January 8, 2020
Submitted Electronically
Jay Withrow, Director
Division of Legal Support, ORA, OPPPI, and OWP
Virginia Department of Labor and Industry
600 E. Main Street, Suite 207
Richmond, VA 23219
RE: Comments of Virginia Retail Federation
VA Department of Labor and Industry, Safety and Health Codes Board
Permanent Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention: SARS-CoV-2 Virus That Causes COVID-19, 16VAC25-220
Dear Board Members:
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s announced intent to adopt a Permanent Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention: SARS-CoV-2 Virus That Causes COVID-19, 16VAC25-220. We are commenting on behalf of Virginia Retail Federation. Virginia Retail Federation is the statewide retail association advocating on behalf of retailers large and small across the Commonwealth. Our members will be directly impacted by the attempt to implement “one size fits all” COVID-19 Regulations on businesses throughout Virginia.
Our members oppose the adoption of a Permanent Standard by The Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board. We assert that adopting 16VAC25-220 as permanent regulations is overly burdensome, unnecessary, and violates existing law. The science and understanding of COVID-19 is continuously changing. Therefore, the CDC and OSHA guidelines are frequently updated to reflect this. If the Emergency Temporary Standard were to become permanent, it would continue to require businesses to comply with outdated regulations.
In addition, the proposed permanent standard does not contain a true sunset date. Rather, all it does is reiterate the Board’s authority to come back at a later date to determine the necessity of a continued permanent standard after the Governor’s State of Emergency is lifted. The Board was clear during its July deliberations; the temporary nature of this pandemic requires that any regulations put in place related to COVID-19 must sunset with the Governor’s State of Emergency order. If the Board intends to move forward with a standard after expiration of the current ETS, we expect the Board to stick by its decision to end these regulations at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
VRF also takes issue with the fact that there is still no economic impact statement to evaluate the cost on small businesses as required with the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Act/Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. Because this impact statement was not available at the time written comments were due, businesses have had no opportunity to address any findings from that analysis.
Permanent regulations would be overly burdensome, costly, and confusing for businesses. Especially in light of overlapping regulations and guidance with the “Safer at Home” guidance, Executive Order 72, and the proposed rule. Businesses are already incurring expensive costs to comply with the ETS. These include hiring consultants and attorneys, taking workers out of production to do additional training, and much more.
Virginia Retail Federation strongly urges the board not to adopt a permanent standard for a temporary issue, and not to approve any amendments to the Regulations that would incorporate other infectious diseases. There is no one-size-fits-all plan to combat a wide variety of infectious illnesses.
We recommend that the Board reject the Regulations, provide additional public comment related to the newly revised January 4th proposal and anticipated economic analysis, and convene a workgroup of stakeholders to revise and recommend a second COVID-19 ETS that expires within 6 months of adoption or when the State of Emergency expires.
Sincerely,
Jodi Roth Kate Baker
Government Affairs Government Affairs
Virginia Retail Federation Virginia Retail Federation