×

House, Senate disagree on bill limiting governor’s emergency powers

Steven Allen Adams POWER PLAYERS ­— Members of the conference committee for House Bill 2003 meet Friday morning.

CHARLESTON — The debate was polite, but representatives of the House of Delegates and Senate could not hammer out a compromise Friday on a bill to limit the emergency powers of the governor.

Members of the conference committee on House Bill 2003, relating to the authority and obligations of the governor and Legislature when in declared states of preparedness and emergency, could not agree on either the Senate’s conference committee report or the House’s conference committee report.

The conference committee met Friday morning in the Senate President’s Conference Room with a large number of House members present and in the hallway to show support for the House’s position.

The House version of HB 2003 puts a time limit on future states of emergency called by the governor. Any state of emergency lasting longer than 60 days would require the Legislature to meet in a special session to extend the state of emergency, which could either extend the state of emergency an additional 30 days or end the state of emergency. The House version also would prohibit the governor from using executive orders to close houses of worship.

The Senate version of HB 2003 would require the governor to issue a letter to the Senate president, the speaker of the House and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance every 30 days as long as the state of emergency remains in effect. If a letter is not sent, the state of emergency would end. The Senate version removed the language to prohibit the governor to close houses of worship.

Del. Jeffrey Pack, R-Raleigh, presented the House’s conference committee report for HB 2003. The conference committee report kept many of the Senate’s changes to HB 2003, but it kept the House’s requirement for the governor to call the Legislature into special session to extend a state of emergency and the prohibition on closing houses of worship. It also included a 120-day time limit on executive orders issued during a state of emergency unless an extension is approved by the Legislature.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan, spoke against the House conference committee report. Trump believes requiring the governor to call in the Legislature to extend a state of emergency is a violation of the separation of powers.

“I believe this to be unconstitutional,” Trump said. “I think we could all agree that we cannot pass a statute and have it be constitutional that we’re to say the governor shall convene the Legislature on June 15,” Trump said. “That would be a gross intrusion upon the discretionary constitutional power the governor of West Virginia has.”

The West Virginia Constitution gives the governor the power to call a special session of the Legislature. It also allows the Legislature to call itself into special session with four-fifths of both the members of the House and Senate agreeing in writing.

Several lawmakers tried to call themselves into special session last summer when Gov. Jim Justice refused to call a special session to appropriate federal COVID-19 relief funds. The House had the necessary signatures, but the Senate did not.

Pack said the House conference committee report does not require the governor one way or another.

He could either choose to call the Legislature in to extend the state of emergency or let the state of emergency expire.

Pack said HB 2003 and the House conference committee report was not an indictment of Justice’s handling of the pandemic, but an effort to keep the legislative branch involved.

“I respectfully disagree with (Trump’s) position,” Pack said. “This in no terms compels the governor to do anything. I do not feel, and the House does not feel, that this is a usurpation of the governor’s constitutional authority. I would suggest to this committee that if the governor felt that his executive orders extending were in the interest of public safety, it would be in his prerogative to call us back in.”

House Majority Leader Amy Summers, R-Taylor, said HB 2003 wasn’t aimed specifically at the current state of emergency Justice called more than one year ago for the COVID-19 pandemic, though that state of emergency remains in effect.

“This isn’t really about just this current situation,” Summers said. “This is about in the future and what we think our role should be in the process of extended states of emergency and extended executive orders. It’s not a reflection for us that this is about right now and the executive orders that are before us. This is fixing or changing the process for the future.”

The Senate conference committee report was largely unchanged for the Senate’s changes to HB 2003. Both conference committee reports failed to gain majorities of the appointed committee members from the House and Senate, meaning that HB 2003 is dead.

Despite the failure of the House and Senate to come to a compromise on HB 2003, both chambers were able to pass House Bill 2014, which requires the governor to seek approval from the Legislature to spend more than $150 million of any federal disaster relief funds during a state of emergency. That bill is before Gov. Jim Justice.

(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today