SC House votes to reel in governor’s emergency powers after multiple COVID-19 orders
South Carolina lawmakers are eager to curb the cascade of back-to-back emergency COVID-19 orders that closed and reopened schools, businesses, boat landings and restricted how many people were considered a crowd over the past year.
The House voted 109-3 Thursday on a proposal sponsored by Republican House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, to put checks and balances on the governor’s ability to issue new emergency orders by giving State House leaders more power to review and return to Columbia to either amend, consent or terminate the governor’s emergency order entirely.
The governor can issue emergency orders that last 15 days by state law, and any attempt to extend those declarations would need the Legislature’s blessing. But McMaster has been able to extend his orders simply by tweaking them in slight or major ways and issuing new ones when the old ones expire.
Now, the COVID-19 outbreak in South Carolina has thrust into debate whether the governor should have that much power.
“Right now, there are no checks and balances over the governor’s ability to continually enact states of emergency,” said House Judiciary Committee chairman Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester. “We heard from our constituents that it was very important that the body, the General Assembly that represents the people, have the ability to intervene and have some oversight over the governor’s ability to continually enact 15-day states of emergency.”
McMaster has signed more than 20 executive orders since the first coronavirus cases popped up in the state last March. They have dealt with closing and reopening schools, boat landings and businesses. Others have regulated alcohol sales, entertainment venues, restaurants and crowd sizes.
McMaster has found himself the target over those declarations, whether be it from mostly Democratic state legislators who want the governor to issue stricter rules or those who believe the governor’s orders have done too much harm.
The proposal passed Thursday by the House gives the Senate president and House speaker the option to call their respective chambers back to Columbia to review the governor’s emergency order after 30 days. But it also gives lawmakers themselves some say should any 10 county legislative delegations vote to send leaders a written request to return.
“I really think that this honestly is a great stab at this,” state Rep. Russell Fry, R-Horry, said at a hearing last month. “I think you’ve seen legislatures and governors wrestle with this issue. I like it that it restores a healthy balance of powers between the legislative branch and the executive branch.”
McMaster at his address to the state last month recognized those concerns.
“Some have expressed legal concerns about successive states of emergency during the COVID-19 crisis. It was likely never contemplated in the past that our state and the whole country would find itself in need of a long-term state of emergency like this pandemic required,” he said then. “It was also likely never contemplated that a future General Assembly would be unable to meet and conduct business for such a long period of time.”
One Republican, Rep. Jonathon Hill of Anderson County who voted against the proposal, said the change lacked teeth.
“Rather than holding him accountable to the 15-day statute, instead we’re just going to take the law away,” Hill said.
Reporter Joseph Bustos contributed to this report.
