Efforts to curb the governor’s emergency powers are looking bleak, according to a state Senator.
Kimberly Wirtz has more.
AUDIO: Effort to curb governor’s emergency powers looking bleak, Wilson says
Tag Archives: emergency powers
AUDIO: Majority should listen to bipartisan ideas for reforming emergency-powers law
A state Senator says a Democratic bill coming before a Senate committee doesn’t go far enough regarding emergency orders issued by Washington’s governors.
Kimberly Wirtz explains.
Governor, you’re no Tom Brady
July 12, 2021
The governor’s use of football metaphors when speaking about the COVID-19 pandemic got old a long time ago, but he really fumbled recently by equating his administration’s pandemic response with winning the Super Bowl. Good grief.
Has Governor Inslee forgotten about Suzi LeVine? Countless Washington families suffered because he drafted her for the wrong reason and failed to bench her when her agency lost a billion dollars to fraudsters. That fiasco alone debunks his “won the Super Bowl” remark.
Wait, there’s more. Try 175,000 fewer people employed today in our state than before the pandemic, according to the agency LeVine formerly headed. More businesses closed in Washington (many permanently) than 45 other states. Our state being worse than 46 others for in-person instruction during the past school year. Tremendous harm to students’ mental health, with 1 in 5 contemplating suicide in the past 12 months. A substantial jump in drug-overdose deaths, far exceeding COVID deaths for the under-60 age group during the same period.
Won the Super Bowl? Not hardly. With stats like that, Inslee should also ease up on the “we’ve saved thousands of lives” comments he tosses out regularly.
As the pandemic grew, and Inslee issued emergency orders that ruined livelihoods and restricted freedoms, legislators’ offices were deluged with concerns from people who couldn’t believe the executive branch of government had so much control. Republicans did everything possible to involve the legislative branch, but the majority Democrats refused to join us, and no one legislator’s “bully pulpit” is as large as the governor’s. To this day we hear from folks who don’t realize Republican legislators had no part in acquiescing to Inslee, and don’t know how heavily the emergency-powers laws are stacked against our branch of government.
Another governor might have promised, as a sign of goodwill, to end the state of emergency as soon as possible. Another governor might have acknowledged the law gives his office more emergency power than it needs, and pledged to support reforms.
Not Inslee. He’s ended not one but two news conferences after a reporter dared ask when the state of emergency would end. He basically scoffed at the idea of reforming the emergency-powers law in making that ineloquent “won the Super Bowl” comment.
Translation: I’m just fine with having all this power indefinitely, thank you very much. Now move along.
I’m reminded of a verbal shot Inslee took at former President Trump, early in the pandemic, after being told the federal government would be the “backup” for states as they responded.
“We don’t need a backup. We need a Tom Brady,” Inslee told Trump.
With those self-congratulatory comments about saving lives and winning the big game, is Inslee styling himself as the Tom Brady of our state?
The pandemic never was a game. It isn’t over. But it is time for the governor to tell the people when the emergency will be over. Inslee is no Tom Brady, but he should be able to do that much.
— Senator Ann Rivers, Republican Caucus Chair
Republican leaders again call on Gov. Jay Inslee to fully reopen the state
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use Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox and Senate Republican Leader John Braun released the following statement today:
“We are calling on Governor Inslee to fully reopen the state immediately. He had left the door open to a reopening before June 30, and we viewed June 15 as a more appropriate target. Now, with vaccination rates continuing to increase, new CDC guidance and other states showing the way, we no longer see a need to wait two more weeks, and certainly not another month. The time to move our state forward is now. Washingtonians want to return to a sense of normalcy and businesses need more certainty as they attempt to recover.
“It is also time for the governor to end the state of emergency he declared nearly 460 days ago – and with it, the executive-branch overreach and controversial mandates, like the recent proof-of-vaccination decision from Labor and Industries. Our families, employers and workers deserve better. Unfortunately, the failure of legislative Democrats to even consider emergency-powers reform has led us to where we are at today. The only solution left now is for the emergency to be over.”
SRC On Air: Sen. Brad Hawkins on KPQ Radio in Wenatchee
Sen. Brad Hawkins talks to Kevin Rounce and Kalie Drago on the KPQ Morning Report about an income tax on capital gains, gubernatorial emergency powers, and the state operating budget.
VIDEO: Sen. Shelly Short’s 2021 Legislative Video Update (Week 9)
Sen. Short discusses the income tax on capital gains, reopening schools, and the governor’s emergency powers.
AUDIO: 7th District Legislative Update
Listen to this 7th District Legislative Update with Senator Shelly Short.
Topics: Income tax on capital gains and governor’s emergency powers
Surprise! Majority looks to abdicate a basic role of the legislative branch
I can’t tell you how many people contacted my Senate office during the past nine-plus months about the unprecedented actions Governor Inslee has taken since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them, using words that made their frustration or desperation obvious, asked what legislators could do regarding the dozens of proclamations he’s made since declaring a state of emergency.
We asked our constituents to stand by patiently while we tried month after month to convince the governor to call a special legislative session. Republicans made a strong case that the legislative branch could do much to help with pandemic relief, but as everyone knows by now, Inslee resisted.
No one expected our Democrat colleagues to join in pushing for a special session – not during the many months that Inslee was campaigning for re-election. It eventually became clear Republicans would have to wait for our regular legislative session, when the governor could no longer get in the way.
With 26 of Inslee’s temporary proclamations set to expire in January, Republicans were prepared for the full legislative branch to perform its duty as a check on the executive branch, for the first time during this pandemic.
The majority Democrats had a surprise for us. They’ve proposed Senate Concurrent Resolution 8402, which would bundle those 26 emergency orders and extend them “until the termination of the state of emergency…or until rescinded by gubernatorial or legislative action.” In other words, no more legislative oversight. The majority says it’ll bring the legislation to a vote sometime today.
Considering how the governor’s proclamations affect the entire state, it’s reasonable to conclude Democrat legislators have heard the same frustration and desperation from their constituents as Republican legislators have. I’d have expected they also had some misgivings about being relegated to the sidelines by Governor Inslee.
Assuming SCR 8402 passes as filed, however, it would seem Democrat lawmakers are as willing to relegate themselves to the sidelines as the governor was – even if that means betraying constituents who have waited months for their concerns to be taken to the Capitol.
Or, to continue the “sidelines” theme, the legislative branch finally has possession of the football for the first time in months, yet the majority Democrats have decided to punt on first down and give the ball back to the executive branch.
It makes you wonder what the next 102 days will bring.
— Senate Republican Leader John Braun
House and Senate Republicans plan to introduce legislation to revamp governor’s emergency powers
House and Senate Republicans are working on legislation for the 2021 session in January that would revamp the governor’s emergency powers. They’re frustrated Governor Inslee has ignored their repeated requests for a special session to provide input to the coronavirus restrictions and funding for relief during the COVID shutdown. John Sattgast reports.