HARRISBURG – Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) released the following statement after the Commonwealth Court declared that Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam’s school mask mandate is void:
“From the start, Governor Wolf, Acting Health Secretary Beam and legislators all agreed that the decision to mask should be up to locally elected officials. Unfortunately, as we have seen throughout this pandemic, the Wolf Administration suddenly reversed course after school districts spent considerable time and resources devising their own Health and Safety Plans, as well as deciding whether their respective school districts should mandate masks.
“The people of Pennsylvania showed this past May that collaboration is better than a unilateral one-size-fits-all approach to how we move forward throughout this pandemic. The court today reaffirmed the will of the people and returns the masking decision to where it rightfully belongs – in the hands of our local communities and not left up to an unconfirmed Acting Secretary of Health.”