The Albuquerque City Council updated a decadesold emergency powers statute, granting the mayor special authority to address the coronavirus health crisis.
The council updated the ordinance, originally crafted to grant the mayor special powers in the event of riots or a natural disaster, in a 6-3 vote Monday to include the outbreak of an infectious disease, according to the Albuquerque Journal. In the days leading up to the vote, council members tried to gather input from residents over the phone and through the internet to avoid gathering in large groups.
The original city ordinance allowed the mayor to take emergency action against gun sales and ownership in the event of a riot. The updated law sectioned off those powers, granting the mayor authority to close streets and venues where large crowds tend to gather and require stores to limit how many “medical, health, and sanitation” products each person can buy.
The emergency powers, which last 30 days and can be shorted or extended by the city council, received criticism by the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “While the emergency powers legislation approved last night by the Albuquerque City Council is an understandable reaction to the mounting disease threat, we fear the Council overreached,” the ACLU said in a statement.
Prior to the passage of the bill, the mayor issued statements allaying fears that the city government would move to restrict firearms sales.
“If we declare a public health emergency, it will be to tap into state and federal funding and allocate resources to limit the impact of COVID-19 on our entire community,” city spokeswoman Jessie Damazyn said in a statement Monday. “The legislation being considered tonight does not ban gun sales, confiscate guns, prohibit liquor sales, nor does it implement a curfew or close streets, and the Mayor’s declaration will not either.”
