Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday afternoon that he and legislative leaders plan to extend his coronavirus-related emergency powers for five months, giving him the power to close businesses and schools, restrict gathering sizes and mandate post-travel quarantines until early February 2021.
“What [the extension] means over the next five months is that we’ll have the ability to react quickly if situations change, just like happened in April and May,” Lamont said at his Monday press briefing. “I’d like to think that we’re not going to be in that situation, we can be a little more methodical and cautious in terms of those [emergency orders].”
The governor met with legislative leaders Monday to discuss the extension, he said.
The governor’s spokesperson, Max Reiss, said the five-month extension of Lamont’s powers will begin on Sept. 9, picking up exactly where the first emergency declaration ends.
Reiss said that, once the governor formally files for the extension, legislative leaders will have 72 hours to nullify it.
“We do not believe that’s going to happen,” Reiss said of the nullification.
Later Monday afternoon, Senate Republican leader Len Fasano issued a statement that said Republican leaders are worried about the way the governor has gone about the extension.
“We have serious concerns about expanding any emergency powers without also implementing a plan to give the public a voice in the process which they have been entirely shut out of thus far,” he said.
House Republican leader Themis Klarides said the full emergency powers may have been appropriate at the height of the pandemic, but now she thinks the system should shift some power back to the legislative branch.
“The governor is basically operating as a dictator,” Klarides said. “The executive powers have to be limited.”
However, House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, a Democrat, told The Courant last week that extending the governor’s powers would be “an easy decision.”
“The governor has done an incredible job, leading our state through a very difficult time,” Ritter said. “Although there’s a role for the legislature to play, we are not able to react quickly enough to some of these executive orders the way that the governor can with the stroke of a pen.”
Lamont’s current emergency powers stem from a March 10 emergency declaration related to the coronavirus pandemic. Under the emergency declaration, Lamont has broad power to issue pandemic-related rules through executive orders, which do not require legislative approval.
Since the pandemic hit Connecticut in March, Lamont has issued more than 60 coronavirus-related executive orders. Through those orders, Lamont has closed businesses and schools, mandated mask-wearing in public and required quarantine for people who travel from hot spot states.
Lamont said Monday that, in addition to having the power to issue new orders, the extension ensures that his existing orders don’t expire on Sept. 9. Paul Mounds, the governor’s chief of staff, said allowing those existing orders to abruptly expire would’ve made the state a more dangerous place.
Without the extension, “Sept. 9 would’ve been a day of pure disruption in the state of Connecticut,” Mounds said.
Courant staff writer Alex Putterman contributed to this report.
Emily Brindley can be reached at ebrindley@courant.com.
