Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham | Facebook
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham | Facebook
Rep. Jim Townsend (R-Artesia) asserts that the New Mexico Legislature’s authority has been undermined with the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to issue businesses fines of $5,000 for public health order violations.
“The court has just given the governor unfettered power to create law during a health crisis,” Townsend said in a post on the New Mexico House GOP website. “Nowhere in the statute does is say the governor can fine businesses $5,000 a day for staying open during a public health emergency, yet the court disagreed. The people of New Mexico should be very worried by what transpired.”
As mentioned in the NM House GOP post, the state’s statue specifies that a violation of a public health order is considered a misdemeanor which would result in a fine of $100.
A lawyer for the Grisham administration, Matthew Garcia, told the Supreme Court the higher fines are necessary, as reported by the Associated Press.
“What we’re trying to get here is immediate compliance because the only tool we currently have to stem the transmission of COVID-19 is social distancing,” Garcia said.
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