A bill that would limit the state health officials’ ability to issue health emergency rules failed in a procedural motion in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
The House of Representatives voted 54-44 to advance the bill sponsored by Senator Arthur Orr, R-Decater, to a floor vote. The bill required about 60 votes to get to the floor. Early Wednesday afternoon, vote counting was not immediately available.
The bill was a reaction to the state’s attempt to control a COVID pandemic in 2020, requiring the governor to approve an emergency medical order issued by a state health officer. The order did not come into effect until it was submitted to Secretary of State Alabama.
Rex Reynolds, Congressman of R-Huntsville, said:
The business group complained that the measures taken by the governor and the health center in April 2020 to counter the pandemic hurt the company and, in some cases, forced it to shut down. These measures were significantly lifted by May 2020, just before the surge in COVID cases that summer. However, Ivey maintained the mask requirements until the COVID-19 vaccine became widely available in the spring of 2021.
According to the Alabama Public Health Service, more than 19,000 Alabama people have died from COVID-19.
Orr’s bill has garnered criticism from Democrats who said it could detain the Public Health Service’s hands in responding to crises such as the outbreak of COVID.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where an emergency occurs in a particular area of the state. Health officials can’t do anything until they go through a political process,” said the person in charge. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, Former Mayor of Mobile. “For me, it doesn’t improve the process. It makes it worse.”
Reynolds said the bill includes provisions that would allow state health officials to make decisions in the event of an emergency and the governor’s failure to respond. The bill contains the statement that state health officials can “give individual instructions to civilians and businesses about violations of state law and rules adopted by the state health commission.” , Urgent rules are not mentioned in particular.
A bill that would have required Congress to approve the renewal of the Healthcare Order failed in Congress last year.
Contact Brian Lyman (334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com), a Montgomery Advertiser reporter.
