Abbott pressured to end COVID emergency

AUSTIN – More than 1,000 days after Gov. Greg Abbott first issued a state of emergency declaration over COVID-19, Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison of Waxahachie is putting pressure on the governor to end it, saying never-ending emergency authorities are “antithetical to representative government.”

It all began in a crowded press room in the Capitol on March 13, 2020. Gov. Greg Abbott announced he would be declaring a state of emergency over COVID after 39 cases were reported in the state of Texas.

The original order was set to expire after 30 days. Instead, it has been extended every month since.

Harrison’s push may be working.

One day after his previous 30-day order expired, there is no record on the governor’s website or the Legislature Reference Library of another extension.

Abbott’s office has not responded to inquiries from Texas Scorecard as to whether or not he extended the most recent order, which was issued on Dec. 16.

Texas has been just one of two Republican-led states currently in a state of emergency over COVID – the other state being Kansas.