Wolf extends opioid disaster declaration

By CHRISTINE HAINES and
JEFF STITT

chaines@yourmvi.com
jstitt@yourmvi.com

Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed the 15th renewal of his January 2018 opioid disaster declaration to help the state fight the opioid and heroin epidemic.

The latest opioid disaster declaration will last 21-days or the General Assembly could take action to extend the declaration by Aug. 26.

Wolf, on July 30, sent a letter to the General Assembly stating his intent to renew the declaration, and asking their leaders to consider returning to Harrisburg to extend the disaster declaration to allow for a renewal of collective efforts around the opioid crisis.

The governor can no longer unilaterally extend the 90-day disaster emergency declaration, something he had done more than a dozen times, following voters’ approval in May of a state constitutional amendment curbing the emergency powers of a governor in Pennsylvania.

Emergency declarations now end after 21 days and lawmakers have sole authority to extend or end them at any time with a simple majority vote. Governors could previously issue an emergency declaration for up to 90 days and extend them without limit, and a two-thirds majority vote by lawmakers was required to end such declarations.

A few state lawmakers told the Mon Valley Independent how they feel about Wolf calling on the legislature to return to Harrisburg to take action on the declaration and the epidemic, which has raged on while policy and headlines have largely focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.

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