Republican representative Jen Kiggans from Virginia Beach questions Gov. Northram's executive powers!

Since March, I have listened to many of you ask why our Governor is able to mandate executive order after executive order with no input from the legislative branch. As it currently stands, Virginia law gives the Governor unilateral authority to declare a state of emergency for an unlimited amount of time without involving the legislature. Last Wednesday, we heard FIVE bills in committee which addressed this imbalance of power (SB 5001, 5008, 5048, 5077, & 5111) including two (which I co-patroned) which proposed that the Governor’s emergency orders be limited to 30 days or 45 days before calling back the General Assembly. Although there was intense debate, ALL FIVE bills were killed one-by-one in committee along party line vote of 8(D) to 6(R). Thus the Governor retains the ability to mandate executive orders using his judgement alone for as long as he’d like. Note that the majority of states in our country have some restriction in place for the Governor’s emergency powers. #ButNotVirginia!#NoBalanceOfPower #LetUsDoOurJob!