Bedford, NH- House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) released the following statement in response to the House passing HB417, relative to the powers of the governor during a renewal of a declared state of emergency.
“When the emergency powers statute was passed after September 11, 2001, I don’t believe anyone would have ever thought we’d have to use this statute for a world-wide pandemic that effectively shut down the economy on every corner of the globe for over a year. If the last year has shown us anything, it is that the statute wasn’t perfect when it was originally passed, and could use some updating so that whomever may be governor in the future can share the burden with the other branches of government.”
“It is important to note that this bill does absolutely nothing to affect the current State of Emergency. All HB417 will do is reassert the legislature’s role in future states of emergency.”