Bills limiting Hawaii governor’s emergency powers advancing

Bills moving through the Legislature would limit the governor’s emergency proclamation powers, two years after Gov. David Ige began issuing COVID-19 proclamations.

House Bills 1921 and 1585 would allow legislators to limit emergency proclamations they deem necessary. HB 1416 would do the same and, additionally, establish a 60-day expiration date for a proclaimed state of emergency.

Under HB 1585 both the House and Senate would have to vote by a two-thirds majority to limit the length of proclamations.

If passed, the governor would hold the power to veto any of the bills, and the Legislature could override a veto.

Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center, pointed out that in other states “it’s relatively common for the Legislature to have some power to override a governor’s emergency declaration.”

During a Jan. 5 appearance on the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program, House Speaker Scott Saiki said he expected bills aimed at limiting the governor’s proclamation powers.

“The issue there was not necessarily the power itself, because the governor should have emergency powers,” Saiki said. “I think the issue was the length of time that these orders were in effect.”

Moore said that consensus in the Legislature for a bill to limit the governor’s emergency proclamation powers is clear. If Ige vetoes one of the bills after it passes, Moore said, the Legislature will likely override it.

Hawaii’s governor has unusual powers in a declared state of emergency, Moore said. And many states have seen resistance to emergency proclamations throughout the pandemic, Moore said, especially since emergency proclamations are “designed primarily for natural disasters that usually have a pretty clear end. Public health disasters don’t.”

HB 1416 would require that suspensions of laws would be for the purpose of protecting the public’s health, safety and welfare. But when the ongoing pandemic surfaced, in Hawaii the Uniform Information Practices Act, which pertains to access to public records, also was suspended for almost 16 months.

HB 1921 would allow the Legislature to decide whether a fourth emergency order is necessary after three consecutive orders. Between March 2020 and June 2021, Hawaii saw at least 21 emergency proclamations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moore is confident that at least one of the bills will pass out of the Legislature. “There seems to be pretty clear consensus” among lawmakers … that they want to pass some version of a bill to limit his sort of expansive authority to declare emergencies.”