Brewster offers plan to reopen economy

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

State Sen. Jim Brewster wants lawmakers to lay out “a road map” for business owners, their employees and consumers that would provide “a defined schedule” for restarting the economy once public health officials and medical professionals give the green light to do so.

Brewster, a Democrat from McKeesport, released his COVID-19 Health and Business Recovery Plan on Thursday. He is seeking bipartisan support for the proposal, which calls for reopening some businesses such as car dealerships, construction, golf courses and more by May 11.

“In any plan to reopen business once the pandemic is further controlled, there must be a reasonable schedule to bring businesses online — provided workers, customers and clients are protected,” Brewster said.

Brewster said he developed his approach after the Republican-controlled state House and Senate, on party lines, passed legislation this week to reopen businesses, which Gov. Wolf pledged to veto.  

Brewster said there is “a middle ground” that would provide health security for workers, consumers and clients, yet give businesses “a defined schedule to plan reopening, provided the health threat was addressed.”

State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine wrote to senators Wednesday saying the bill that Wolf plans to veto would have a “devastating” impact on the administration’s ability to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Republicans accused the governor of overseeing a secretive process for determining which businesses have been deemed “life-sustaining” or have been given waivers from the state Department of Community and Economic Development. 

On the opposite side of the aisle, Democrats charged Republicans with ignoring  medical experts and risking lives. Republicans responded by saying they were trying to force Wolf to adopt guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Partisanship has no place in this effort to move forward with protecting our workers and reopening business,” Brewster said.  “The recovery schedule will be dictated by health care experts and the effort to ensure that testing is readily available and personal protection equipment is widely disbursed for workers.”

Brewster said he and his staff “are looking at re-engaging business operations that generally can meet extreme distancing and personal protection guidelines first, then mix in other businesses over a short time frame.”

“No worker, client or customer should be exposed, and we must do all we can to ensure that all precautions are taken to stop the disease from spreading as businesses are reopened,” Brewster said. “Health expertise, science, increased testing, better worker protection and common sense dictates the reopening, but we can craft plans to provide business with a general road map.”

He said restrictions should only be relaxed if health care professionals are engaged and personal protection equipment for workers is readily available.

Noting that some waivers have already been granted for businesses during “the first phase of business reopening process,” Brewster said he envisions at least two more phases in “the reopening schedule.”

Under the senator’s plan, businesses and industries such as construction, car dealerships, real estate, recreation and outdoor-focused operations such as golf courses and gardening operations would be granted waivers in Phase II and resume operations on May 11.

In addition, retail operations such as state wine and spirits shops plus other small retailers “that can regulate the number of customers in stores while workers are provided enhanced protections” could begin operating in Phase II.  

The senator said once additional mitigation steps such as “table distancing in restaurants and other customer and worker protections” are implemented, “other categories of business operations would be able to resume on June 1 in Phase III.”

He said more operations could resume at intervals after June 1 with the goal of slowly re-engaging all business throughout June, and that his plan “was predicated on a continued flattening and significant reduction of cases, enhanced testing, and businesses receiving clearances from licensed health care providers on mitigation plans formulated from CDC guidelines.”

National and state social distancing, sanitation protocols and worker personal protection upgrades all must be met, he said. 

“We need to move methodically and evaluate each step along the way to ensure that workers, customers and clients are protected because the numbers could change and we could experience a spike in cases,” Brewster said. 

Brewster hopes the business recovery plan will be combined with a six-point economic stimulus plan that he unveiled after the passage of the federal stimulus package. That plan calls for a state unemployment compensation booster or “kicker” that would issue direct payments to workers who lost their job as the result of the pandemic. 

When Brewster announced the plan, he suggested giving unemployed workers $100 to $200 a month on top of the unemployment benefits they are already receiving.

His stimulus plan also calls for creating short-term “bridge grants” for small businesses, re-purposing Pennsylvania’s bonding capacity and “sweeping” unencumbered general fund and special fund accounts, expanding the net loss carryforward program to cover taxes for small businesses “to help reduce future pandemic-related tax liabilities,” “opening financial levers to fund water, sewer, transportation and community improvement projects” and appointing a “pandemic recovery czar to coordinate the response and the distribution of funding specifically related to the pandemic through a single contact point in state government.”