A proposed 502-page overhaul of Pennsylvania’s public health regulations is drawing sharp criticism from state lawmakers who say it could hand health officials sweeping power to enter homes, schools and other buildings during future disease outbreaks. The debate has a direct local connection: a video criticizing the plan was recorded outside a Pennsylvania Department of Health office in Lehigh County last week.
The proposed rule, known as Regulation 10-242, Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, would expand the list of reportable diseases, infections and conditions and update health code language that has not been revised in 25 years, according to the Department of Health. One provision highlighted by critics states that the department or a local health authority “may enter an apartment, a building, a health care facility, a school, college or university, or other location as necessary to conduct its investigation.”
State Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, who is leading opposition to the changes, called the proposal “COVID 2.0” and said it is worse than pandemic-era measures because it would sidestep a constitutional amendment Pennsylvania voters approved in 2021. That amendment limits a governor’s disaster declaration to 21 days unless the General Assembly extends it, a direct response to the emergency powers used by then-Gov. Tom Wolf during COVID-19.
“This absolutely is COVID 2.0, but it’s even worse because [Governor] Josh Shapiro is trying to circumnavigate or skirt the constitutional provision that we the people in Pennsylvania voted to take that kind of power away from the governor,” Diamond said. “We were the only state in the nation to reduce our governor’s powers by a constitutional amendment after COVID.”
Diamond said surveillance, segregation and quarantine authority are among the areas being reviewed under the proposed rules. “I don’t think that we want a very left-leaning governor with his Department of Health and their henchmen having this kind of police power in Pennsylvania,” he said.
Administration Pushes Back
A spokesperson for Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen, who previously led the Pittsburgh area’s COVID-19 mitigation response, said Governor Shapiro “did not personally propose” the updates and disputed how critics have described them. “Any misconstruing of these proposed changes designed to scare Pennsylvanians is inaccurate and disingenuous,” spokesperson Neil Ruhland told Fox News Digital.
A separate Shapiro spokesperson, Lapowsky, said the governor’s approach to public health is built on trust, and noted the regulations are part of a broader effort touching roughly 200 regulatory areas across state agencies. Lapowsky said the public, stakeholders, independent regulators and the legislature all have a chance to weigh in, and that once the public comment period closes later this month, Shapiro will review the input and the regulations will be revised accordingly. Lapowsky also said Shapiro’s emphasis on public trust extends to respecting parental rights, an issue critics have raised over disease-control measures involving children, including masking.
Ruhland said the Department of Health began analyzing regulatory updates several years ago and argued the changes are needed to modernize decades-old rules and better manage dangerous disease.
Local Video, Statewide Reach
Jason Richey, an attorney and the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, also called the plan “COVID 2.0” in a video he recorded outside a Pennsylvania Department of Health office in Lehigh County last week. “These are even worse than the COVID rules… [DOH] can look at your medical records. They can enter any building and go in without a warrant to do an investigation. They can even take your kid from school and talk to him privately without your consent,” Richey said.
House Minority Leader Jesse Topper, R-McConnellsburg, said the issue extends beyond Pennsylvania’s borders. “Everybody in the United States was impacted by COVID one way or another,” Topper said. “We were one of the worst locked-down states in the entire nation. And we had one of the worst death rates from COVID… We don’t want unelected bureaucrats making those decisions. We need to follow the [Commonwealth] Constitution, which says, ‘Hey, you can declare a public health disaster emergency if you want. But after 21 days, the legislature gets to say whether you can continue that or not.'”
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, who along with Diamond led demonstrations against lockdown policies during the pandemic, called the proposed regulations an “end-round” around voters. “Pennsylvania endured enough government overreach during COVID. We will not go back,” said Mastriano, who has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia.
Topper and Ruhland both urged Pennsylvania residents to submit public comments before Monday’s deadline.
