By Matt Rooney
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Governor Murphy signed executive order #222 on Wednesday, reauthorizing his own emergency powers under the pretense of the COVID-19 pandemic for a record eleventh time.
Murphy declared his initial “Public Health Emergency” almost one year ago on March 9, 2020. Murphy doesn’t need anyone’s approval to renew his own powers under the current state of the law. Unlike in Andrew Cuomo’s New York, no New Jersey Democrats have discussed constraining the Governor’s powers, and GOP attempts to force the Governor to seek legislative approval for the continued declaration were tabled by the Democrat-controlled legislature.
