“Power tends to corrupt…”
This was late last year:
DeWine vetoes bill that would limit power of public health orders
This was yesterday afternoon:
General Assembly overrides DeWine veto on pandemic powers
Mar. 24—COLUMBUS — After months of threats, Gov. Mike DeWine’s fellow Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly on Wednesday handed him the first veto override of his administration.
Solely with Republican votes, the Senate voted 23-10 to force into law a bill limiting the power to quarantine individuals in the midst of a pandemic and limiting the life of states of emergency. It needed 20 votes.
The GOP-controlled House then voted 62-35 along party lines to do the same. It needed 60.
Among other things, the bill would specifically put a 30-day expiration date on the current coronavirus state-of-emergency order that has been in place for a year.
“It’s time for us to stand up for the legislative branch,” said Sen. Rob McColley (R., Napoleon), one of the sponsors of Senate Bill 22. “It’s time for us to reassert ourselves as a separate and coequal branch of government here in the state of Ohio.
“It’s time for us to acknowledge that the authority that’s been given to governor was given to the governor by the legislature, and it is authority that is inherently reserved to the legislature in non-emergency times,” he said. “We need to stand up, and we need to finish this for all the Ohioans who have been asking us for a long time to be their voice at the table.”
Mr. DeWine has repeatedly said he could not sign a bill he sees as infringing on the powers of him, future governors, and health departments to respond to future pandemics and possibly bio-terrorism. His veto Tuesday of Senate Bill 22 marked his fourth of full bills on the subject. This, however, marked the first override.
“In the past year, over 17,000 Ohioans have died from COVID-19,” Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) said. “If it were not for the courageous effort of our governor, I’m convinced we would be citing a higher rate of COVID-19 deaths. This time of crisis is not the time to start restricting the authority of the Department of Health and local governments. This dangerous legislation would have put Ohioans’ lives at at risk and prevent future administrations from being able to swiftly respond to deadly pandemics or other health crises.
“… We thank you, governor, for saving the lives that we don’t even know you saved,” she said.
Senate Bill 22 would take effect in 90 days. Mr. DeWine’s current state of emergency, if still in place at that time, would expire 30 days after that unless the General Assembly votes to extend it in 60-day increments.
The new law would limit the life of future orders to 90 days, but lawmakers could step in as soon 30 days to end them. A governor could not reinstate a similar order for at least 60 days.
Senate Bill 22 would prohibit the local health departments of health from quarantining individuals who have not been medically diagnosed with an infectious disease or known to have been exposed to someone who has.
Mr. DeWine has argued such a law would have prevented health officials from quarantining Ohioans returning from Wuhan, China last year early in the pandemic when it took days to get test results. He also said it would hamper future attempts to quarantine people returning from other hotspots, such as areas of Africa dealing with Ebola.
He predicted the law will open the state and its agencies to litigation from those arguing they’d been harmed by stay-at-home, mass gathering, curfew, and other restrictions.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the governor informed lawmakers of his “serious concerns” about the bill as did organizations representing hospitals, colleges, and mayors, and communities.
“Governor DeWine remains focused every single day on doing all he can to ensure every Ohioan who wants a COVID vaccine can get one in the coming weeks, which is truly what will help Ohio put this pandemic behind us,” he said.
Sen. Terry Johnson (R., McDermott), a physician and Senate Bill 22’s other sponsor, said nothing in the bill would have interfered with Governor DeWine’s early response to the pandemic.
“Had we gone back to the beginning of this crisis and this bill had been in place, he could have acted exactly as he did and had plenty of time to do it,” he said. “But he would have been accountable, very accountable, to the legislature as we’re accountable to him when things are balanced.”
The veto override happened on a day Ohio reported 1,848 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, above the 21-day average of 1,527.
The state has reached a total of 1,004,670 cases and 18,382 deaths. No new deaths were reported on Thursday as they are updated on the state’s coronavirus dashboard twice a week rather than daily.
In Lucas County, 115 new cases and no new deaths were reported Wednesday, bringing those totals to 36,983 and 791.