Pa. pulls 502-page disease-tracking plan after 10,000 comments

The Pennsylvania Department of Health pulled a disease-tracking proposal that would have allowed state officials to enter homes and schools without a warrant.

The department withdrew the 502-page update to its Chapter 27 regulations after receiving more than 10,000 public comments and political opposition, as Glenside Local first reported.

DOH press secretary Neil Ruhland said in a Sept. 25 statement that the department received an unusually high volume of feedback and that additional stakeholder input is needed before moving forward.

The proposal, published Aug. 8, would have broadened the department's authority to investigate diseases, infections and other conditions. Its most contested provision would have let health officials enter apartments, schools, colleges, universities and health care facilities during disease investigations, provided they showed credentials. No warrant would have been required.

Chapter 27 drew more than 10,000 comments

The Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC), which reviews state regulations, typically receives five or fewer comments on a proposed rule package, ABC27 reported. Chapter 27 drew more than 10,000.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Republican, called the proposal a government overreach before the withdrawal. "It gives them unlimited power," Ward said, according to ABC27.

A group of Republican state senators also sent a 40-page letter to the IRRC expressing what they called "profound concerns" about the proposed rulemaking.

Gender language changes also drew criticism

The proposal also called for replacing terms like "pregnant woman" and "mother" in the state health code with "pregnant individual" and "postpartum individual."

A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro told CBS21 that the governor did not personally propose the updated regulations. The spokesperson said any misconstruing of the changes to scare Pennsylvanians would be "inaccurate and disingenuous," according to Glenside Local's account of the CBS21 report.