The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced," noted the late musician and satirist Frank Zappa. I often think of that snarky comment as I write about the sausage-making process in city councils, state legislatures, and the federal government. Did I mention that California's state government has 518 agencies, boards, and commissions?
Our system of checks, balances, more checks, additional balances, impact reports, legal challenges, voter initiatives, regulatory rulemakings, and administrative hearings frustrates people who want to "get something done." Americans spent $14 billion on the 2020 election cycle to influence political outcomes—and that was just for the presidential and congressional races.
,,,Yet after COVID-19, it's obvious our democratic system of lawmaking is, as Winston Churchill put it, "the worst form of government, except for all the others." Given the choice between a system resembling a Rube Goldberg cartoon (with his bizarre and overly complex contraptions designed to complete simple tasks) and one that's streamlined and efficient, I'll take Goldberg's vision any day.
As we saw throughout the country but in California in particular, governors were happy to dispense with the usual checks and balances and impose rules by executive order and fiat. Some initial rules were defensible during a public-health crisis, but it wasn't long before elected officials operated like czars—imposing illogical and contradictory restrictions that made no rhyme or reason.
...I viewed the pandemic as serious, but it became obvious that many rules the governor imposed had nothing to do with containing the virus. Governors (and not just Newsom) and federal regulators followed the Rahm Emanuel school of thought ("Never allow a good crisis to go to waste")—and used the pandemic to impose policies they always supported but could never pass via the usual channels.
...The previous month, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R–Rocklin) published a 138-page document detailing the 400 laws the governor had unilaterally changed following his State of Emergency declaration. "Our founders had good reasons for rejecting autocratic models of government in favor of separation of powers, checks and balances, and the rule of law—all of which Gavin Newsom has discarded," Kiley wrote.
Kiley and Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, challenged this in court, arguing the 1970 California Emergency Services Act does not give the governor authority to "legislate by unilaterally amending existing statutory law."..
The Sutter County court sided with the Assembly members, although the decision didn't affect the election because the Legislature approved vote-by-mail after Newsom's order. ...
An appeals court sided with the governor and found the emergency act gave him vast authority—including the "police power" to create new law. The California Supreme Court let the appeals court decision stand, meaning that in any declared emergency the governor can do whatever he deems appropriate without serious checks or balances.
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