Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes $14 billion in budget cuts due to decreased state revenue from the coronavirus. Valley News/Courtesy photo
By Don Thompson
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s use of emergency powers to make far-reaching policies during the pandemic was upheld Wednesday by state appellate judges who rejected a lower court finding that the Democrat had done too much unilaterally.
Three judges from the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ruled unanimously that the prior judge “erred in interpreting the Emergency Services Act to prohibit the Governor from issuing quasi-legislative orders in an emergency.”
“We conclude the issuance of such orders did not constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power,” Presiding Justice Vance Raye wrote in ruling on a lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators.
The court already had stayed the earlier ruling by Sutter
