Rash Move
It goes without saying that COVID 19 is an ongoing issue in Alaska. Our state's disaster emergency declaration will expire Sunday, November 15. That will make managing the pandemic a lot harder.
A little refresher: Governor Dunleavy declared the emergency in March because COVID was about to hit the state. In May, the legislature extended the declaration to November 15 because the virus was here.
There were so many unknowns in May we ended up giving the governor more powers than he needed to control the pandemic. But we absolutely need to get some version of the declaration extended. A formal state of “disaster emergency” gives state government the tools to keep Alaskans safe: flexibility for telehealth, special accommodations to care for seniors, travel and testing rules to help slow the spread... Without them more Alaskans would be exposed, and our hospitals are already getting awfully crowded.
Friday afternoon, the governor decided to declare a new disaster emergency when the old one expires. But there’s a wrinkle. It's illegal for the governor to issue a second declaration about the same condition. He's claiming the first emergency was a potential pandemic and this one is the actual pandemic. That's legally... ridiculous. The legislature explicitly mentioned the arrival of the virus in our state when we extended the first declaration.
The legislature doesn't currently have the votes to call ourselves into special session (that takes 40 legislators, a very high bar,) the governor can call a session to do this right. If the governor did that, there'd be no legal risk to doctors and hospitals when a judge throws out an illegal second declaration of emergency. There'd be no financial risk to the state. We wouldn't have to spend money in court. And it would respect the separation of powers.
Call me crazy, but the constitutional way makes a lot more sense than getting impatient and making a power grab.
