Pa. lawmakers are already trying to extend the emergency declaration for the I-95 collapse
The emergency declaration will expire after 21 days unless the General Assembly continues it due to a 2021 constitutional amendment passed over COVID-19 restrictions.
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HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers are already negotiating a deal to extend Gov. Josh Shapiro’s emergency declaration over I-95 bridge collapse in Northeast Philadelphia.
Governor-issued declarations expire in 21 days, but both sides of the I-95 corridor will need “significant repairs,” said State Rep. Ed Neilson (D., Philadelphia), who chairs the House Transportation committee.
“That would be our part: To make certain the governor’s declaration does not expire,” Neilson said after a committee meeting in Harrisburg on Monday.
Shapiro issued the disaster declaration just before noon on Monday so the state could begin accessing federal funds. The move also made $7 million of state funds immediately available for reconstruction of the I-95 bridge.
Emergency declarations are necessary so the state can access emergency funding from the state and federal governments. But a constitutional amendment requires the state House and Senate to approve concurrent resolutions to continue any emergency declaration and, thus, access to emergency funds.
Pennsylvania voters in 2021 approved the change to the state constitution, which mandates legislative approval to extend any emergency declarations after 21 days, following former Gov. Tom Wolf’s business closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now lawmakers are required to approve and issue an extension every 21 days for any governor-issued emergency declaration.
State lawmakers will break for summer recess next month, and won’t return to legislating until early fall — well past the 21-day expiration date. Neilson said Democratic and Republican legislative leaders are negotiating what an extension will look like, and the length of that extension.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said he was unaware of any conversations about extending the declaration, but said he would be open to Shapiro’s recommendation.
“This is why we have emergency declarations,” Pittman said.
Senate and House Republicans were critical of Wolf’s usage of the COVID-19 emergency declaration as going against the intended purpose of a disaster declaration, allowing him to act without legislative oversight. He vetoed several bills whenever the General Assembly tried to change Wolf’s restrictions. Lawmakers then passed the constitutional amendment so he could no override their efforts.