Michigan House Repeals Emergency Powers Law Used By Gov. Whitmer To Fight COVID-19
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Michigan legislators have repealed the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945, which allowed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to quickly enforce health and safety restrictions early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. Four Democrats joined the Republican-led state House in a 60-48 vote on Wednesday, declaring the law unconstitutional. The broad powers allowed governors to declare an emergency to “protect life and property or to bring the emergency situation within the affected area under control.” The state Senate approved the Unlock Michigan initiative on July 15.
The 76-year-old law's expulsion was prominently featured in right-rated and local Michigan outlets; many left-rated and center-rated outlets did not cover the news. Right-rated headlines emphasized how Whitmer was "stripped of emergency powers." Some left-rated outlets highlighted how Whitmer "championed" the need for citizens to get vaccinated after Michigan became a COVID-19 hotspot.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Michigan House repeals emergency powers law Gov. Whitmer used to fight pandemic
A 76-year-old Michigan law crafted in the wake of Detroit race riots and used more recently to combat a generational health crisis is officially dead.
The Republican-controlled state House on Wednesday voted 60-48 largely along party lines in support of initiative petition language that repeals the Emergency Powers Act of 1945. The vote came one week after the state Senate also approved the initiative.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used the law to issue sweeping health and safety restrictions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, moves that eventually garnered pushback from Republicans...
From the Left
Michigan Legislature kills law Whitmer used for virus rules 
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday killed a law that underpinned coronavirus restrictions issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, wiping it from the books after Michigan’s Supreme Court declared the measure unconstitutional.
The Democrat is powerless to veto the citizen-initiated bill. A conservative group that organized the ballot drive next plans to target a public health law that enabled Whitmer’s administration to keep intact capacity restrictions and mask requirements for eight additional months until voluntarily lifting them in June after infections subsided amid vaccinations.
The GOP-led House voted 60-48 to repeal the 1945...
From the Right
Michigan repeals law that gave Gov. Gretchen Whitmer emergency powers
In a rebuke to Gretchen Whitmer, the Republican-led Michigan state House of Representatives repealed a 76-year-old law that gave the governor broad emergency powers used to lock down much of the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a 60-48 vote mainly along party lines, the Emergency Powers Act of 1945 was officially scuttled. The state Senate had already voted to kill the act last week.
Though the legislation does not take effect immediately it was a clear shot at Whitmer, whose strict shut-down policies stirred protests last year, but also made her...
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