State Sen. Shelnutt voices support for efforts to roll back health emergency executive powers — ‘We need to have some checks and balances’

Last week, SB 97, legislation brought by State Sen. Tom Whatley (R-Auburn), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that would limit the power of the state health officer and add a check on the executive branch under a state of emergency, advanced through the Judiciary Committee by a 7-4 vote.

Complaints surfaced during the Ivey administration-imposed COVID-19 shutdown last year, given there did not seem to be any system to check the unrestrained power of the executive branch during a state of a health emergency. State Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville), one of the bill’s cosponsors, noted it was even more problematic for Jefferson and Mobile Counties, which have their own health officials that can impose shutdowns without the consent of anyone at the state level.

During an interview with Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Shelnutt pledged his support for the bill and described the 2020 shutdown as “kind of overreach.”

“I agree with Senator Whatley’s bill,” he said. “We need to have some checks and balances. We have an unelected official that can basically shut down the state. I don’t know if you know — we have two counties, Jefferson County and Mobile County, that have their own public health officers in charge that can make their own order without the state. I got a little frustrated, and many people in my area got really frustrated with how far it went in Jefferson County, kind of overreach. We were shutting down tennis courts and ballparks and barbershops and everything. We need some checks and balances. We need somebody we can at least get out of office if we don’t agree with what they’re doing.”

Shelnutt suggested the shutdown edict imposed on churches last year was also government overreach.

“It’s like we were in California or another country,” Shelnutt added. “That was a crazy time. And now, a lot of churches — my church, we don’t have Sunday school classes, and that’s OK for the church to make that decision, but I don’t think the government should be making that decision for the churches.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.