Indiana’s governor vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would limit the authority of county or city health departments by allowing local elected officials to block public health orders issued during emergencies.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb wrote in a veto message that the ability of local health officials to act quickly has been critical to the state’s COVID-19 response. The governor said he believed it was “prudent to avoid any unnecessary disruption or wholesale changes to our existing local public health authorities.”
“Right now it is critical that we maintain our local health expertise, flexibility and all the tools needed to respond,” Holcomb said. “We must not do anything that jeopardizes this as our heroic local health officials remain critical in the months to come as we accelerate our recovery and work to vaccinate many more Hoosiers.”
Legislative Republican supporters said the bill was meant to provide a “check and balance” protecting the rights of business owners following complaints about COVID-19 orders closing or limiting businesses.
The bill would require any local public health orders more stringent than one issued by the governor go before elected county commissioners or city councils for approval. Holcomb’s coronavirus-related executive orders over the past year have allowed local officials to establish tougher regulations — an authority he frequently cited in defending his decisions lifting various statewide travel, crowd size and business restrictions.
Click here to read the full story from Tom Davies of the Associated Press in the Goshen News.
The state Senate voted 37-12 and House members voted 65-29 in favor of the bill two weeks ago. Indiana legislators can override Holcomb’s veto by a simple majority vote in both chambers, with that action potentially taking place during a one-day meeting next week.