CLICK TO LISTEN TO GOVERNOR WHITMER’S FRIDAY COMMENTS
Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Friday afternoon rebuked the Republican-led efforts to curb her power to issue executive orders, and brushed off their threatened legal action to force her to get legislative approval before issuing any further orders.
The House and Senate refused to take action on extending her State of Emergency Thursday, and leadership says as far as it’s concerned, the new orders Whitmer issued late Thursday night are not valid. The governor pushed back Friday afternoon saying that her orders are the law of the land, and she warned businesses not to “play fast and loose” and reopen without her permission.
“I’ll not be making decisions based on an arbitrary timeline, or political or legal pressure,” Whitmer said. “I’m not here to play games. My number one priority as we work to re-engage sectors of our economy is Michigan’s health and safety. I’m working to protect both people’s lives, and livelihoods. I’ll continue to work around the clock to keep you informed.”
The governor signed a new order on Friday allowing construction work to begin on May 7th.
Whitmer, a Democrat, said that she will veto legislation that the Republicans pushed through the House and Senate on Thursday, that, among other things, would repeal a 1945 law that she says gives her the right to issue multiple states of emergency with no time limits, and without legislative approval. Republicans argue that law is illegal, having been replaced by a 1976 law that requires her to get approval every 28 days. The GOP has also tried to lower that to a maximum of 14 days with other legislation.
Whitmer called lawmakers’ moves “political theater” and “political gamesmanship”, and she said that in their haste, GOP leaders couldn’t even get the bills correctly drafted.
“They didn’t even have their act together enough to give the bill immediate effect,” Whitmer said. “The bills that they talked about passing that they lured people to Lansing for and got people all riled up about, wouldn’t even go into effect until April of 2021.”
The governor says her orders to keep many businesses closed through May 28th will be enforced. Businesses that re-open against her orders face a $1,000 fine, and having their licenses revoked down the road.
“No one should be rushing the gun, playing fast and loose, and starting to restart sectors of the economy that have not been deemed low enough risk to do that yet,” Whitmer said. “We’ll get there. I just ask that people be patient.”
The Stay at Home order remains in effect until May 15th. It continues to ban both private and public gatherings of any size, with people who do not live together. The governor did amend the order last week to allow golf courses to open, landscaping companies to begin working, and the sale of certain previously-banned products.
Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-70 as part of her MI Safe Start plan. The executive order will allow the May 7 resumption of some types of work that present a very low risk of infection, including construction, real-estate activities, and work that is traditionally and primarily performed outdoors.
“The vast majority of Michiganders are still doing their part to protect themselves and their families from COVID-19. That’s good, but we must keep it up,” said Governor Whitmer. “As part of our MI Safe Start Plan, we are bringing business and labor leaders together to ensure that while we lift some restrictions on the previous Stay Home, Stay Safe order, we are also protecting workers and their families from the spread of this virus. I want to be clear: we must all continue to stay home and stay safe as much as possible. If we all keep doing our part, we can reduce the risk of a second wave and re-engage our economy safely and responsibly.”
The governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order remains in effect until May 15, 2020. Under this order, Michiganders still must not leave their homes except to run critical errands, to engage in safe outdoor activities, or to go to specified jobs. Executive Order 2020-70 also requires businesses to adopt measures to protect their workers against the spread of COVID-19.
“The data shows that we’re ready to lift some of these restrictions while also encouraging Michiganders to continue doing their part under the governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order,” said MDHHS Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. “The steps the governor is taking today will help ensure protections for workers and their families from COVID-19 while allowing for work in lower-risk fields to resume. We will keep monitoring the data closely and work with our partners across state government to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
“We are grateful for the governor’s commitment to protecting working people and their families from the spread of COVID-19,” said Pat Devlin, Secretary Treasurer of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council. “Our dedicated building tradesmen and women are ready to get back to work, and we’re glad the governor has taken steps today to help ensure their safety. We are excited to continue working with Governor Whitmer as she continues to take action on behalf of working families.”
Under the order, construction sites must adopt a set of best practices to protect their workers from infection. Those practices include:
- Designating a site supervisor to enforce COVID-19 control strategies.
- Conducting daily health screenings for workers.
- Creating dedicated entry points, if possible, or issuing stickers or other indicators to assure that all workers are screened every day.
- Identifying choke points and high-risk areas (like hallways, hoists and elevators, break areas, water stations, and buses) and controlling them to enable social distancing.
- Ensuring sufficient hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations at the worksite.
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