This afternoon, Assemblyman Josh Jensen (R,C,I-Greece) will be joining with his colleagues in the Assembly Minority to vote against legislation that claims to revoke the governor’s emergency powers, yet, in actuality extends them indefinitely and allows the governor to continue to make changes to existing directives that limits local control without the approval of the state Legislature. Additionally, members of the Majority voted against a minority amendment to the bill that would revoke all of the governor’s extraordinary powers.

“The negotiated agreement between the Senate, Assembly and the governor is an insufficient half-measure that fails to answer the calls of New Yorkers to revoke the governor’s extraordinary executive powers, restore the Legislature as a co-equal branch of government and reinstate local control in responding to the ongoing pandemic,” said Jensen.

Under the legislation that’s expected to pass today, while the governor cannot create new directives, he retains the power to extend or modify directives that have placed limits on restaurants, schools, churches, bowling alleys and movie theatres as long as his commissioner of health deems them appropriate. After the passage of this bill, the same restrictions currently on restaurants, businesses and everyday routines will still be in place tomorrow. The only new requirement of the governor is that he must notify a small group of legislative leaders about upcoming changes to existing orders. If the Legislature were truly a co-equal branch of government, that would have been taking place for the past year. With the expected passage of today’s bill, the end date of Gov. Cuomo’s extraordinary powers is still to be determined.