MORGANTOWN – House Judiciary approved a bill Saturday to curb the powers of the governor in states of emergency and preparedness.
Gov. Jim Justice declared the COVID-19 state of emergency on March 16, 2020, and it continues to this day. Many legislators have expressed frustration that they weren’t called into special session to appropriate the CARES Act money.
The House of Delegates had sufficient support on both sides of the aisle for the Legislature to call itself into special session, but Senate Republicans blocked the effort.
HB 2003 is a result of that frustration and was prepared by a bipartisan work group over the summer, committee counsel told members Friday, when work on the bill began.
The terms state of emergency and state of preparedness have been in use for many years but never defined in code, and this bill does that. Preparedness involves planning and preparation for a pending emergency.
The bill says a state of emergency may last no longer than 60 days unless both houses of the Legislature pass a concurrent resolution to extend it. A state of preparedness may last no longer than 30 days unless extended by resolution.
The bill before the members specified that extensions lasted only 30 days. The extensions cold be renewed indefinitely but would require the Legislature to reconvene every 30 days to renew them. Those provisions were amended out.
The amendment was proposed by freshman Delegate Joey Garcia, who previously served as deputy legal counsel and legislative director under Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, and co-sponsored by committee chair Moore Capito, R-Kanawha. Garcia said the Legislature has the discernment to know how long or how often to extend a state of emergency, and not doing it every 30 days will save time and money.
The bill also says the Legislature may condition, limit, terminate or expand any directive included in the governor’s proclamations declaring a state of emergency or preparedness.
HB 2003 specifies that any subsequent proclamations concerning the same emergency will be treated as a continuation of the emergency and not as a new emergency. This prohibits a governor from bypassing legislative oversight and acting by fiat.
Counsel told members that emergency proclamations in many states are facing numerous court challenges, and in some states county circuit courts are issuing contradictory rulings. To avoid this, the bill specifies that all challenges will go to the state Supreme Court.
Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Brooke, offered an amendment that generated the only real debate on the bill. As written, counsel and members weren’t clear if it applied to the current state of emergency.
So McGeehan proposed adding a sentence to the end of the bill saying it does apply.
Capito agreed with the sentiment of the amendment, but said he believed the bill as written would apply and adding the sentence might cause unnecessary confusion.
Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, said that the clarification is needed; without it the bill is just symbolism. He recalled the failed effort to call themselves into session. “We can’t allow that to happen again,” he said. Justice has been “operating the state like a king” since March.
Delegate Mark Zatezalo, R-Brooke, agreed with Fluharty. “I definitely think we need to be part of the process.”
In a roll call vote, the amendment was adopted 16-8. The amended bill passed unanimously and goes to the full House.
If it’s passed by both houses and becomes law – with or without Justice’s signature – the current state of emergency would expire, having lasted nearly a year, and would have to be renewed by the Legislature.
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