SB88 – Taking the People’s Power Back
The COVID-19 pandemic has been an important struggle in the United States for a year, and we’ve learned a lot. And not all we’ve learned has been in a medical facility. A significant part of what we’ve learned came out of governors’ mansions across the country.
Nevada was one state whose governor decided to stop almost all economic activity indefinitely in hopes that keeping everyone at home would somehow save their lives. All gaming – Nevada’s primary economic engine – closed up shop. Schools closed. Everyone but “essential workers” were told to shelter in place at home. And in the first days and maybe weeks of the pandemic, maybe that made some sense.
But within the first few weeks, most people were found to have largely ignored the Governor’s edicts because they needed to eat. They needed to keep their jobs and decided that made them essential. This angered the governor, so he sent out spies and enforcers to catch people that didn’t behave as he ordered them to. He levied large fines against those who defied him. He made sure as many people shut their doors as he could.
The governor also took from landlords the only income many had: their rents. He made it impossible for those who stopped paying rent to be removed so those who could pay rent could move in. Neither did the governor offer to make up for those lost profits, despite the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee for just compensation for such a taking. Neither did the governor believe that there were any limits to his ability to decide who got to earn a living and who didn’t; whether children needed playgrounds or parks, or even if they did, he decided they didn’t get to use them. Neither did he adequately provide for their unemployment benefits. Indeed, he believed that because attorneys general in years past had decided the law allowed him all power, he could simply tell them metaphorically to “eat cake.” Indefinitely.
And where was the people’s voice? Well, it should have been in the actions of the Legislature. But the leaders in power there were seemingly powerless to stop this governor’s dictatorial persona.
Of course, their powerlessness was anything but. It was complicity. It was a part of their joint overall goal to amass all power in the state. And it succeeded. SB88 seeks to take the power and place it back in the hands of the people where it belongs.
SB88 is simple. It limits the governor’s emergency actions to 30 days unless the people’s representatives in the Legislature vote to adopt his actions. And to make sure it’s a true emergency and not just a political ploy, it requires a 2/3 vote of the Legislature. The bill also limits state agencies and regulatory boards to make sure the governor doesn’t do through them what he can’t do on his own.
Indeed, in looking back over the past 12 months, we’ve looked across the country and found that those governors who didn’t assume dictatorial powers and shut down their states didn’t fare any worse a fate than Nevada. And as we have watched school children fall behind their peers, we’ve also seen rates of teen (and younger) suicides go up four fold. Childhood depression is at an alltime high across the state. All because of the isolation they felt by being forced to stay home for so long. And it turns out it was unnecessary. (Admittedly, the blame for that belongs in part at the feet of the teacher’s unions who successfully lobbied to make sure they stayed home.)
Of course, if the people wish to capitulate to a dictator and elect representatives that kowtow to the governor, that’s on the people. But let’s at least give them a choice. As it is, however, without this bill the governors to come, whether they be of one party or another, may take for themselves all power at the stroke of a pen. That’s not what the framers of the U.S. Constitution or the framers of the Nevada Constitution had in mind. It’s time to take our power back.
Image: Totalitarianism word cloud concept. Vector illustration
