As we saw during the pandemic, tremendous power is placed solely in a governor’s hands to declare a state of emergency, with little to no recourse for “we, the people” to challenge that power. While I recognize this power is properly vested in the Office of the Governor, there should be mechanisms in place to provide a check on this power to ensure that it is not abused.
I would like to see something like the following:
The governor may declare a state of emergency lasting no more than 30 days. After the initial 30 days, the governor may extend the declaration two more times, each for another 30 days, with an option to deny the extension by a two-thirds majority vote in the Delaware Senate. Thereafter, any additional extensions would be limited to 30-day increments, and each extension must be approved by a majority vote in the Delaware Senate and a six-tenths majority vote in the Delaware House of Representatives. This would keep the power for the initial declaration with the governor and provide mechanisms that would require the consent of the legislature if the declaration were to extend beyond 90 days.
Further, once a given declaration expires, a minimum of 90 days must pass before the cycle is restarted for a declaration of the same basis. If less than 90 days has elapsed, the overrule option and consent requirements would remain in effect, as if the declaration had not expired. This provision would help prevent the governor from starting a “new” declaration to get around the legislative approval requirements for an extended emergency declaration.
John Schenck
Dover
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
