Indiana’s Republican governor filed suit against the state’s Republican-led Legislature Tuesday, asking a court to block a law giving legislators expanded authority in the event of a governor-declared emergency.
Gov. Eric Holcomb asked the Marion County Circuit Court to enjoin the enforcement of House Enrolled Act 1123, passed by the Legislature on April 6, providing the General Assembly the power to convene an emergency session if the governor declares a state of emergency, as Holcomb did with the coronavirus pandemic.
Holcomb vetoed the bill on April 9, but the Legislature overrode the veto on April 15.
“I firmly believe a central part of this bill is unconstitutional,” Holcomb wrote in his veto letter, citing legislative encroachment on his authority as governor.
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The lawsuit makes the same case, arguing that “the General Assembly has impermissibly attempted to give itself the ability to call special sessions, thereby usurping a power given exclusively to the governor” under the Indiana Constitution.
“If, in the opinion of the Governor, the public welfare shall require it, he may at any time by proclamation, call a special session,” according to the state’s constitution.
“I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the State of Indiana and I have an obligation do so,” Holcomb said in a statement Tuesday. “This filing is about the future of the executive branch and all the Governors who will serve long after I’m gone.”
The legislation is meant to expand the Legislature’s involvement in the response to an emergency, said the legislation’s chief sponsor and Republican state Rep. Matt Lehman.
“There’s been a lot going on from the executive side, but we just need to bring the legislative body in as well,” Lehman said in an April 1 interview with “Fort Wayne’s Morning News.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Indiana House Republican Caucus and Lehman for comment on the lawsuit but did not immediately receive a response.
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The law gives the Legislature control over a new Economic Stimulus Fund into which discretionary funds received by the state, such as those authorized by the federal coronavirus relief bills, are to be deposited. Neither Holcomb’s lawsuit nor his veto message take issue with the discretionary fund provisions.
