Pennsylvania Republicans say a 502-page rewrite of state disease rules would let health agencies enter homes and other buildings without a warrant.
The proposal comes from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Pennsylvania Department of Health and was filed with the Independent Regulatory Review Commission in June. Health Secretary Debra Bogen signed the package on communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
Senate Republicans said in a written statement that the rules would let state and local health agencies “enter any home, school, apartment, healthcare facility or other building without a warrant.” They also said the department could “speak to a student in private without the consent or knowledge of a parent.”
The Senate GOP summary cites proposed language on pages 66 and 208-209 for entry authority and pages 66-67 and 211 for private conversations with students.
It also lists broader access to health records, a mandatory statewide vaccination database, and authority for statewide mask mandates and other mitigation measures.
IRRC Executive Director David Sumner called the filing “one of the most significant rulemakings to come through our door in the last few years.” He said the commission will weigh reasonableness, clarity, and compliance cost. The full process could take as long as two years.
The public comment period was set to expire Monday.
Republican state Rep. Kathy Rapp of Warren County said more than 4,000 comments were filed, with most opposing the rules.
Meanwhile, Democratic state Rep. Arvind Venkat, a physician from Allegheny County, said Republicans “are jumping to extreme conclusions.” He said the regulations need to be updated because of new diseases and other developments in the 25 years since the last major overhaul.
House Health Committee Chairman Dan Frankel, a Democrat, wrote IRRC to support disease prevention work and expanding vaccine tracking.
He suggested changing language about the ages of young people who might be approached in schools, saying that “a first-grader is not the same as a high school senior.”
Rapp, the top Republican on that committee, said the filing in its current form hands “broad, unchecked authority to unelected bureaucrats.”
Republican state Rep. Russ Diamond from Lebanon County said that if the regulation takes effect, “I guarantee you there will be constitutional lawsuits.” He called it “COVID 2.0.”
Diamond pointed to a 2021 statewide referendum that limited disaster declarations to 21 days unless lawmakers extend them. He said the proposal tries to “skirt and circumvent that constitutional power by giving the Department of Health all the powers the people objected to.”
The department’s filing says the rewrite would expand the list of reportable diseases and conditions, update expert guidance, and reduce the spread of disease.
A Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman said that the proposal “does not create new legal authority” to enter private residences or change how the department respects private property, and that it “clarifies the authority that already exists in statute.”
The department also said the student interview language provides “transparency” about existing investigation work rather than new power to speak to children without parental consent.
Senate Republicans said Shapiro or the department can withdraw the package, or IRRC can reject it.
Thousands of comments are posted on the IRRC website. Sumner noted that an earlier greenhouse gas rulemaking drew about 30,000 comments.
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