PD Editorial: Newsom needs to justify keeping the pandemic emergency going

Gov. Gavin Newsom has had wide latitude exercising emergency powers during the pandemic, but the willingness of the public and the Legislature to go along with expansive executive authority is waning. If Newsom can’t end his pandemic executive orders soon, he ought to explain why and what specifically will enable him to do so.

When COVID-19 began to spread two years ago, it was an emergency, and Newsom appropriately declared it such on March 4, 2020. State government needed to respond quickly to the crisis. It couldn’t wait for normal legislative and rule-making processes to play out over weeks and months while Californians were getting sick and dying. Indeed, the Legislature struggled to meet and hold public hearings in those early months. Since then, the governor has extended the state of emergency multiple times.

How Newsom has used that power remains a source of debate. In some cases, his executive orders proved helpful, especially around deploying vaccines and providing shelter to homeless residents. In other cases, the administration fell short. For example, contracts for personal protective equipment and testing didn’t go as well as anyone would have liked. Historians will provide a full assessment in the future.

The question now is whether Newsom still needs the power to act unilaterally. Put more bluntly, is California still in an emergency?

Just last week, Newsom announced a path toward an endemic phase of COVID-19. He did not, however, announce a strategy to rescind the state of emergency.

Some declared emergencies, such as those related to destructive wildfires, persist for years. They help communities respond and cut through red tape that might hinder recovery efforts.

They aren’t as controversial as the governor’s pandemic orders, though. Helping Sonoma County rebuild is far different from shutdowns and mask mandates that affect Californians’ daily life.

The laws that gave Newsom the ability to declare an emergency also give the Legislature the ability to end it. Lawmakers have given their tacit approval to the pandemic emergency by not exercising that power so far.

Last year, a legislative resolution to end the emergency declaration died quietly in committee. This year, it’s gaining some traction.

The Senate Governmental Organization, chaired by state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, will hold a hearing on Senate Concurrent Resolution 5, which would end the pandemic emergency. The resolution is backed by Republicans, who regrettably choose hyperbole and shouting in arguing for it. They seek partisan gain by knocking Newsom down a peg.

But the fact is that Democrats are starting to sense the end of the emergency is at least worth discussing. SCR 5 only gets its hearing with their blessing.

Ending the current emergency would not prevent the governor from enacting a new one if there is another surge. What it would do is remind the governor that he is supposed to work with the Legislature on policy decisions. When the Legislature is available to act and the crisis has ebbed, democratic norms should prevail. The current pandemic lull is an excellent time for the Newsom administration and the Legislature to collaboratively develop an endemic strategy with clearly defined triggers for when to amp up restrictions in the interest of public health.

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