On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted, 107-95, to pass Senate Bill 613, which changes how Governor Tom Wolf will respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The PA Senate did the same on Wednesday, 29-21, moving the bill to Wolf’s desk for a signature or a veto.

The bill states that Wolf must follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and conform to the advisory sent out by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). That agency identifies essential critical workers and includes more business listings than the Wolf essential/non-essential business list.

Compliance under Senate Bill 613 means “a business that complies with the requirements of the mitigation plan developed under the subsection (B) may operate in this commonwealth.”

We applaud Representative Kathy Rapp and the 106 other state Republicans that voted in favor of the bill. We stand with local small businesses in having the right to make correct decisions when it comes to protecting its employees and its customers.

We applaud Sen. Scott Hutchinson and the 27 other state Republican senators and one Independent that voted on Wednesday in favor of this bill.

The reason we believe so strongly in small business owners making the right decisions is that they are our neighbors, our friends. Our kids play Little League together. We go to the same churches.

Before this pandemic started, they’re the same people, we stopped on the street corner to chat with on our nightly walks.

Small business owners are going to protect their neighbors, their friends, and the ones they love.

They’re going to do the right thing because when they cut your hair at their beauty salon and you pay them, they use that money to pay their mortgages, buy groceries, and go out to eat.

“Pennsylvania’s small businesses (and their owners, workers, and customers) deserve consistency, clarity, and uniformity in these difficult times, and this bill seeks to accomplish that goal,” said Rep. Rapp following her vote. “We need to give Pennsylvania’s businesses the same flexibility to modify their operations and continue to work safely.

“The actions we took today provide hope for Pennsylvania’s future by protecting the health and safety of Pennsylvanians, while also taking steps to position our economy for recovery and financial security,” she said.

And that’s all we are asking.

“The initial call to action by the Administration was appropriate at that time. We needed to take steps to address the pandemic and the people of Pennsylvania have risen to that challenge,” Senator Hutchinson said. “However, as we have found with many issues, Pennsylvania is a very diverse state, as such a ‘one size fits all’ approach rarely works. The bills we passed (Wednesday) provide increased flexibility and allow for more local control as we recover from the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Up next, Gov. Wolf’s likely veto.