Pennsylvania could see a $4 billion+ budget deficit this year as a result of the coronavirus shutdown and rising expenses, according to Sen. Pat Browne (R-Lehigh), Majority Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee in the Allentown Morning Call.  (We told you as much last week.)

He said that number may be somewhat high because of the change in the deadline for reporting and paying 2019 taxes until July and other factors.

One indicator of the rising economic toll-- 1,017,101 workers in Pennsylvania have filed for unemployment as of Friday, about 15 percent of Pennsylvania’s labor force.  As a result, the state’s website for accepting claims experienced intermittent outages and the unemployment compensation phone lines were jammed.

A University of Pittsburgh economist recently estimated the jobs of 2.2 million Pennsylvania workers will be impacted by the COVID-19 shutdowns.  Read more here.

Pennsylvania banks have also been inundated by small business and nonprofit requests for assistance from the federal stimulus CARES Act.  Read more here.

Dairy farmers have resorted to dumping milk they cannot sell because of falling and unpredictable demand. Read more here.

While Pennsylvania may be in line for about $5 billion under the federal CARES Act in “general state relief,” said Sen. Browne, it’s not clear yet how that money could be spent.

He and other Senators have said April’s revenue numbers will give a better picture of what is going on with state revenues.  Read more here.

As part of its regular update on state revenues, the Independent Fiscal Office said it will provide rough estimates of the impact the COVID-19 shutdowns will have on revenue April 8.  They said the estimates will include two potential scenarios based on the duration of business closures.  Read more here.

On April 1 (ironically), the Department of Revenue gave a preview of those impacts by reporting a $294.6 reduction in state revenue during March.  However, those numbers only covered a portion of the COVID-19 shutdown period.

On April 3, Gov. Wolf took the unprecedented action to tell about 9,000 state employees who cannot telework they will not be paid after April 10.  The bulk of the workers are in PennDOT and the departments of Labor and Industry and Revenue, but other agencies will be affected.

Employees have the option of using paid leave, unpaid leave or they can file for unemployment compensation.  Read more here.

This step is in addition to laying off about 2,500 part-time and seasonal state employees on March 29 and freezing hiring and nonessential purchases on March 23.

With respect to DEP and DCNR, DCNR reported just over 700 wage employees and interns have been laid off.  DEP has not reported any numbers yet.

The last time layoffs affected DEP and DCNR was in 2009 and 2010 when Gov. Rendell laid off state workers and eliminated positions.

In FY 2009-10, 147 employees and vacancies were eliminated from DEP and DCNR and another 186 full-time vacant positions were axed for a total reduction of 333 positions. In addition, Gov. Rendell laid off 1,131 seasonal workers at DCNR and 240 seasonal positions were eliminated. Read more here.

The FY 2010-11 erased 16 years of General Fund support for state environmental programs.  Read more here.

Of course, DEP has had more than 25 percent of its full-time positions eliminated since 2003 because of regular and frequent budget cuts and billions of dollars in environmental funding has been diverted since then to balance the state budget and fund other unrelated programs. Read more here.

In another action that affects environmental programs, Gov. Wolf last week ordered the transfer of $30 million from the Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund to be part of the $50 million program to purchase medical equipment needed to fight COVID-19.

The USTIF Fund is an insurance fund that pays for the cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks in the state.  

FYI, A $100 million “loan” from the USTIF Fund during the 2001 financial crisis after 9/11 has not yet been fully repaid.

State Treasurer Joe Torsella threw a lifeline to the state’s General Fund account by extending an existing $2 billion line of credit until June 2 to provide the state some breathing room.  Read more here.

Of course, the Senate and House are still sitting on a $172 million surplus in their own operating accounts; they don’t seem to want to repurpose the money to help businesses and taxpayers.  Read more here.

Republicans Want Things Open Again

Senate and House Republicans have criticized Gov. Wolf’s COVID-19 shutdown of non-life-sustaining businesses saying it is too broad and the waiver process-- now closed-- for reconsidering whether a business should be open or closed lacked transparency and was inconsistent.

They want businesses and workers to reopen so people can start getting paychecks again, and tax money keeps coming in.

The House State Government Committee Monday is set to consider legislation-- House Bill 2400-- sponsored by House Speaker Turzai and more than 100 other cosponsors that would allow all private and public construction projects to reopen-- as long as they follow federal CDC social distancing practices and other mitigation measures.  Read more here.

A spokesperson for Gov. Wolf told the media the attempt to frame Pennsylvania as an outlier in its approach to the construction industry in particular is “completely false.”  Read more here.

In an April 1 letter to Gov. Wolf signed by all Senate Republicans, the Senators said, “businesses that want to stay open should have that opportunity” if they follow the CDC social distancing mitigation measures.  They also requested information on the Governor’s plan to return the state to “normalcy.”  Read more here.

Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) introduced Senate Bill 1103 that would let any business that follows the CDC mitigation measures reopen.

As of Friday, the State Police issued only a total of 136 warnings state wide to businesses not complying with the COVID-19 shutdown order.  Read more here.  Of course, State Police officers issued a York County woman a $200 ticket for driving around violating the stay at home order.  Read more here.

Sunday, workers, many from out-of-state, doing refueling and maintenance at the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant in Montgomery County expressed significant concerns about the steps Exelon is taking to protect them. Read more here.

Nuclear plant refueling operations are scheduled for the Susquehanna and Beaver Valley nuclear plants this spring and the Peach Bottom plant this fall.  Read more here.

Everyone Stay At Home/Wear Masks When Out

On April 1, Gov. Wolf and the Secretary of Health extended their stay at home orders to all counties in the state urging residents not to leave their homes except to shop for real necessities.  Read more here.

On April 3, Gov. Wolf urged all Pennsylvanians to wear a cloth mask whenever they do go out of their homes reminding everyone that cloth masks don’t protect the person wearing them, but everyone else.  Read more here.

In Pennsylvania, some models are showing the state could suffer over 3,000 deaths, even with strict social distancing mitigation measures in place.  The Commonwealth now has 136 deaths and climbing. Read more here.

Just 13 days after the first death in Pennsylvania from COVID-19 (March 18), the state has already surpassed the 102 deaths Pennsylvania experienced in the months-long 2019-20 influenza season-- from October to the end of March. Read more here.

Amish Making Cloth Masks

The Amish community in Lancaster County are sewing 13,000 cloth masks to donate to the Lancaster Health Center with Bird-in-Hand Fabric serving as a hub for dozens of families making masks.  Read more here.

In addition, many churches and community groups across the state have been making cloth masks to give away like the Masked Bandits in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.  Read more here.

National Guard Help Continues

As of April 2, approximately 850 PA National Guard members are involved in supporting the state’s response to COVID-19. Some are actively conducting missions while others are preparing in anticipation of additional tasks with our interagency partners.   Read more here.

To date, the National Guard has assisted in:

-- Returning quarantined cruise ship passengers to their Pennsylvania homes

-- Providing logistical support to the Department of Health

-- Supporting the setup of a FEMA Medical Station in Glen Mills, Delaware County

-- Transporting cots from Norristown State Hospital to the FEMA Field Hospital

The National Guard is continuing support to:

-- The community testing site in Montgomery County

-- The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank  Read more here.

-- Continues to conduct planning with our state partner agencies. 

The National Guard has set up its Joint Emergency Operations Center and all three of its geographic emergency response management centers, the same ones used for storms and other state emergencies. 

Known as Task Force North, Task Force South and Task Force West, these management centers provide localized command and control over the PANG units, resources and tasks within their assigned geographic areas.

Sadly, a Lehigh Valley man who served in the New Jersey National Guard became the first service member to die of COVID-19 in the United States. Read more here.

On Friday, the Luzerne County manager asked Gov. Wolf to call in the National Guard to help respond to the pandemic in that county.  More than 300 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Lehigh Valley Health Network facilities in Hazleton.  Read more here.

Poll Position

A poll released on March 30 found 69.4 percent of Pennsylvania voters supported Gov. Wolf’s efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 and split almost evenly on support for President Trump’s actions-- 52.2 percent.  Read more here.

A second poll released April 2 found 68 percent said Pennsylvania’s response to the virus has been about right and 62 percent support the Governor’s actions.  Read more here.

The respected Cook Political Report said Pennsylvania was still a toss-up for President Trump in the general election.  Read more here.

A separate poll had Trump leading Biden in Pennsylvania by just 2 percent.  Read more here.

Mail-In Ballots Encouraged

The Department of State reported over 250,000 people have requested mail-in ballots for the June 2 Primary Election and 78 percent of those were made online.  Voters have until May 26 to request absentee and mail-in ballots.

The Department of State, the PA AFL-CIO, many counties and others are encouraging mail-ins.

Meanwhile a number of counties are hunting for physical locations for the later Primary. Read more here.

Record Liquor Sales

The Liquor Control Board Friday reported selling almost a month’s worth of wine and spirits in only 17 days with $29.9 million worth sold on March 16 along, the day before the physical state stores closed. Read more here.

On April 1, the LCB reopened online sales of wine and spirits-- and the site was immediately overwhelmed with demand.  The LCB is planning to increase order capacity over a period of days.  Read more here.

Meanwhile, police in Delaware are warning Pennsylvania drivers not to come across the border to buy alcohol or for other nonessential reasons.  They were actually physically turning Pennsylvania vehicles away from a store in Claymont, just south of the border.  Read more here.

And the Monongalia County Health Department in West Virginia issued a public health order Saturday banning the sale of liquor to anyone without a West Virginia driver’s license or ID.  Read more here.

Gaming

On April 2, the State Police had to issue warnings to license liquor establishments to refrain from having patrons remain in their buildings to play illegal video gambling devices.  The warnings were prompted by “an influx” of public reports of restaurants and bars allowing use of unlawful gambling devices.  Read more here.

The Gaming Control Board expanded legal video gaming opportunities by approving four more truck stops in Carlisle, Jonestown, Harrisburg and Mifflinville to operate video gaming terminals.  Read more here.

Since the Board suspended gaming operations at all casinos, only online gaming and truck stop video gaming locations have been open for business.

PA Supreme Court Extends Closure

The PA Supreme Court extended its order to close all courts to the public through April 30.  The Court also extended the ban on all evictions through April 30.  Read more here.

The Court also turned down a request for a blanket release of prisoners vulnerable to COVID-19, but urged local courts to take action to address the fears of those in prison.  Read more here.

Meanwhile the state Department of Corrections has been drafting a plan to reduce state prison populations through limited eligibility criteria for release and giving prosecutors a veto over individual decisions.  Read more here.

2020 Census?

April 1, 2020 Census Day came and went, but officials are still reminding Pennsylvanians to FILL OUT THE 2020 CENSUS FORMS!  What else do you have to do at home?   Read more here.

So far Pennsylvania is ahead of the national average in responding to the Census with 45.3 percent responding.  The national response rate is 43.6 percent.  Click Here for updated response figures.

What’s Next?

The Senate is scheduled to return to session April 6, 7 and 8 and the House April 6 and 7 using their new remote voting procedures.

Senate committees are scheduled to consider several budget-related bills like the nonpreferred appropriations for colleges and universities and potential budget vehicles in the fiscal code and administrative code.

As noted, the House is set to consider a bill to reopen the construction industry and other bills un-related to the COVID-19 crisis, against their announced intent.

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