Additional reform will need approval from the Republican-controlled legislature.
Wolf spoke briefly to the crowd, telling them, “We need to stop racism now.”
The death of George Floyd has reignited a push by Democrats, but without Republicans the measures don’t stand a chance.
The reasons vary from apparent misunderstandings to facilities wrongly holding onto the $1,200 or, in one extreme case, threatening to evict residents unless they turned over the funds.
Just over half of the shortfall was due to the economic slowdown caused by efforts to contain the outbreak.
This week, the legislature approved a package that would allocate $2.6 billion for a variety of purposes including providing relief to counties and hard-hit long-term care facilities.
The state Treasury has temporarily halted direct deposit payments for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and will only issue money by check.
The stopgap measure flat-funds most state agencies for five months and the Department of Education for one year.
Gov. Tom Wolf said he and the GOP-controlled General Assembly are negotiating how to best spend the state’s pot of discretionary dollars.
State Rep. Andrew Lewis (R., Dauphin) said in a statement that he tested positive for COVID-19 last week and immediately began self-isolation.
Under Gov. Tom Wolf’s reopening plan, 49 of 67 counties are already in the “yellow” phase, or the first phase of reopening.
Pennsylvania is including in its official count not only viral tests that reveal who currently has COVID-19, but also antibody tests that show whether a person was previously infected.
Provider associations said publishing erroneous data has sewn panic and anger among family members, distrust among nursing home staff, and frustration for providers.
Gov. Tom Wolf on the same day vetoed a bill to restart the real estate industry, angering Republicans in the legislature.
The rebate program is aimed at low-income seniors and people with disabilities.