TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy last week notified the New Jersey Senate and Assembly of his request to have the state’s governing bodies extend his pandemic emergency powers past the Tuesday expiration date.
“n Saturday, January 1st, I formally notified leadership in the senate and assembly respectively to extend for an additional 90 days our administration’s emergency powers related to vaccine distribution and administration, testing, and ensuring adherence to CDC guidance, particularly as it relates to masking in vulnerable settings, including our schools and childcare centers where we know there are large numbers of unvaccinated individuals,” Murphy said.
Republicans and Democrats alike denied Murphy that 90-day extension, instead, they offered the governor a 30-day extension, but the Governor’s office rejected the counteroffer according to state officials.
The state public health emergency is officially scheduled to expire Tuesday.
The legislature went back to Murphy to let him know they were willing to give the governor a 45-day extension but under specific conditions. One of those conditions is that the Governor must publicly release benchmarks and metrics to use as a guide to declare when certain mandates and orders can kick in, such as hospitalizations, rate of transmissions and other key factors.
Instead of giving Murphy a 90-day blank slate, Democrat legislators are willing to put the governor on a tighter leash. The bill permits certain administrative orders, directives, and waivers issued for the COVID-19 public health emergency to be extended for 45 days (until February 25, 2022) instead of 90 days (until April 11, 2022), which is current law.
Both houses have to pass the law, but Republicans say they will vote no, but lacking the majority of votes, the Democrats will be the deciding force behind what happens this week.
Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean said he will vote against legislation that will extend Governor Murphy’s emergency powers for another 45 days.
“Tomorrow, among the more than 100 bills that I will be asked to vote on, will be legislation to extend the Governor’s emergency powers for another 45 days. Although the bill has reduced the 90-day extension to a 45-day extension, every extra day the Governor’s emergency powers are in place is one day too long for New Jersey,” Kean said. “I voted against extending the Governor’s powers on June 3, 2021 and I will vote against S-4313 tomorrow.”