Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wants the legislature to extend Michigan’s state of emergency for another 28 days.
The current state of emergency is set to expire on Thursday, and Whitmer said Monday that she hopes state lawmakers will cooperate with plans to extend it, according to the Detroit Free Press. The state of emergency is different from Michigan’s stay-at-home order, which is set to continue through May 15.
Michigan would have to be under a state-of-emergency order to continue its shelter-in-place guidelines. The state has two different legal mechanisms to enforce a state of emergency, one that Whitmer can do unilaterally and another that must be approved by the legislature. The latter, the Emergency Management Act, has broader powers than the Emergency Powers of Governor Act, which the governor can initiate.
The act that the legislature can pass provides additional liability protections for healthcare workers and medical professionals.
“The powers I have do not depend on the legislature, but the protections for our healthcare workers do,” Whitmer explained.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey’s spokeswoman Amber McCann said Monday that the Republican has reached out to the governor to discuss the extension.
“The Majority Leader and [House] Speaker have reached out to engage the governor in a discussion about conditions surrounding a possible extension,” McCann explained.
Whitmer has been criticized for some of the actions she has taken during the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the month, she instituted an expanded executive order that banned visits to other residences and the sale of certain nonessential goods.
Michigan has had more than 37,000 cases of the coronavirus and at least 3,300 deaths, according to a tally by the New York Times.
