Brad Little has repeatedly extended his monthlong emergency order since originally issuing it last spring. “This was the first time I think that those laws were really stress-tested,” he said. Jason Monks, a Republican and the chamber's assistant majority leader. “A previous legislature back in the ’60s, fearing a nuclear holocaust, granted tremendous powers” to the governor, said Idaho state Rep. Governors have been acting under the authority of emergency response laws that in some states date back decades and weren't crafted with an indefinite health crisis in mind. Many governors have been repealing or relaxing restrictions after cases declined from a winter peak and as more people get vaccinated.īut the potential remains in many states for governors to again tighten restrictions if new variants of the coronavirus lead to another surge in cases.
When the pandemic hit a year ago, many governors and their top health officials temporarily ordered residents to remain home, limited public gatherings, prohibited in-person schooling and shut down dine-in restaurants, gyms and other businesses. Some Democratic lawmakers also have pushed back against governors of their own party, most notably limiting the ability of embattled New York Gov. But they also have sought to rein in fellow Republican governors in such states as Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana and Ohio. Republican lawmakers have sought to limit the power of Democratic governors in states such as Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina. Though the pushback is coming primarily from Republican lawmakers, it is not entirely partisan. It wrote a model “Emergency Power Limitation Act” for lawmakers to follow. Lawmakers in 45 states have proposed more than 300 measures this year related to legislative oversight of executive actions during the COVID-19 pandemic or other emergencies, according to the NCSL.Ībout half those states are considering significant changes, such as tighter limits on how long governors' emergency orders can last without legislative approval, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, an association of conservative lawmakers and businesses.
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