It’s a potentially major development, Save Jerseyans.
State Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) is sponsoring a bill to significantly limit the emergency authority of New Jersey governors. Normally GOP bills are at best efforts to frame the debate since Democrats control both chambers, but O’Scanlon announced on Monday that fellow Monmouth senator Vin Gopal, a Democrat, is signing on as a co-prime sponsor:
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Happy to announce my friend Vin Gopal has agreed to be my co-prime sponsor on this legislation. Lots of other interest. We need to get this done! https://t.co/u2p68gKE5T
— Declan O'Scanlon (@declanoscanlon) January 31, 2022
Gopal’s participation is interesting not just owing to the fact that he’s the Democrats’ Senate conference chair. The Monmouth Democrat just lost BOTH of his Assembly running mates in Election 2021. Newly-elected Assembly members Kimberly Eulner (R) and Marilyn Piperno (R) also ran hard against Murphy’s Covid-19 policies.
Maybe Vin, who managed a modest reelection victory, nevertheless got the message? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
At the moment, Murphy can declare a public health emergency that is effectively never-ending since the governor can reauthorize the emergency WITHOUT legislative input every 30 days. Murphy recently redeclared an emergency after the legislature refused to sign off on a continued K-12 mask mandate; Murphy’s powers were supposed to sunset in early January unless the legislature agreed to an extension.
The original health emergency remained in place from March 2020 to June 2021.
O’Scanlon’s proposal (S-1200) provides for a sixty (60) day limit for a general emergency declaration UNLESS the legislature grants an extension, and health emergencies would be limited to 60 days total (30 + a one-time extension by the governor; longer extensions would again require legislative cooperation). The legislature can override a declaration by a 2/3rds vote and criticially, as articulated by O’Scanlon’s office, “the bill prohibits the Governor from issuing for the same emergency a declaration to the same or substantially same effect as one terminated pursuant to this bill, except in accordance with a law that permits the issuance of another declaration specifically for that emergency.”
“This bill does absolutely nothing controversial. It simply clearly enumerates what was the original intent of our state constitution. It also is very similar to polices in many other states. In fact, every other state in the nation currently provides more legislative oversight than does NJ. Our system is clearly an outlier. The framers of our state and federal constitutions knew that a system of checks and balances in government is necessary to ensure that people have a say in the policies that impact their lives through their elected representatives,” said O’Scanlon in a statement announcing the bill’s introduction.
“Every single member of the New Jersey Legislature should want to sponsor and support this legislation, which would improve their ability to represent their constituents,” O’Scanlon continued. “To oppose this measure would be the equivalent of saying, ‘I choose not to do my job.’”
Perhaps coincidentally, news of Gopal’s participation comes one day after Murphy appeared on Meet The Press and declared that “[w]e’re not going to manage this to zero.”
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