Republicans in the state Assembly want to end Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s expanded emergency powers granted by the legislature back in March.

On Saturday, Will Barclay, R-Fulton and Assembly minority leader, said it is time for the state to return to established state government operations, processes and legislative powers. The state Legislature hasn’t met since approving the budget in early April, though hundreds of pieces of legislation have been introduced remotely. Barclay said it is time to restore the traditional authorities given to the Legislature and end Cuomo’s expanded emergency powers.

“The emergency powers provided to the governor were always intended to be temporary,” Barclay said. “As we see the COVID-19 threat begin to subside and we move in the direction of reopening New York, the time has come for state government to return to its basic principle of representative democracy. The decisions we face in the coming weeks will impact New Yorkers for years to come. When are regions opening up? How do we fix a $13 billion budget hole? What are we doing to help people and businesses fully recover? Answers to these questions need to be developed through a legislative process and in a manner that gives a voice to every New Yorker. One-party rule is rife with issues. But one-person rule is not how our system of government was ever designed to run.”

Gov. Cuomo assumed widespread authority when he declared a state of emergency on March 7 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those powers weren’t granted without controversy. The vote in the state Assembly was 85-47, and while Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, voted in favor of the bill he did so because of its $40 million to help prepare for the coming pandemic. Goodell articulated several points of disagreement with the legislation and tried to shepherd an amendment to the bill that would have provided more oversight of gubernatorial spending over the $40 million. State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, voted against the legislation in the state Senate.

“While I fully supported the funding appropriation, I could not support handing the Governor the power to act unilaterally during any event he deems an ’emergency,'” Borrello said in March. “The bill would have given him sweeping and sole authority to suspend and alter any state or local law or rule and issue directives. It unnecessarily added language to allow the Governor to declare a wide spectrum of events as ‘disasters’ — even blight — giving him ultimate authority.”

In the past two months, Cuomo has issued 29 Executive Orders and changed more than 250 laws. Among his executive orders are requiring all non-essential businesses to close and workers to stay home, spending nearly $3 billion, closing schools for the rest of the academic year and announcing a “re-imagining” of the state’s education system in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The governor has also altered state regulations governing public health, hospitals, nursing homes, elections, open meetings, court proceedings, purchasing procedures and child care. It also removed from legislative purview cuts to the budget, giving power of regular reviews of spending and expenditures, and cuts if necessary, to Robert Mujica, state budget director.

“Fortunately, we have seen improvements in COVID-19 numbers and I hope that trend continues. With critical decisions and budget activity directly in front of us, it is essential that our branches of government function as co-equal partners and in a manner where 19.5 million New Yorkers are properly represented,” Barclay said.