During floor action on Friday, I made a motion to pass a resolution that would have waived previously established cutoff dates and allowed my emergency powers reform bill to be considered on the House floor. Unfortunately, my motion was rejected on a party-line vote, all but ending the opportunity for the Legislature to pass emergency powers reform this session.
When I sent an email out to all of you on Friday morning letting you know this was coming, some of you emailed me back questioning if I was taking the pandemic seriously enough. I want to be very clear on this. I firmly believe our executive branch needs the ability to respond quickly to pandemics, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other emergencies. However, I also believe there must be limits on emergency powers in order to ensure one person is not ruling by proclamation or executive order for months on end. It doesn’t matter if that person is a Republican or a Democrat. Washingtonians were never meant to be governed this way.
The bill I introduced would have simply ensured adequate legislative involvement in long-lasting states of emergency, bringing Washington in line with what other states are already doing. As it stands right now, our state ranks near the bottom in terms of governmental balance of power.
I hope you’ll take some time out of your day to watch my full remarks on the House floor and understand why I believe this is such a critical issue for our state.
I always welcome your feedback, so please continue reaching out to me with your comments, questions and concerns. My email address is Drew.MacEwen@leg.wa.gov, and my phone number is (360) 786-7902.
It is an honor to serve you.