Governor Mike Dunleavy held a Wednesday night briefing to advocate in favor of extending the state’s disaster declaration. With some State Senators opposed to passing the extension and the State House at a stand-still, the situation seems increasingly likely that Senate Bill 56, also known as the extension of the state’s disaster declaration, may not make its February 15 deadline.
The Governor noted that if the disaster declaration is not extended by the 15th, the administration and individual municipalities will continue working towards mitigation of the virus, but that approval of the declaration would help: “The organization of the Legislature really is a concern for all of us, obviously. We’ve all been having discussions, hoping that the House forms up sooner rather than later, but with regards to managing the virus, we believe that the declaration allows us to have tools that will make it easier and quicker to be able to deal with this. What we’re saying is if the declaration is not extended, we’re not going to throw up our hands; we’re going to roll up our sleeves like we always have and approach this virus in a science, data-based approach, like we have been for the past thirteen months.”
He said that the ultimate goal is to see this declaration through: “Would a declaration assist us? Yes. If there is no declaration, is it going to throw us into chaos? We don’t know, we don’t think so, but certainly an extension would help the cause.”
According to Dunleavy, his administration will pursue other options if they need to, but as of now, they are hoping the Legislature can work together to ensure an extension of the declaration.