Stitt's crisis powers extended

Legislators on Tuesday approved extending f or 30 days Gov. Kevin Stitt's emergency powers for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But in order for the emergency declaration to remain in effect, legislators are asking St itt for additional in formation on what emergency powers he used in the past 30 days.

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said Stitt has clearly spelled out what actions he has taken in the past month in a series of executive orders, but legislators want to know which actions stem from powers granted through

the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act and which actions Stitt took outside of those extraordinary powers.

The resolution legislators passed in a special legislative session Tuesday asks Stitt to send that information to Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall within two days.

If Stitt doesn't respond, “I would stand ready to terminate” the health emergency declaration, Treat said. Legislators can return to special session and revoke the declaration at any time.

The resolution spurred a spirited debate in the House where Democrats questioned giving Stitt sweeping powers for another month. They questioned what St it th ad done in the past 30 days with the expanded powers.

Rep. Coll in Walke, D- Oklahoma City, pointed to aS titt administration purchase of $2 million worth of hydroxy chloroquine, an unproven drug touted by President Donald Trump as a treatment for COVID-19.

He also criticized the administration for attempting to purchase personal protective equipment from a company under investigation by the FBI.

It's likely Stitt's administration would have been able to do such transactions without the emergency declaration.

“Show me one thing the governor's done that's been productive under these powers,” Walke said. “That can't be done.”

Stitt is seeking an extension of the health emergency so the

Oklahoma State Department of Health, which is leading the state's response to COVID-19, can quickly hire more contract tracers and so the state agency that oversees unemployment can hire more employees to help respond to the deluge of claims.

The House and Senate passed a resolution on April 6 to initially grant St itt additional powers to help the state handle the COVID- 19 crisis.

That was the first time an Oklahoma governor had ever been granted sweeping powers under the Catastrophic Powers Act.

Stitt asked for the declaration to relax occupational licensing regulations to get more healthcare professionals into the field and so the state could skirt medical privacy laws in order to tell first responders if they might be coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Rep. Forrest Bennett, D- Oklahoma City, said the governor's administration has not provided enough details on how the state is responding to the COVID-19 crisis. He also argued Stitt's actions in allowing the state to reopen seem to suggest the governor no longer needs emergency powers.

“On the one hand, we are opening the state, suggesting the powers that be think the emergency is largely over,” he said. “On the other hand, we're being asked to extend the emergency. So, my question is, which one is it?

The emergency declaration gives Stitt the power to transfer up to $50 million in state funds to respond the the crisis. A spokesman for the governor said Stitt has not transferred or used any of that money. House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said St it th as nearly $800 million in federal CARES Act funding to cover coronavirus- related expenses, so he shouldn't need to touch any state funds.

Echo ls, who introduced the resolution in the House, defended extending the health emergency. It's because the state is starting to reopen its economy that Stitt needs these powers, he said.

“Nobody here knows what's coming as we continue to reopen the economy,” he said.

Instead of granting St itt expanded powers for the foreseeable future, the Legislature can and will look to make make legislative fixes to help Stitt and the state respond to the pandemic, but the legislative process is intentionally slow, he said.

The House passed the resolution 73-24.

The Senate passed it on a vote of 43-4.