N.J. lawmakers may change law that gave Murphy sweeping COVID powers, new Senate president says - NJ.com
New Jersey lawmakers may seek to alter a state law that instilled Gov. Phil Murphy with the sweeping emergency powers he used to issue lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine requirements during the coronavirus pandemic the last two years, the new president of the state Senate said.
State Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, told NJ Advance Media on Friday he has even spoken to Murphy, a fellow Democrat, about “revisiting” the Emergency Health Powers Act of 2005 sometime “in the future.”
“I think we are coming to the end of this pandemic. We’re reaching endemic stages,” Scutari said during an interview at his legislative office in Linden. “And I think the governor’s done a very good job with handling it. But at this point in time, we’re coming to the end, and I think people are tired of this.”
Scutari said such a bill won’t be introduced immediately because he doesn’t want it to seem like a “reactionary” move.
“I think we’re gonna look at this entire response over the last two years and do a revisit of the things that were done right and the things that were done wrong and how we can improve on that,” he said. “And I think that aspect of that will definitely be revisited and probably altered by virtue of legislation.”
The Emergency Health Powers Act gives New Jersey’s governor broad authority to take action in the time of a public-health crisis, without needing the state Legislature’s approval. Murphy cited it frequently as he signed executive orders to combat COVID-19, which spread rapidly through New Jersey in the beginning of 2020 and has since killed more than 30,000 residents.
Scutari did not say what changes lawmakers might consider to the law.
This comes just days after Republicans announced a Democratic lawmaker has signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill (S1200) that would limit the length a New Jersey governor could declare a state of emergency and public-health emergency to 60 days, unless the state Legislature approves an extension.
Currently, a state of emergency lasts until the governor lifts it. Under the Emergency Health Powers Act, a public-health emergency expires after 30 days, though the governor can keep issuing renewals every 30 days.
Scutari said he doubts that bill will be considered.
“Because I’ve already seen some things I’d like to change about it,” he said.
Instead, Scutari suggested, there would be a completely new piece of legislation.
Republicans have long complained that Murphy has wielded too much unilateral control for too long during the pandemic, sidelining state lawmakers from the process.
Previous Republican-sponsored bills to curb those powers have gone nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Legislature the last two years. But Democrats have shown more willingness to challenge the governor since a contentious November election in which their party kept control of both houses of the Legislature but Republicans gained seven seats.
Last month, Murphy declared a new public-health emergency when Democratic leaders of the Legislature declined his request to extend some of his remaining powers that were set to expire at the beginning of the year. That included the authority to keep the state’s school mask mandate in place. Murphy said the powers were necessary to fight the recent COVID-19 wave driven by the omicron variant.
On Thursday, Gopal — who narrowly won re-election in November — said in a statement that he was co-sponsoring the bill to limit the governor’s emergency powers to make sure the Legislature is a co-equal branch of government and keep “a check and balance of power,” regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is governor.
“If the governor was Republican and the bill was the exact same, I question how many of my Republican colleagues would or wouldn’t support the same bill because of the party of their governor,” Gopal said. “The residents of Monmouth County want their elected leaders to move away from that type of partisanship.”
State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, who sponsored the Emergency Health Powers Law, said the 2005 statute was written in the wake of 9/11 to help prepare the state for a pandemic or bioterrorism crisis. He said he’s against pushes to soften it.
“Fast forward to today, all of the angst around the policies, whether they are consistent or inconsistent or embraced by the public or not, we have to have this process in place,” Vitale said. “The notion a legislature, even by a two-thirds vote, would have the ability to halt a public-health emergency or require the governor to come back for permission to continue it, I have concerns with.”
The omicron surge has been subsiding in recent weeks. It’s unclear whether Murphy will extend the new public-health emergency another 30 days when it expires Feb. 10. He said Wednesday he would discuss the issue with lawmakers.
Scutari confirmed that Murphy did discuss the matter during a meeting with legislative leaders Thursday but declined to provide details about a private conversation.
“I’ll say this: I’m a firm believer that, yes, we need to start rolling everything back and get back to normalcy,” the Senate president said. “Because people believe that and the science is showing that.”
Republicans on Thursday also launched a publicity campaign called “Give it Back,” in hopes of pressuring Murphy to relinquish some of his powers, return some revenue to taxpayers, and more.
State Senate Minority Leader Steven Oroho, R-Sussex, said this is “an opportunity” for New Jerseyans “to tell Gov. Murphy, in a unified voice, to give back everything he has taken from them over the past two years.”
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source: https://www.nj.com/politics/2022/02/nj-lawmakers-may-change-law-that-gave-murphy-sweeping-covid-powers-new-senate-president-says.html
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