Business community worried about permanent COVID-19 safety regulations adopted by Virginia board

(The Center Square) – COVID-19-related safety restrictions on Virginia businesses will be in place indefinitely, a state regulatory board decided.

Despite efforts from the business community and some of the board members to include an expiration date, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s Safety and Health Codes Board voted Wednesday to adopt permanent standards. The restrictions will stay in place until the board schedules a meeting to repeal them.

Over the two-day board discussion, board member Courtney Malveaux offered failed amendments to hold off permanent standards.

One failed amendment would have set a six-month expiration date on restrictions to force the board to meet again in June to decide whether to extend the restrictions, let them expire or adopt permanent standards. Another failed amendment would have postponed a vote for a 30-day period in which members of the public could provide input.

Some of the restrictions include sanitation protocols, social distancing requirements, face covering requirements, physical barriers, documentation requirements and other COVID-19-related rules.

Members of the business community argued the requirements are superfluous with state and federal restrictions already in place. They also noted the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is underway and the requirements may not be necessary in the near future.

Robert Melvin, the director of government affairs at the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, told The Center Square the association appreciates that the board took some of its concerns into consideration but said it was not sufficient. He said restaurants and lodging businesses already are following national guidelines and cleaning protocols to ensure safety for their patrons.

Melvin said the biggest concern is that the restrictions will stay in place until the board takes action to repeal them. With a vaccine available, he questioned why the board could not set an expiration date and then revisit, if necessary.

Other business associations, such as the National Federation of Independent Business, the Virginia Retail Association and the Virginia Manufacturers Association also have spoken against permanent restrictions.

“The way this regulatory process was handled made it very difficult for business owners to be heard or offer alternatives that better fit their operations,” Brett Vassey, the president and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association, said in a statement. “The regulations keep changing with the latest version put out the day before a public hearing. The Board continues to violate the Virginia Administrative Process Act, including never producing an economic impact report or regulatory flexibility report.”

Stephen Haner, a senior fellow for state and local tax policy at the free-market Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, told The Center Square employers are being used as scapegoats for the pandemic.

“Virginia’s employers are easy scapegoats, unfortunately,” Haner said. “We are now the best state for blaming business.”

The vaccine rollout is underway in Virginia. In his State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam said vaccine distribution and people choosing to take the vaccine will be an important step in getting Virginia back to normal.

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