Bill Text: CA ACR57 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 57 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: California Emergency Services Act.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-25 - From printer. [ACR57 Detail]

Download: California-2021-ACR57-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Concurrent Resolution

No. 57

Introduced by Assembly Members Gallagher and Kiley

March 24, 2021

Relative to the California Emergency Services Act.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 57, as introduced, Gallagher. California Emergency Services Act.

This measure would express the Legislature’s support of the ruling by Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman in Gallagher v. Newsom (Sup. Ct. No. CVCS20-0912) and urge the Governor to comply with the court’s directive not to exercise legislative powers.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, Section 3 of Article III of the California Constitution provides that the powers of the state government are separate and Section 1 of Article IV of the California Constitution states that all legislative power is vested in the Legislature; and

WHEREAS, Recognizing that emergencies require quick and decisive action, the Legislature passed the California Emergency Services Act in 1970 granting greater powers for the Governor to respond to emergencies; and

WHEREAS, While extending greater powers to the Governor, the act does not grant the Governor all plenary power to govern in an emergency, and the Legislature has specifically reserved its lawmaking power with regard to policymaking and amending and creating state laws and policy; and

WHEREAS, The recent ruling in the Sutter County Superior Court in the case of Gallagher v. Newsom (Sup. Ct. No. CVCS20-0912) clarifies this point by ruling that “the California Emergency Services Act (CA Government Code [Section] 8550 et seq.) does not authorize or empower the Governor of the State of California to amend statutory law or make new statutory law, which is exclusively a legislative function not delegated to the Governor under the CESA.”; and

WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has been an emergency requiring the Governor to act quickly and decisively to respond to the emergency; and

WHEREAS, In responding to the COVID-19 emergency, the Governor must act within the confines of the act, and specifically, the Governor may not usurp legislative powers by unilaterally amending state statutes or creating new statutory law; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature guards with the utmost reverence its charge over the legislative powers granted to it by the California Constitution; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature will continue to work cooperatively with the Governor in responding to this pandemic with each branch of government exercising its respective powers in protection of the public; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby expresses its support of the ruling, and the interpretation of the California Emergency Services Act as expressed in that ruling, by Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman in Gallagher v. Newsom (Super. Ct. No. CVCS20-0912) and urges the Governor to comply with the court’s clear directive not to exercise legislative powers by refraining from action “which amends, alters, or changes existing statutory law or makes new statutory law or legislative policy.”