Pa. Senate passes bill letting school districts decide who attends sporting events

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 | 4:19 PM

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If House Bill 2787 becomes law, state Rep. Mike Reese plans to watch some high school football games and see his niece play volleyball at Hempfield.

But that’s now in the governor’s hands.

The bill, sponsored by the Westmoreland County Republican, would let individual school districts determine attendance limits for high school sporting events. The state Senate voted 39-11 to approve the legislation Wednesday, sending it to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk.

“It passed with 39 votes. That’s a great thing,” Reese said. “It’s beyond the veto-override number we needed, so that’s a big positive.”

The state House approved the bill 155-47 last week.

Wolf now has three options. He can sign the bill, veto it or do nothing and let the bill become law after 10 days. Press secretary Lyndsay Kensinger said the governor plans to veto the bill.

“The bill is unnecessary given that school districts already have local control on decisions on school sports,” Kensinger said. “Further, the virus is not stopping and spreads more easily when people are in close proximity with one another. This bill would allow for the potential gathering of thousands in close proximity, a widely reported, well-known public health risk.”

Legislators would need a two-thirds majority vote to override a veto.

The bill drew Senate support from all Republicans, 10 Democrats and one independent. State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Allegheny, supported the bill, saying it was one of the most passionate issues he’d seen in his communities.

“As an elected official, I need to be responsive to my constituents,” Fontana said. “Many, many parents, grandparents and school administrators emailed and said they couldn’t understand exactly why the restrictions were what they are. This bill changes that.”

The legislation drew “yes” votes from nine of 10 state senators in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, voted no.

Wolf’s covid-19 restrictions limit gatherings to 250 individuals outdoors and 25 indoors. The totals count athletes, coaches, officials and other game-day workers — leaving no room for spectators at many football stadiums.

The indoor limit also makes a volleyball game difficult to organize.

“I’m excited that it was a bipartisan effort,” Reese said. “A lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans supported this effort to empower local school districts. I’m hopeful the governor will at least sit down and give it a good consideration before he acts on it.”

Fontana said the legislature next needs to have a discussion about liability protection regarding schools and covid-19. Wolf issued a strong recommendation Aug. 6 that youth sports be delayed until January. The PIAA board voted a few weeks later to ignore Wolf’s recommendation and let fall sports continue.

In Fontana’s opinion, school districts already had the ability to make independent decisions regarding interscholastic sports, but this bill provides assurances.

“I think they’re just looking for clarity,” he said, “and they want to be able to say, ‘The legislature said we could do it.’”

WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said the legislation would be beneficial, particularly for football and girls volleyball teams.

“It helps alleviate some of the stress from schools at this point,” Scheuneman said. “It lets them decide who they feel is safe to come into a facility without handcuffing them to the 250. I do think it’s a good thing. We still want to remain on the side of caution, and allow schools to make the best decisions for their facilities.”

Whether that’s 25% or 50% of capacity, or another number altogether, the WPIAL won’t make any recommendations.

“Everybody knows their facilities best and how they want to handle it,” Scheuneman said. “We don’t want full stadiums again. That’s obviously not a safe environment. But a larger facility can hold more than a small facility. That’s going to be up to individual schools to decide what that number is.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.