By Bob Christie
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- A plan to ask voters to require the Legislature to reauthorize a governor’s state of emergency declaration every 30 days has been gutted by the Arizona Senate after lawmakers realized more than three dozen open emergencies and millions of dollars in federal funding would be at risk.
An amendment adopted Monday by the Senate removes the requirement that the governor call lawmakers into special session to maintain the emergency declarations.
Instead, voters would be asked to change the constitution to automatically end any special powers a declaration gives a governor after 30 days unless the Legislature extends the time. And it specifically excludes fires and floods, which make up the vast majority of emergencies.
For remaining declarations, the measure allows lawmakers to give an open-ended extension to a declaration instead of having to re-do the vote each month. The Legislature would have to either end, extend or modify those powers.
``It's changing the focus … away from what is referred to as a state of emergency declaration and focuses all on the governor's powers during the state of emergency,'' Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, told the Senate.
The voter referral is rooted in Republican lawmakers’ anger over school and business closures ordered by former Gov. Doug Ducey in early 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit the state.
It had passed the House with only Republican support and was hours away from an expected Senate vote last month when Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, raised concerns about the practical implications of the measure.
If passed by the Legislature and approved by voters as initially drafted, it would have required approval in a special legislative session each and every month for all active emergencies or they would end.
The problem with that is that recovery efforts after floods, wildfires or other natural disasters often takes years, with federal funding contingent on a state emergency declaration. And there are lots of them, essentially turning the part-time Legislature into a full-time body just to OK the extensions.
As of Jan. 17, Arizona had 41 open state disaster declarations, each relying on an emergency being declared by the governor, according to the state Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.
Last year, the GOP-controlled Legislature sharply limited a governor’s ability to call public health emergencies.
Former Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed it -- but it only took effect when he left office in early January and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs became the new governor.
Any health emergency is now limited to 120 days. After that, the Legislature would need to approve an extension every 30 days.
Most Republican lawmakers wanted to greatly expand that law to cover all emergency declarations and put it in the constitution.
But then Bennett raised the concerns, sidelining the whole effort. What now remains will only affect a small number of declarations.
The Senate approved the gutted measure on a voice vote. It now needs a formal vote and concurrence by the House before heading to the 2024 ballot. It does not require the governor’s signature.
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