[ad_1]
SALT LAKE CITY – Gov. Gary Herbert’s decision to remove limits on social gatherings outside individual households from a new public health ordinance he plans to issue days before Thanksgiving after tense closed-door meetings with lawmakers this week.
Herbert announced Thursday that he will not be limiting “what goes on inside the walls of your house” for the upcoming holiday season. While the mask’s mandate will be renewed, the new public health order replacing the one that expires on Monday will not include limits on social gatherings between households, he said.
Herbert’s change comes after hours of closed-door caucus meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, in which some GOP House lawmakers complained about government mandates – especially regarding restrictions on what the Utahns are. able to do so in the privacy of their own home.
“In recent consultations with members of the Legislative Assembly, we have come to the common conclusion that seeking to regulate private driving within the walls of a private residence is problematic, difficult to enforce and likely more subject to legal challenges. Herbert’s office said in a statement prepared Thursday.
But the governor and his staff – while removing the restriction – also sought to convey the importance of following such a restriction.
Herbert asked Utahns must make the decision not to gather outside their homes for Thanksgiving, given the persistent outbreak of COVID-19 in Utah that continues to dangerously overwhelm hospitals.
“That does not mean, however, that the risk of such gatherings has disappeared,” his office said. “As the holidays approach, we remind Utahns that the safest holiday gathering is only with those who live under your roof.”
Herbert has been criticized by public health officials and Democrats for not doing enough to slow the spread of the virus, along with complaints from some GOP lawmakers frustrated with government mandates. His decision to forgo the requirement for social gatherings at home, while still maintaining the mask’s tenure, shows that he’s trying to find a great place in between.
Several GOP House lawmakers told Deseret News, on condition of anonymity because caucus meetings this week were closed, lawmakers at those meetings expressed frustrations with executive restrictions, government mandates ” unenforceable ”and violations of the Utah Constitution.
It was during a closed GOP caucus meeting of more than four hours Tuesday night, after Herbert addressed lawmakers before Health Department staff, including the state epidemiologist, Dr Angela Dunn, and Acting Department of Health Executive Director Rich Saunders presented lawmakers with an ‘information barrage’ as one lawmaker put it, over the state’s response to COVID -19 and the facts surrounding the spread of the virus.
After Herbert left the meeting, Governor-elect Spencer Cox answered questions. When the conversation turned into a politically charged debate around executive powers versus legislative powers, the Constitution and terms of office, at one point Cox expressed frustration and wondered why more lawmakers were not asking. no more on “how to better protect the Utahns,” a lawmaker said.
The most ardent complaints came from right-wing conservatives such as Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding and Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan, who openly criticized the governor for going too far with his executive powers amid the pandemic, according to several GOP House lawmakers.
“Usual suspects were using it to pontificate over the Constitution,” a lawmaker told Deseret News.
A letter had also started circulating, with many members of the House GOP caucus signing, urging Herbert not to enact rules regulating social gatherings between Utahns inside their own homes, especially for the next weekend. of Thanksgiving.
The letter gained enough strength to become an official caucus position after a vote in the House GOP caucus, according to several lawmakers who attended Wednesday’s meeting.
House Speaker Brad Wilson said he handed the note to Herbert on Wednesday evening.
“Basically it was a ‘thank you’ for your good job, and we would ask you to consider in this next round … letting people decide what their holiday social gatherings are and use their best judgment,” said Wilson.
Wilson, who said he was unaware of Herbert’s announcement until a Deseret News reporter told him what the governor said at Thursday’s press conference, said said, “This is great news. Wilson noted that Herbert had “signaled that this was the direction he was taking” in a meeting he had with him.
“He and Governor-elect Cox were very receptive to all of the thoughts and concerns that we shared, and I think we’re on the same page in that we want to handle the virus as well as possible, but be as discreet as possible. in people’s privacy, ”Wilson said.
Wilson said many House GOP members “thought we had probably crossed a line in telling people what to do inside their homes.”
Herbert, throughout the pandemic, has struggled with pressure from the Utah legislature – which now has the power to meet in special session in the event of an emergency.
Shortly after Herbert announced his new restrictions almost two weeks ago, Lyman sent a bluster email to House lawmakers demanding they do something.
“This is unacceptable. The legislature has been sidelined for this entire episode. Please follow the example of South Dakota, not California,” Lyman wrote.
South Dakota, a state that has taken a lax approach to COVID-19 restrictions, is just behind North Dakota in the states with the highest infection rates this week – with more than 161 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days from Thursday. Utah is now 99.3 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.
“We need a special session,” Lyman wrote. “I don’t care that we run out of votes to reverse this bogus exercise of authority. I want my vote to count. Ours is a representative form of government, not an oligarchy. ”
Senate Speaker Stuart Adams and Wilson both told Deseret News this week that a special session – with the recess quickly approaching and Herbert’s willingness to engage with lawmakers – is unlikely to be called before the session. general 2021 in January. But they both indicated that the issue of executive powers in a context of a protracted emergency such as a pandemic will likely be addressed in the next session.
“There is broad agreement between us and Governor-elect Cox that the emergency powers that the legislature has delegated to the Department of Health and the Governor’s Office never envisioned a continuing and rampant pandemic,” Wilson said. “And (Cox) and the Governor have both admitted and would strongly agree that the Legislative Assembly needs to review this section of our code and find a way to balance the decision-making role in an ongoing emergency.” in relation to a short-term emergency. “
In response to an interview request on Thursday, Cox staff said he was unavailable.
Lyman, in an interview with Deseret News on Wednesday, declined to speak about the closed-door caucus meeting, but said he was “happy to find out that there are a lot more lawmakers than me or a handful who feel that the Legislature has been marginalized. through it all, and they’re ready to do something.
For Representative Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, who is also a physician, the debate over government mandates is not the issue at hand. What matters is whether the Utahns will change their behavior to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a mandate with no application or a strongly worded suggestion,” Ward said. “What matters is what we do.”
[ad_2]
Source link