Hello,

I am the President of a microbrewery in the Hampton Roads area but with distribution throughout the state.  Today, I am asking you to hold off on making the emergency temporary standards (ETS) relating to COVID-19 permanent.  

As a small business we have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.  Our number one priority is the safety of our employees and customers and, I believe, we have been very reasonable with implementing proper safety protocol.  While there are certain things about the ETS that I would change (it is way beyond what other states are requiring of small businesses) I can understand the need for government oversight in this unprecedented time.  Making the ETS permanent, however, seems rash and unnecessary.  At some point, the pandemic will be over and while we may face a similar issue in the future more temporary regulations could be issued at that point.  I see no reason to make these standards permanent and I worry about the administrative burden for businesses with no real positive impact on the safety of customers and employees.

Thank you for your time,

Porter Hardy