Franklin County Commissioners vote to encourage businesses to reopen

PASCO, Wash.-- Commissioners in Franklin County voted Tuesday morning to encourage builders and small business owners to start returning to work and reopening businesses.

During Tuesday's regular commissioner's meeting, Commissioner Clint Didier offered a motion to recognize that the state emergency Gov. Jay Inslee issued in March is no longer valid because the state's Constitution only provides him with the authority to a state of emergency for 30 days. Anything longer than that requires approval from state legislators.

"No order or orders concerning waiver or suspension of statutory obligations or limitations under subsection (2) of this section may continue for longer than thirty days unless extended by the legislature through concurrent resolution. If the legislature is not in session, the waiver or suspension of statutory obligations or limitations may be extended in writing by the leadership of the senate and the house of representatives until the legislature can extend the waiver or suspension by concurrent resolution."

RCW 43.06.220

Gov. Inslee initially issued a State of Emergency on February 29, 2020, and announced the Stay Home Stay Healthy order on March 23, but it didn't go into effect until midnight of March 25, 2020.

Commissioners Brad Peck and Bob Koch joined Didier in voting in favor of the motion to re-open Franklin County.

The move comes just one day after Newsradio 610 KONA spoke with 8th District Rep. Brad Klippert about the same concerns regarding the constitutionality of Gov. Inslee's indefinite order to keep businesses closed without getting any buy-in from lawmakers.

"I've asked that we call a special session, and that we take back some of the out of control measures, the unequal measures the governor has passed, and that we the legislature say this will not, I say again this must not go on past May 4th," Klippert said Monday.

According to Gov. Inslee's Deputy Communications Director Mike Faulk, the governor did receive written authorization from the "four corners" of the legislature, the House Minority and Majority Leaders, and the Senate Minority and Majority Leaders, to extend the State of Emergency and specific proclamations related to the Stay Home Stay Healthy order. The most recent authorization was signed April 15, 2020.

During Tuesday's meeting, Commissioner Peck said commissioners didn't vote to re-open Franklin County because they never closed Franklin County.

"The authority of the governor as I read in the statute appears to have expired after thirty days, and it's the state law of Washington that re-opened Franklin County. It's just that no one put light on it until today," Peck said. "I bring that up because I want people to focus on the fact that we're focusing on the Constitution and the laws of the state of Washington and we're not out there on a limb. We're simply doing what we were elected and took oaths to do, which is to defend the laws of the state of Washington."