November White Paper Covers Gubernatorial Emergency Powers
AFSA’s State Government Affairs Team recently published its monthly White Paper. This month’s white paper discusses recent developments around gubernatorial emergency powers. Each state allows its governor to declare a state of emergency under certain circumstances. Under a state of emergency, governors are granted expanded powers to efficiently respond to a crisis.
During the pandemic, all 50 states and the District of Columbia declared states of emergency or public health emergencies, allowing the executive branches the ability to implement health measures such as lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and mask mandates. Some governors used their powers to implement restrictions on collection activities, such as moratoria on repossessions in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
The long period of COVID-19 emergency orders raised questions on the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. In the wake of the pandemic, some state legislatures introduced legislation to reassert legislative authority. The white paper provides an overview of legislative efforts to reign in gubernatorial emergency powers.
The paper is also available under the State Resources section of AFSA’s website.
November 1st, 2022
