Since March 12 of last year, Gov. Ned Lamont has issued 89 executive orders related to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, he expects to ask for an extension of the emergency powers that allow him to write all those orders.
After a five-month extension approved in September, those powers are set to expire Feb. 9. The governor says they've been vital to Connecticut's efforts to mitigate the crisis.
"The legislature granted me this authority because of the nature of the real-time decision making we've got to make," said Lamont, during his Thursday news briefing.
He says full legislative debate of every move to combat the pandemic would slow things down: "I don't think that would be very good. Either they can vote on each and every one of the (89) executive orders, or they all end on Feb. 9. We're going to work this out. We've got good leadership on both sides of the aisle. We're going to find a good compromise going forward."
The governor says that currently, the legislature can vote down any of his orders. That move seems unlikely, however, with his fellow Democrats controlling the state House and Senate.
Although state Republican leaders stood side-by-side with Gov. Lamont late last winter when he declared pandemic-related states of emergency, they have been critical of his extended reach over all things COVID-19.
Former House Republican leader Themis Klarides, a possible candidate for governor in 2022, recently criticized the governor's stance via Twitter, writing "Governor Lamont continues to run the state by fiat and his enablers in the Democratic controlled legislature don't have the backbone to stop him."
