Republicans in the Michigan Legislature have introduced bills that would limit the emergency powers of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
A day after thousands of Michiganders marched on Lansing to protest Ms. Whitmer’s stringent stay-at-home orders, bills were introduced in both the House and Senate to repeal or prune the laws under which Ms. Whitmer acted.
According to a Thursday report in the Detroit Free Press, bills in both chambers would repeal the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act concerning times of “great public crisis” as determined by the governor.
Another bill, the Free Press reported, would cut the number of days for which a governor could declare a state of emergency from 28 days under a 1976 law to 14 days.
“The 1945 law is more vague and less constrained. We do not feel that law applies to the situation we’re facing today,” said Sen. Tom Barrett, Charlotte Republican. “And we feel that we have a balance of power in state government and we need to put more legislative control into that power balance.”
In her second stay-at-home order last week, Ms. Whitmer imposed, among other things, stricter rules on which businesses had to close and a ban on travel between people’s households, even to their own second home.
“After that happened, when the governor tightened up some restrictions, that’s why you saw the backlash,” Mr. Barrett said. “The governor is no longer acting in a rational way.”
Ms. Whitmer’s spokesman promised a veto.
“Gov. Whitmer will not sign a bill that would diminish her ability to protect citizens of this state from a deadly disease that has already killed thousands of people in Michigan,” deputy press secretary Bobby Leddy told the Free Press.
Republicans control both chambers, but not by veto-proof majorities (58-52 in the House, and 22-16 in Senate).
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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