纽约州议会两院都通过了一项法案,限制州长安德鲁·科莫在疫情中授予的紧急权力。
周五的投票与参议院的党派立场一致,43名民主党人投票赞成,20名共和党人投票反对。在参议院批准在修改或延长指令之前要求更多的立法监督几个小时后,议会以107票对43票通过。
库莫必须签字同意才能生效。如果他不这样做,州民主党在立法机构中拥有不可否决的多数票来推翻他的投票。
这账单该法案由参议院多数党领袖安德里亚·斯图尔特-卡曾斯(Andrea Stewart-Cousins)和众议院议长卡尔·希斯蒂(Carl Heastie)于周二提出,旨在废除科莫在冠状病毒危机早期授予的行政权力。
他被授予了非常时期的权力2020年3月,该法案允许州长通过行政命令发布任何必要的指令来应对疫情,如强制要求戴口罩和隔离。
根据新法案,库莫将需要立法审查,以引入关于该州病毒应对的新行政命令。如果获得通过,他还将被允许延长与大流行有关的现有紧急指令,如果它们“对公共健康至关重要”。
库莫的紧急权力将于4月30日到期。该法案将允许与疫苗接种程序和面部覆盖物相关的长期指令再有效30天,并可在参议院和议会审查后延长。
州参议院的共和党人认为,该法案走得不够远,没有完全撤销这些紧急权力。
纽约州长办公室通过美联社
2021年3月3日,星期三,纽约州长安德鲁·科莫在纽约奥尔巴尼的新闻发布会上发言
“我想每个人都明白我们三月份回到了什么地方,我们现在在什么地方。公众应该得到制衡,”斯图尔特-卡曾斯在一份声明中说。她说,该法案“将建立一个增加投入的系统,同时确保纽约人继续得到保护。”
此举正值科莫卷入两起丑闻。
他被指控三个女人的不当行为包括两个曾经和他一起工作的人。
州长为他的行为道歉在周三的新闻发布会上。
“这是无意的,我对此深表歉意。我对此感到很难过,坦率地说,我对此感到尴尬,”他说。但他坚称,“我从未不恰当地接触过任何人。”
他的办公室也因涉嫌隐藏新冠肺炎在纽约疗养院死亡。
纽约总检察长办公室在1月下旬发布的一项调查发现,州养老院居民死于该病毒的人数可能是少报50%。报告称,许多患者在被转移到医院后死亡,不计入养老院死亡人数。
库莫政府在周五下午与美国广播公司新闻分享的一份新声明中否认改变养老院死亡数据。相反,他的办公室表示,“已经决定”不输入被确定为有问题的数字。库莫政府正在配合调查。
New York state legislature passes bill to limit Gov. Cuomo's pandemic emergency powers
Both chambers of the New York state legislature have passed a bill to limit Gov. Andrew Cuomo's emergency powers granted in the pandemic.
The Friday vote fell along party lines in the Senate with 43 Democrats voting in favor against 20 Republican votes. The Assembly voted 107-43 several hours after the Senate’s approval to require more legislative oversight before directives are modified or extended.
Cuomo will have to sign off on it for it to take effect. If he doesn't, state Democrats have a veto-proof majority in the legislature to override his vote.
Thebill, which was introduced Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, seeks to repeal Cuomo’s executive powers granted in the early days of the coronavirus crisis.
He was granted theemergency powersin March 2020, which permitted the governor to issue by executive order any directive necessary to respond to the pandemic, such as mandating mask-wearing and quarantines.
Under the new bill, Cuomo would require legislative review in order to introduce new executive orders concerning the state's virus response. If passed, he would also only be allowed to extend existing emergency directives related to the pandemic if they are "critical to public health."
Cuomo's emergency powers were set to expire April 30. The bill will allow standing directives related to the vaccination process and face coverings to remain in effect for an additional 30 days and they can be extended with Senate and Assembly review.
Republicans in the state Senate argued the bill doesn't go far enough and doesn't fully revoke those emergency powers.
"I think everyone understands where we were back in March and where we are now. The public deserves to have checks and balances," Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. She said the bill "would create a system with increased input while at the same time ensuring New Yorkers continue to be protected."
The move comes as Cuomo has been embroiled in two scandals.
He has been accused ofinappropriate conduct by three women, including two who used to work with him.
The governorapologized for his actionsin a press conference Wednesday.
"It was unintentional and I truly and deeply apologize for it. I feel awful about it and frankly I am embarrassed by it," he said. But he maintained, "I never touched anyone inappropriately."
His office is also under investigation for allegedly hiding the number ofCOVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes.
A probe by the New York attorney general's office released in late January found the number of state nursing home resident deaths from the virus may have beenundercounted by as much as 50%. The report said many of those patients died after being moved to the hospital and were not counted as nursing home fatalities.
The Cuomo administration denied altering nursing home death data in a new statement shared with ABC News Friday afternoon. His office said instead, "a decision was made" not to put in numbers determined to be questionable. The Cuomo administration is cooperating with the investigation.