Fighting Government Overreach
September 24, 2026
I recently joined more than 80 of my fellow House members in submitting formal comments to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) calling for the withdrawal of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s proposed rewrite of regulations that govern communicable and noncommunicable diseases in the Commonwealth.
The 502-page proposal is reminiscent of COVID lockdown-era policy and represents an unprecedented expansion of bureaucratic control, threatening the constitutional liberties, medical privacy and parental rights of citizens across the Commonwealth. Our formal comment letter highlights several alarming provisions within the proposal, including:
| • | Broadly expanding mandatory vaccine reporting and allowing increased access to private medical records. | |
| • | Granting health officials the authority to enter school buildings and interview minor students privately for disease-control investigations without clear parental knowledge or consent. | |
| • | Providing the ability to enter private residences for disease control investigations while remaining silent about whether a search warrant is required prior to entering a residence. | |
| • | Expanding protocols for contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, while raising concerns over unilateral executive powers to re-impose mask mandates or other coercive measures. | |
| • | Attempting to permanently establish sweeping public health powers through the regulatory process rather than through open legislative debate. |
Click here to read our comment letter.
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