Legislation aims to limit executive emergency powers
Thirty-day legislative sessions in New Mexico are typically reserved for budget issues, along with any special issues the governor asks lawmakers to consider. This year, besides the budget, legislators are expected to debate and vote on bills regarding public safety and education. But two lawmakers are hoping that at least one of their two bills to limit emergency powers of the executive branch gains at least some traction this year.
House Joint Resolution 3 and House Bill 40 both aim to limit the amount of time a governor can maintain emergency orders without a say from legislators. Both pieces of legislation are sponsored by Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales, and Rep. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell. One major difference between the two is that the joint resolution would not require Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s approval, as it is a proposed constitutional amendment.
Ely and Nibert can usually be found on opposite sides of most issues, but in this case, they seem to have found common ground in wanting to give some power back to the Legislature. In the early 2000s, after 9/11 and a nationwide anthrax scare, the New Mexico Legislature approved legislation that gave a majority of emergency decision-making powers to the governor’s office.
Now, both Ely and Nibert say it’s time to give that power back, at least partially, to the Legislature. Both proposals would allow a governor to unilaterally issue emergency orders, but only for a limited amount of time before calling lawmakers into a special legislative session to decide whether or not to extend the orders. Republicans have largely criticized Lujan Grisham for her emergency health orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But Ely told NM Political Report that he is not only happy with Lujan Grisham’s handling of the pandemic but that she “is doing an excellent job.”
Read more: https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2022/01/14/legislation-aims-to-limit-executive-emergency-powers/