Score one for freedom in Pennsylvania.
Voters in the Keystone State have become the first in the country to approve stripping their governor of certain emergency powers that were exercised - and abused - by current Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf during the past year’s government-mandated COVID lockdowns.
Pennsylvania residents this week approved a state constitutional amendment restricting a governor’s previously wide-spanning "disaster" authorities, which stated that a governor could declare a state of emergency for up to 90 days and extend it without limit, while a full two-thirds majority vote by state lawmakers was required to override it. The state of emergency then granted the governor authority to impose curfews, mandates and restrictions that otherwise wouldn't have been allowed.
But per the new rules approved by voters, a governor’s declared state of emergency will now be limited to just 21 days, and will then require approval from the legislature. Voters also approved a measure saying the state legislature can now vote to end a governor’s state of emergency declaration at any time with a simple majority vote.
Like many shutdown-happy Democrat governors across the country – including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo - Wolf has come under heavy fire from Republicans and his constituents for imposing draconian and dictatorial shutdown mandates throughout the past year. At one point, he demanded residents wear facemasks in their own homes, mere weeks after being caught on a hot mic joking with a Democrat state rep about their “political theater” in wearing face masks for the cameras.
ABC News notes that during the pandemic, Wolf vetoed more than half a dozen GOP-led bills aimed at restricting his emergency powers, leaving them no choice but to put the amendments on the ballot to be decide on by voters.