Warning of a return to the draconian playbook, GOP lawmakers in a battleground state are speaking out against the possible “police powers” that could come with new regulatory rules.
“This absolutely is COVID 2.0, but it’s even worse …”
Between death toll trackers and fearmongering projections, much of the narrative around COVID relied on panic porn while public officials passed the buck on following someone else’s “guidance” to impose arbitrary mandates on what businesses were allowed to operate and whether or not a loved one was left to die alone while medical professionals choreographed their next TikTok dance.
Now it appears that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is setting the stage for potential constitutional violations as Republican state lawmakers are speaking out against a 502-page rewrite of Keystone State health code rules they say give officials broad “police power” over the public should another virus give cause to declare an emergency.
“This absolutely is COVID 2.0, but it’s even worse because [Gov.] Josh Shapiro is trying to circumnavigate or skirt the constitutional provision that we the people in Pennsylvania voted to take that kind of power away from the governor,” Pennsylvania state Rep. Russ Diamond (R) told Fox News Digital. “We were the only state in the nation to reduce our governor’s powers by a constitutional amendment after COVID.”
The proposed regulation aims to expand the list of reportable communicable and noncommunicable diseases and update rules allowing for things like local health authorities to “enter an apartment, a building, a health care facility, a school, college or university, or other location as necessary to conduct its investigation under 208 this chapter.”
In May 2021, Pennsylvania voters approved amendments allowing the legislature to terminate a governor’s emergency declaration by a simple majority vote and to force the governor to get legislative approval every 21 days to renew an emergency declaration. Five other legislatures would likewise curb the power of their respective state executives.
“I don’t think that we want a very left-leaning governor with his Department of Health and their henchmen having this kind of police power in Pennsylvania,” added Diamond, who also remarked, “Everybody in the United States was impacted by COVID one way or another.”
“We were one of the worst locked-down states in the entire nation. And we had one of the worst death rates from COVID … We don’t want unelected bureaucrats making those decisions,” he argued in a clip erroneously credited to Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Jesse Topper. “We need to follow the [Commonwealth] Constitution, which says, ‘Hey, you can declare a public health disaster emergency if you want. But after 21 days, the legislature gets to say whether you can continue that or not.'”
COVID 2.0: Pennsylvania lawmakers are sounding the alarm on a 502-page health code rewrite they say would hand Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Department of Health sweeping new powers — including the ability to enter private homes, access medical records, and pull children from school for… pic.twitter.com/1luJIufSwe
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) September 18, 2026
Speaking on behalf of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Debra Bogen, spokesperson Neil Ruhland told Fox News Digital, “Any misconstruing of these proposed changes designed to scare Pennsylvanians is inaccurate and disingenuous.”
Likewise, Shapiro spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky contended the governor has emphasized public trust and respect for parental rights.
Meanwhile, his rival in the 2022 gubernatorial election, Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), current nominee for U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, told Fox News Digital, “Pennsylvania endured enough government overreach during COVID. We will not go back.”
As Shapiro seeks re-election, this year’s GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, Jason Richey, expressed in a video from early September, “… these are even worse than the COVID rules … [DOH] can look at your medical records. They can enter any building and go in without a warrant to do an investigation. They can even take your kid from school and talk to him privately without your consent.”
Dubbing the governor “power hungry,” Richey reminded about Shapiro’s recent attempt to stir up a public health emergency regarding deaths in Lancaster that the state claimed were “measles-associated” without providing the public with details about the identities of the decedents or their actual medical conditions, while his running mate, ticket-topping Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R), encouraged public comment while stating “a power-grabbing governor like Josh Shapiro … has proven time and again that he cannot be trusted.”
Josh Shapiro’s proposed health department regulations are COVID 2.0. pic.twitter.com/hksYYaBVJB
— Jason Richey (@richeyforpa) September 6, 2026
Josh Shapiro’s 502-page rewrite of Pennsylvania’s Health Code would give his government sweeping new authority over your private property, confidential medical information, and even your children.
Buried within those hundreds of pages is Josh Shapiro’s crusade to eliminate… pic.twitter.com/1y1H3xbPu9
— Stacy Garrity (@GarrityForPA) September 14, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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