MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The Safer at Home order is being extended until May 26th – or until a superseding order is issued. But many residents and even lawmakers are questioning whether that extension is legal.
“I don’t have concerns about the legality,” says the Governor’s Chief legal counsel, Ryan Nilsestuen.
The Safer at Home order and Public Health Emergency currently in place within Wisconsin are two different things.
“The Public Health Emergency was declared by the governor. It lasts for sixty days. It expires on May 12th. What that Public Health Emergency allowed is that it gave the governor additional powers to really help us ramp up the response to COVID-19,” Nilsestuen says, “By contrast, [the Department of Health Services] and Secretary Palm in particular have ongoing powers that are not dependent on a state of emergency. And those powers are always around.”
Nilsestuen says those additional powers allowed local public health authorities to be able to recoup certain expenses from the state. It also allowed the governor to suspend certain administrative rules – and to issue orders to protect personal security and property.
“What Safer at Home is based on is the ongoing, longstanding, permanent statutory powers – it’s not dependent on the governor’s declaration of the public health emergency,” Nilsestuen explains, “Communicable disease can pop up at any time. DHS’s long-standing authority to – for example – close businesses, close other types of gatherings whenever there is an outbreak of communicable disease.”
The new order is beginning to relax some restrictions, and state officials are working with businesses to gradually reopen shop.
