Idaho lawmakers try to bypass governor, end COVID emergency declaration
Idaho House Republicans haven’t given up on their attempts to bypass the governor and end Idaho’s COVID-19 emergency declaration.
The House on Monday passed a concurrent resolution that would try to terminate the emergency declared by Gov. Brad Little. The Legislature can end a disaster by concurrent resolution, according to state code. The Senate would have to concur with the resolution, which would not require the governor’s signature, as bills do.
Resolution sponsors, Republican Reps. Heather Scott, of Blanchard, and Chad Christensen, of Iona, took aim at COVID-19 vaccine promotion, which they said is tied to the emergency declaration.
“At this point, whoever wanted the vaccination has it by now, and those that don’t will never get it,” Christensen said. “I will never get it, and my family will never get it.”
The House passed the resolution by a 42-25 vote. A similar resolution last year failed without a vote in the full House. Multiple attorneys previously told the Idaho Statesman that a resolution would hold little to no weight.
An emergency declaration allows Idaho to request disaster funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Rep. Tammy Nichols, a Middleton Republican who supported the resolution, said money is the “wrong reason to be staying in an emergency.”
Since Little first issued an emergency declaration in March 2020, Idaho health officials have reported 4,796 COVID-19-related deaths. In January, Little activated the Idaho National Guard to assist Primary Health and the Idaho Department of Correction, which experienced staffing shortages with COVID-19-positive employees. It was the fourth time Little deployed the National Guard to help with the pandemic.
Rep. Laurie Lickley, a Jerome Republican, warned that ending the emergency could lead the state back to crisis standards of care, a measure that allows hospitals to triage patients based on the severity of their condition and likelihood of survival. Last month the state ended Southern Idaho’s crisis standards of care, the second time the area has activated the health care rationing protocol.
More than 500 federally contracted health care workers are working in Idaho, Lickley said.
“Right now, we need those health care workers,” she said.
The concurrent resolution heads to the Senate.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 6:42 PM.
