Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel stood alongside Gov. Tom Wolf Wednesday to urge Pennsylvanians to vote no on two constitutional amendments that would limit the executive's emergency declaration powers.

PITTSBURGH — Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel stood alongside Gov. Tom Wolf Wednesday to urge Pennsylvanians to vote no to two constitutional amendments that would limit the executive's emergency declaration powers.

Wolf signed the first emergency proclamation March 6, 2020, and the state is still under a modified declaration.

All state voters, regardless of party affiliation, will be given four ballot questions during the May 18 primary that will include the three proposed constitutional amendments. The outcome will shape how the state will handle future emergencies.

Boozel, Wolf and other officials at Wednesday's news conference urged voters to say no to the amendments.

The first two amendment questions seek to limit the governor's ability to declare a disaster emergency as Wolf did last year in response to the spread of the coronavirus.

The introduction of the amendments come after a year of legal wrangling by state Republicans to try and limit Wolf's emergency powers and shutdown orders. The disaster relief declaration allowed Wolf to limit indoor and outdoor dining capacity and rule certain businesses, such as restaurants and bars, to remain closed, a flashpoint for many conservatives.

“There were so many unknowns in March (2020),” Boozel said in front of a crowd in the courtyard of the Allegheny County Courthouse. “It felt a lot like the 9/11 incidents to many people.”

Wolf signed the first proclamation March 6, 2020, following the announcement of the first two presumptive positive cases of the virus in Pennsylvania. Since then, he has signed four renewals of the declaration, with the most recent one earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Wolf said that the state's constitution already has checks and balances in place and that “the legislature can stop what I'm doing right now if they wanted to.

“The current system works,” Wolf said. “Let's not change it. Vote no.”

The first constitutional amendment will ask voters if the constitution should be changed to “increase the power of the General Assembly to unilaterally terminate or extend a disaster emergency declaration.”The amendment would allow the General Assembly to end or extend an emergency declaration without the governor's approval.The second one asks voters if they want a disaster emergency declaration to expire automatically after 21 days, “regardless of the severity of the emergency, unless the General Assembly takes action to extend the disaster emergency.”It would also prevent a governor from declaring a new emergency for the same situation unless legislators approve a concurrent resolution.Under the current system, a governor has sole authority to issue emergency declarations lasting for 90 days. And declarations can be extended, as has been the case since March 2020.Boozel said on Wednesday that the amendments would place too many people in positions of “chiefs.”

“The amendments would propose 253 chiefs,” Boozel said, referring to the members of the legislature. “How would you move nimbly with that many chiefs? It's impossible. Vote no to amendments 1 and 2.”He also said that under the current system, residents know that they can hold the governor accountable in such situations since the power is with only one person.“You can't do that with 253 people,” Boozel said.After the news conference, Boozel said he was invited to speak by the governor to provide people with the “rural perspective” along with the Pittsburgh and Harrisburg point of view.“There's political angst over these amendments, but it's about our future responses and moving nimbly in those emergencies,” said Boozel, who is also a certified firefighter and EMT with the Harrisville Volunteer Fire Company. “In the middle of a fire, you have one person that is in control. All information is being reported to that person, and they're making the decision based on that.“If you pull that person out in the middle of a fire, you'd put everyone in danger. There would be no one leading.”Boozel said that as more people become vaccinated, the state will go into recovery mode, but the same structure is still needed.“You still need someone in charge,” he said. “There's never been a perfect response to a disaster. But if you're relying on one person to make the decisions, at least you can hold that person accountable.”