Arizona lawmaker seeks clearer rules for Legislature after COVID orders

PHOENIX — Republican Arizona State Rep. John Kavanagh is asking the attorney general for clarity on the Legislature’s power in response to emergency executive orders made by the governor during the pandemic.

“A lot of people want to get rid of the governor’s COVID measures because they think that they’re too much,” Kavanagh said Wednesday on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show. “But an unanswered question is, if we terminate the governor’s emergency powers, will that unleash every county and municipality to impose their own emergency powers?”

Under current law, Arizona Legislature has the power to repeal emergency executive orders with a majority vote in both the House and Senate when the group is in session.

However, Kavanagh doesn’t see it as that simple.

In an opinion request submitted on Dec. 28, he questions if emergency orders can be reduced instead of completely repealed and what happens in local governments if the order is eliminated by vote.

While Kavanagh thinks the measures Ducey has taken are not too far, compared to what he has seen from other states, he worries of the effect a total repeal could have.

“The concern that I have is if we were to have the votes to terminate the emergency powers, would that suddenly unleash Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff to put in totally draconian measures that some of their elected people have been talking about?” he said.

Ducey issued multiple executive orders over the course of the coronavirus pandemic in order to mitigate spread of the disease, such as shuttering certain businesses and prohibiting large gatherings.

“Overall, I’d like to see things loosened a bit … but I think people have to realize that the governor has kept a lot of stuff open,” Kavanagh said. “There was some shaky starts, gyms I thought got short changed, movie theaters, but overall I’m not that upset with what’s happening.

“I’d like to see some trimming, but not that much and I don’t want to eliminate completely because that could be a problem.”

Ultimately, Kavanagh would like the legislative branch to have more of a say during future emergency situations.

One proposal the congressman says is being weighed is an automatic review of governor’s orders by the legislative body every 30, 60 and 90 days.

“It’s not about this governor,” he said. “Other than going back and ending the orders, any modification that we make to the law for the future would probably be for a different governor.”