Will state of emergency be extended by DeSantis?
Gov. has given hints that state’s alert status is no longer needed
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ message on cable news and at events around the state for months has had a central theme: Unlike other states, Florida is open and without COVID-19 restrictions. So why is Florida still under a state of emergency?
Under the state constitution, a governor can only declare a state of emergency for 60 days. DeSantis issued his first executive order putting the state on an emergency footing on March 9, 2020, and has been extending it ever since. The latest came April 27 and expires Saturday. If DeSantis extends it again, the state will have been on alert status for nearly 18 months.
Five days after extending the state of emergency, he issued an executive order banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or “vaccine passports.” One day later, he issued two more orders invalidating all restrictions imposed by cities and counties.
“Our emergency order has basically been in place to do three main things since the summer: keep schools open because we needed the emergency to be able to help the funding for the schools; move money in case of the vaccine or any type of response that we’ve had to do; and then more recently to make sure we don’t have vaccine passports in the state of Florida,”
DeSantis said May 3 when he signed the bill banning vaccine passports into law.
“That’s really it. That’s how we’ve used it.”
Many of DeSantis’ other executive orders prohibiting local governments from issuing their own restrictions and preventing businesses from requiring “vaccine passports” from customers are based on the original state of emergency being in effect.
The emergency status also helped DeSantis shift and spend money without legislative authority during the pandemic, when state coffers took a big hit and federal aid was used to plug budget holes.
But the Legislature passed several bills codifying DeSantis’ orders into law, including the ban on vaccine passports, restrictions on local governments’ emergency orders and even allowing restaurants to make retail liquor deliveries. So DeSantis wouldn’t need to extend the underlying order to keep those provisions intact.
Most of those laws and the new budget take effect July 1, four days after the state of emergency is set to expire, leaving a short gap between the end of the executive orders and the installation of the new laws.
State law allows the Legislature to end a state of emergency order, but DeSantis’ Republican allies in charge of the Legislature have largely acceded to his handling of the pandemic.
Some Democrats, although critical of DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic and prohibitions on local government orders, want him to extend the state of emergency longer.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, pointed to the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, low vaccination rates in some areas of the state and continuing economic struggles of the many who lost their jobs due to the pandemic as reasons to keep the emergency order in place. Plus, she said, allowing it to lapse would send the wrong message.
“I do worry that not renewing the state of emergency gives off the impression to everyday people that things are fine, you don’t need to get vaccinated, you need to wash your hands as much, you don’t need to watch out for the variants,” Eskamani said. “I’m concerned about setting that tone where I don’t think that’s 100% accurate yet.”
There were 10,629 new COVID-19 cases for the week ending June 17, according to the latest Department of Health report, a positivity rate of 3.3%. Overall, 37,555 people have died of COVID-19 in Florida.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story. There could, however, be reasons for extending the emergency, despite the lack of restrictions in the state.
Federal guidelines, for example, could require a state of emergency to be in place for Florida to receive reimbursements for spending tied to the pandemic response, such as personal protection equipment purchases.
DeSantis has given other hints that the state’s emergency footing is no longer needed.
The Department of Health recently stopped daily reports of new cases and deaths, moving to a weekly report. DeSantis also removed or discontinued other emergency measures he took to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic.
A requirement that those seeking jobless benefits search for work was waived for most of the pandemic, but DeSantis didn’t extend that measure last month. He also ordered Florida to stop paying out the $300 federal supplement to unemployment benefits starting Saturday.
That move was also roundly criticized by Democrats, who think he’s moving too fast in removing restrictions and other measures to deal with the COVID-19 threat.
“The pandemic is still here,” Eskamani said. “But I think the governor’s entire [modus operandi] has been to pretend like it’s not here. So he’s doing everything he can to give off the impression things are back to normal in Florida.”