Josh Shapiro moves to give PA health officials sweeping powers for warrantless searches under 'disease control measures'

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's administration is pushing for a proposed change to the state’s health regulations that would significantly expand the authority of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, including allowing health officials to enter homes and schools without a warrant.

The proposed regulations, which were published earlier in August, would expand the circumstances under which the Department of Health can implement “disease control measures” and broaden its authority to investigate diseases, infections, and other “conditions.” A condition is vaguely defined as a “noninfectious medical ailment or other health-related event.”

The proposal comes despite Pennsylvania residents voting in 2021 to limit unilateral powers of the governor’s office following the COVID-19 pandemic, per the Daily Wire. Under the proposed regulations, health officials could enter a wide range of locations during their investigations. 

“The department or local health authority may enter an apartment, building, health care facility, school, college or university, or other location as necessary to conduct its investigation under this chapter if the representative presents documentation to establish that they are an authorized representative of the department or the local health authority,” the proposal stated.

The proposal also states that a person cannot “interfere” with a Department of Health investigation. Health officials would be permitted “to meet and speak with a student or other person in private” at schools, and that school employees “may not obstruct” an investigation.

The Department of Health, which reports to the governor’s office, could also have broader authority to access confidential patient medical records and impose statewide school mask mandates.

“The administration’s proposed new regulations on mask mandates and communicable diseases are deeply concerning,” state lawmaker Michele Brooks said in a statement to the Daily Wire. “These include catch-all authority to impose masking, distancing, and virtually any other disease-control measure it wants, a statewide vaccine database with mandatory reporting, authority to restrict attendance at funerals, and extraordinarily broad powers to monitor private health information and enter private property.”