​Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is being joined by his colleagues in the Assembly and Senate Minority Conferences in demanding the termination of the state disaster emergency declared by Executive Order 202 before the end of the 2020-2021 legislative session, which is scheduled to finish this Thursday.

As of June 2, New York state’s seven-day average positivity rate was the lowest in the nation at 0.64 percent, and hospitalizations dropped to under 1,000 for the first time since October 2020. Within Hawley’s district numbers are similarly low, with a seven-day positivity rate of 1 percent in the Finger Lakes region.

“In the wake of the decision by our state Department of Health and the CDC to largely let life get back to normal, we should follow the data and restore state government back to normal with all of the checks guaranteed by our constitution,” said Hawley. “Declarations of emergency should be decisions based on public health, not political expediency, and if the governor and the Majority also believe this, they should immediately terminate this state of emergency. If this legislative session ends with this declaration still in place, it will only be to secure the governor’s power, not for anybody’s well-being.”