolf, has managed to devastate hundreds of thousands of lives, jobs and small businesses by forcing thousands of establishments to close their doors during the recent spike in covid cases.

Many of his edicts would be risible were they not so harmful. Like his counterpart in neighboring New York, Governor Wolf required that elderly covid patients who had been sent to hospitals from their long term care facilities be returned to their nursing and rest homes allowing the virus to spread through those facilities like flames through dry straw, resulting in over half of all the covid deaths in the state.

His Secretary of Health, anticipating this calamity, took her mother out of a nursing home and put her up in a hotel. Thousands of others didn't have this option and as of this writing almost 12,000 elderly patients have died in long term care facilities in Pennsylvania. The secretary is now in the Biden administration.

The governor also declared that gatherings of less than ten people would be permitted, but businesses like gyms and small shops and restaurants which rarely have more than ten occupants at any one time were nevertheless required to close, even as big box stores could remain open. He additionally ordained that anyone entering the state from other states, as well as Pennsylvanians who are returning home from other states, must have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to entering Pennsylvania or quarantine for 10 days upon entry into the state, but travel between home and work or home and medical appointments in other states was permitted.

This order was so fraught with problems (truckers traversing the state, people visiting family across the state line, etc.) that it had to be amended to the point where almost everyone is exempt except those who vacation outside the state or come to Pennsylvania to vacation. Even at that the order is ludicrous because it's unenforceable.

Any ordinance that is completely impractical and unenforceable only increases disrespect for the law and those who make it. Now, though, the Pennsylvania legislature is taking action to rein in our governor's recklessness.

According to Charles Mitchell, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank, the state legislature has set in motion a constitutional amendment that would limit a future governor's ability to wreak chaos on the state's businesses and the economic and psychological welfare of its citizens.

Mitchell explains,

Wolf’s restrictions, some of the most draconian in the country, have inflicted the Keystone State’s communities with mass unemployment, social disorder, widespread despair, and overall economic decline. Other states should view Pennsylvania’s course as an alarming model for how their own governors and local officials can seize unlimited “emergency” executive governance.

In response to Wolf, Pennsylvanians — beginning with their representatives in the state’s General Assembly — are pursuing a voter-driven remedy that could serve as a national model. A constitutional amendment, placed before voters this year, would check a governor’s unilateral, indefinite emergency powers. If approved, Pennsylvanians could prevent an encore of what unfolded this past year, and inspire other states to follow their lead.

In Pennsylvania, state law caps the duration of emergency declarations to 90 days but places no limit on the number of times a governor can unilaterally renew them. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is paying the price of this policy. Since last March, Wolf, wielding his unchecked power, has extended the disaster declaration by fiat three times.

During that period, Pennsylvanians suffered the social and economic costs of policies, including lockdowns, that enforced mass business closures. Although lawmakers in both parties have challenged Wolf’s arbitrary decision-making and lack of transparency, the governor still holds veto power.

It's not that the legislature hasn't tried other means of redress. Since last summer they passed ten bills that would've in one way or another limited the governor's unilateral authority, but Mr. Wolf vetoed nine of them and, whenever the legality of his measures was challenged in court, a Democrat-dominated Supreme Court supported him.

So, beginning last summer, the General Assembly commenced a process that would preserve checks and balances while also ending the state’s endless state of emergency. Through a constitutional amendment, this process would restore lawmakers’ oversight of a governor’s emergency decision-making. In short, the amendment would allow the General Assembly to prevent a governor from extending a disaster declaration beyond 21 days without lawmakers’ approval.

The state’s constitutional amendment process, which doesn’t require a governor’s signature, commenced when lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1166 in July 2020. But any proposed constitutional amendment requires passage in two consecutive legislative sessions.

That’s why the General Assembly approved Senate Bill 2 last week. The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, completes the legislature’s role in the constitutional amendment process. Voters will now have their say at the ballot box in May.

As a result, Pennsylvanians will soon vote on restoring their civil liberties by imposing checks on a governor’s emergency powers. If the constitution is amended, future governors can still respond in crises, but not indefinitely. Instead, after 21 days, a governor will require the approval of the people’s representatives in the legislature.

If you're a Pennsylvania resident, and you believe that the kind of absolute power Governor Wolf has arrogated to himself should not be invested in any one person then you should make it a point to vote for this amendment to the state constitution in May.