House panels tackle bevy of COVID-19 emergency bills
Mar. 1—CONCORD — A pair of House committees debated Monday over whether to alter the powers of the governor and Legislature to deal with post-pandemic emergencies.
State Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, authored a few of 10 bills packaged for the public hearings. One that several colleagues said they liked would require the Legislature to vote to extend beyond six weeks any emergency declared by the governor (HB 433).
"Between 400 of us, we have broad shoulders instead of one person having all the accountability," Roy said. "It is not only about reining in power; it is about sharing responsibility."
A resolution from Rep. Melissa Blasek, R-Merrimack, (HCR 2) that would terminate the current state of emergency was the most dramatic before the House Executive Departments and Administration and Legislative Administration Committees.
"This was intended for war, a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. This was not intended to deal with a disease or pandemic," Blasek said.
Last March, Gov. Chris Sununu declared a state of emergency to deal with COVID-19, and has renewed that status every three weeks since, when it was due to expire.
Sununu has issued 85 executive orders that early on shut down bars and restaurants and imposed other restrictions on business and activity to prevent the spread of the virus. In recent months, many of those restrictions have been relaxed, and Sununu has said others will be loosened as more residents are vaccinated.
Current state law allows the Legislature to create or eliminate any emergency declaration, but the governor, at any point, is not required to ask lawmakers for their endorsement of his actions.
Andrew Manuse served as chairman of ReopenNH, a grassroots group formed to push back on Sununu's actions. The group has since morphed into RebuildNH, which has the stated goal of more fully opening the economy.
"For better or worse, the emergency has gone on far too long, and the state of lawlessness has persisted beyond any reasonable time period," Manuse said Monday. "The governor ought to be enforcing the law rather than trying to do the three functions of government himself."
Justin Kates, director of emergency management for the city of Nashua, warned lawmakers to review whether the changes they are considering would affect the state's eligibility for the maximum amount of federal financial support.
State Rep. Kris Schultz, D-Concord, said she's confident enough Republicans and Democrats can come together on reforms.
"I think there is a point of agreement. I expect many Democrats will support a certain way of addressing this," Schultz said. "Executive orders for a year are excessive. I feel there has been quite a bit of overreach."
Rep. Carol McGuire, R-Epsom, and chairman of the House Executive Departments and Administration panel, said she was alarmed that the rationale for the COVID-19 emergency in the state changed over time.
"The governor declared it, and said we have to take preventive actions to flatten the curve and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed," McGuire said. "He kept changing why he needed to keep the emergency ... that just struck me as wrong."
Sununu said he was open to changing the process in the future, but has said the law must preserve any governor's ability to more quickly respond to a crisis than lawmakers could.
