What if a governor declared a state of emergency and then refused to follow the law regarding his own declaration? Can a governor pick and choose what parts of the state of emergency law he likes best and throw the other parts out?
The State of Washington, for good or bad, gives broad authority to its governor when it comes to declaring a state of emergency. The way the law is currently written the governor has sole authority to declare when an emergency has occurred, what conditions necessitate the emergency declaration, and how long it will last.
It also provides the governor with significant powers to take measures he or she believes necessary to mitigate the emergency. Debates will continue for years in Washington over whether such powers are constitutional or wise in a free society given the harm that abuse of these powers could cause.
Whether you agree with him or not, our current governor has been careful in his many proclamations since March, 2020 to cite the Revised Code of Washington as his authority for every measure he has taken. The state law outlining the parameters of his authority is RCW 43.06.220. If you haven’t already since covid has been a thing, go ahead and pause here to read that RCW. It doesn’t take long.
This RCW is the one cited by our governor to close schools, pick favored businesses to remain open and others to be forced closed, and functionally shift Washington from a republic to a dictatorship.
But is he following all the required state laws regarding a declaration of emergency?
Turn The Page
If the online RCW’s were a book with pages, now would be the time to turn to the next page. After RCW 43.06.220 comes, you guessed it, RCW 43.06.230 and (on the following page) 240. Let’s take a look at those.
RCW 43.06.230 is so short I can copy it in its entirety here:
“After the proclamation of a state of emergency as provided in RCW 43.06.10, any person who maliciously destroys or damages any real or personal property or maliciously injures another is guilty of a class B felony and upon conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than two years nor more than ten years.”
Notice that because of the state of emergency declaration property destruction and personal injury are considered felonies requiring a minimum of 2-years in prison.
Looking at 43.06.240 we see that disorderly conduct, again because of the state of emergency declaration, can carry a 364-day imprisonment (or $1000 fine. Or both).
Why The Fuss?
Why does state law require extra penalties during a declared state of emergency? It makes sense if you think it through. Besides whatever conditions being caused by the condition of the emergency itself, a declared state of emergency is going to come with any number of declarations from the governor designed to bring the emergency under control. The hundreds of proclamations WA is sitting under to-date cause significant difficulties of their own. During an emergency the population is at increased risk of harm—therefore crimes like destruction of property, personal injury, or disorderly conduct are especially harmful to everyone bound by the emergency declaration.
Do We Have An Emergency, Or Don’t We?
Meanwhile, Seattle burns. Anyone who has been paying attention has witnessed the nightly reports of destruction of property, malicious personal injury, and disorderly conduct. Washington leadership, to include the governor and attorney general’s office have done little to stop any of it. Despite the state of emergency we have yet to hear of widespread enforcements of these laws, to include the heavier-than-usual penalties required by Jay Inslee’s state of emergency declaration.
Either,
we have a true emergency, in which case all of the state’s emergency laws must be followed by our government.
or,
the lack of decisive enforcement and prosecution on the rioting betrays the governor’s admission that there is not really an emergency situation—there are just some things he wants to do to the citizens of Washington that require an emergency declaration to keep up the appearance of legality.
It can’t be both. You either follow the state of emergency laws and remain legitimate; or you pick and choose which laws you feel like following, thus betraying your hypocrisy and illegal behavior.
I’ve not seen any of our elected leaders give this much attention and it has gotten zero play so far from Washington media outlets, but what it comes down to is this:
If individual acts of violence, destruction, and disorderly conduct are not dealt with by Jay Inslee, the Attorney General, and Seattle leadership, the state of emergency is shown to be unnecessary by their own admission and should be ended immediately.