Let’s head to the top of the Dome and wade into a topic that is frankly 6 years in the making. The Governor’s emergency powers.
In 2005, I started a new job at EMC Insurance, joining their corporate legal department. After I started, one of the first tasks that was assigned to me was to revamp my department’s disaster recovery plan. The plan had not been updated in years and didn’t consider the fact a number of issues, including that, with each of us having laptops, we could work from home in the event that the corporate office was unavailable.
In March 2020, the world changed. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic forever changed the landscape in almost every aspect of life. To deal with that pandemic, Governor Reynolds, and governors across the country, relied on the emergency powers granted to her in Iowa Code to address the issues that arose because of the pandemic.
Iowa governors are allowed to act on an emergency basis in three different situations. Public disorder (Iowa Code Sec. 29C.3), disasters (Iowa Code Sec. 29C.6) and public health disasters (Iowa Code Secs. 135.140 – .147). A public health disaster must be proclaimed by the governor as a disaster under Iowa Code Sec. 29C.6.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Reynolds relied primarily on the disaster and public health disaster portions of the Iowa Code.
Iowa Code does provide some limitations on the governor’s powers. For example, for public disorder proclamations, the governor can order that people not congregate in certain places, but that order is limited to 12 hours. Further, for both public disorder and disaster proclamations, the General Assembly has the power to rescind the proclamation with a majority vote, or if the General Assembly is not in session, a group of legislators known as the legislative council has that power.
Since a public health emergency is by statute a disaster proclamation, that same limitation on the governor’s powers applies.
As I mentioned, the COVID-19 pandemic and Iowa’s response to it was an unprecedented event that presented many challenges, changed landscapes, and brought to light, in my opinion, that Iowa’s emergency powers statutes may not be fully equipped to handle this type of emergency adequately.
Every year, the General Assembly addresses code sections that are shown to be outdated due to the passage of time as well as to new scientific, legal, technological, economic and other developments. The Iowa House Republicans recognized in 2021, when we came back into session, that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the governor’s emergency powers statutes were not quite up to the task of handling that type of emergency.
Ultimately, those discussions, for various reasons, never made it out of our chamber. But it did not change the fact that work needed to be done in this area. This is, ultimately, our job. We do it every day.
Times have changed and our laws must be changed to adapt. Not because of who the governor is or might be, but because in representing the people, we must address issues in Iowa Code when new facts and circumstances arise.
The governor’s emergency powers apply equally to whomever is occupying Terrace Hill. Thus, it behooves the General Assembly to work across the aisle to adapt the emergency powers code sections in a way that allows government, no matter who holds the governorship, to respond to emergencies appropriately and in the best interests of Iowans.
I will not pretend to have a full answer as to what the emergency powers should look like in the face of another long-term emergency disaster, health-related or otherwise. Frankly, none of us probably do. This is why collaboration is vital. We can find the right answer that considers what is in the best interests of Iowans and properly balances the roles and responsibilities of both the General Assembly and the Executive Branch.
I hope that this sparks continued conversation with additional food for thought and a perspective that perhaps you have not yet contemplated. Thank you for taking a moment to take a look at this issue from the 275-Foot View!
