The constitutional amendment questions that will appear on the May 18 primary election ballot continue to be a hot-button issue between Republicans and Democrats.

In the primary, two of the ballot questions ask voters if they favor giving a portion of the control in a governor-declared disaster to the General Assembly.

Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, held a virtual media briefing Thursday to promote the need for the governor to retain flexible disaster emergency declaration power to quickly and effectively prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.

Padfield said the governor needs to act quickly to mitigate not only pandemics, but also natural, nuclear, cybersecurity, electrical grid, terrorist or other disasters.

“These types of disasters have the potential to have wide-ranging and disastrous impacts,” Padfield said.

He said while the duration of some disasters is short, a long recovery period follows, referring to the constitutional amendment that, if passed, would require the legislature to agree that an extension of the disaster is necessary.

The amendment would also shorten extensions from 90 to 21 days and disallow the governor to declare another disaster using the same criteria.

“It's a critical piece of executive authority,” Padfield said.

State Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, said if voters agree with the constitutional amendments, the governor will retain the ability to declare a disaster.

“It just will not last indefinitely,” he said. “That's what this question is about.”

Hutchinson said he is working on legislation that would extend waivers for one year in a disaster and, in the meantime, a study will be done to determine which waivers should be permanent and which should return to pre-disaster status.An example in a disaster declaration is waiving the requirement for doctors and nurses from other states to become licensed in Pennsylvania to practice here.Padfield said many medical professionals were brought from other places to work in Pennsylvania hospitals and care centers during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the waiver portion of the state disaster declaration law.Telemedicine is another example of a waiver that was granted during the coronavirus pandemic.“I think they were helpful and make sense going forward,” Hutchinson said of the medical waivers during the pandemic.

Regarding Gov. Tom Wolf's multiple extensions of the disaster declaration in the pandemic, Hutchinson said they are unnecessary.He said Pennsylvania is now in its third or fourth year of the opioid crisis disaster declaration.“It's scary to think of some of the things he could do, citing those powers,” Hutchinson said.He said the state constitution already contains language that allows the General Assembly to end a disaster declaration, but the courts have struck down attempts by legislators to take a vote to end it.“If you look at the language, it says we have to pass a resolution and it's over,” Hutchinson said. “We are clarifying what we think is already in the constitution.”

State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, said Wolf has overstepped the line in making decisions for all Pennsylvanians during the pandemic, and the ballot questions will alleviate some of that absolute power in a disaster.“These questions really give the power back to the people,” Mustello said.She said if approved by voters, the constitutional amendments would allow the governor to declare a 21-day emergency, and then come to the General Assembly for approval to extend it for 21 more days.“This does not take the power away from a governor,” Mustello said.She called Padfield's media briefing a scare tactic to frighten people into voting against the amendments.“That's very unfortunate, that they are lowering themselves to that,” Mustello said.She said three branches of government, not one, should make decisions that affect Pennsylvanians.“We are not ruled by a dictator in this commonwealth,” Mustello said. “We are ruled by three branches of government, and when one branch takes over and continues to wield power, it's very dangerous to the other two branches.”