A controversial bill making its way through Maryland’s House of Delegates this week would limit the governor’s emergency powers and require seeking approval from the legislature.
Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick County), a controversial figure in the House chamber, sponsors “Consent of the Governed Act,” which would remove the governor’s ability to unilaterally declare a state of emergency. The measure would limit a state of emergency to a maximum of 14 days. Any longer than that, and the governor would have to convene a special session for lawmakers to extend the order. Each chamber would have to approve the measure by a two-thirds majority vote.
The bill also states that the governor may not close any house of worship or business using emergency orders unless three independent experts deem those facilities out of compliance. It also adds that emergency orders cannot require a “U.S. citizen to remain at home…wear a face covering, receive a vaccine, or be forced under penalty of law to make any other health decisions.”
The proposal is currently in a house committee and it’s unlikely to pass in the Democratically-controlled House chamber.
Earlier this month, House members called for Cox to be censured following his comments on social media during the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. Cox organized buses from Frederick County down to former-President Trump’s rally on the ellipse on Jan. 6. That same day, Cox, a supporter of Trump, tweeted that “Pence is a traitor.”
After the insurrection at the Capitol, Cox wrote in a statement, “I am one of the most pro-life, pro-rule of law legislators in the Maryland General Assembly…this is why I have never supported, and I also denounce, all mob violence including those who broke into the U.S. Capitol.”
Maryland’s current state of emergency is in place to prevent further spread of COVID-19. But in a virtual committee hearing on the bill Thursday, Cox likened the order to the Chinese government’s oppression and persecution of Uyghur Muslims.
“Here in Maryland, pastors have been fined and churches threatened for mere worship or even giving the Eucharist or other activities while big box stores and fast food places remain open,” Cox told committee members.
He also compared Hogan’s months-long executive orders to a dictatorship.
“Think about that,” Cox said. “We’ve been on the edge of, in [what] some would say when locked in their homes without redress, fully under a dictatorship for the past 10 months.”
Unsurprisingly, Hogan does not support the bill. Hogan called Cox a “Q-Anon conspiracy theorist” at a press conference earlier this month and said he was embarrassed by fellow Republicans who fought against the certification of the election.
“[Cox] called me a communist Chinese spy for China. He called the vice president a traitor. He was down there gathering people at the Capitol. I don’t even know what makes him think this way,” Hogan said.
Cox and members of Reopen Maryland, a group that has been campaigning against pandemic-related closures across the state since March, sued Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in May over his stay-at-home orders. A federal judge rejected the lawsuit saying, “slowing the spread of COVID-19 is a government interest.” The group has filed an appeal.
Tim Walters, co-organizer of Reopen Maryland, testified at the bill hearing Thursday saying the group wanted to make sure that, “the governor’s authority is bound to oversight and in constitutional partnership with the general assembly.”
“We cannot, as free men and women allow the government, especially any one elected official to challenge individual liberties and suspend constitutionally protected freedoms at all, much less indefinitely,” Walters said.
Members of Prince George’s Young Democrats called for the General Assembly to expel Cox and other lawmakers with any involvement “in the white supremacist coup attempt on January 6, 2021,” the group wrote.
This story was updated to reflect Delegate Cox’s standing in the legislature.
