In the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, a state executive order is a directive issued by a
governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
that regulates operations of the
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
and certain aspects of citizen life. Powers of state executive orders are limited by the respective
state constitution and/or executive and
state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...
, and are also subject to the provisions of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
and any applicable federal law.
Similar to
presidential executive orders, they are subject to
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...
and can be invalidated if determined to violate any statutes or codes by which they are governed. The majority of them carry the force of law and remain in effect until revoked, suspended, canceled, proven unlawful, or expire by a date or condition set forth within itself. In 38 of the 50 states, there is no requirement for orders to undergo administrative procedure, which controls how they are formed and enacted. Six states mandate legislative review, and another six have these requirements only for executive orders of a certain type, like those having to do with the creation of
agencies.
Basis in state constitutions
Powers of executive order can be either constitutional,
statutory
A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...
, implied, or ‘general authority only' (Wyoming). In most state constitutions, there is no specific provision for the power of governors to issue executive orders. However, in many of those constitutions, there is a provision stating that the “executive power shall be vested in the governor” (
New York)
or “the supreme executive power of this State, shall be vested in a...Governor...” (Nevada), or similar. These sections supplement and give way for executive and state law that grants the powers of issuance of executive orders to governors.
Powers
State executive orders are usually enacted less frequently than bills passed by
state legislatures. They are especially used in the midst of a
public health emergency or
disaster
A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...
.
During a state of emergency (which usually can only be declared through executive order), the powers of the governor may be expanded beyond their normal reach.
This allows for the release and reallocation of various state funds and resources to assist local governments and communities in dealing with crises, as well as modification of laws to aid in such.
Additionally, in many states, orders can be used for a large range of executive actions, including but not limited to:
*Temporarily suspending or modifying any statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, regulation, or parts thereof
*Granting clemency
*
Commuting
Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...
or
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
ing a
criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
sentence
*Declaring a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
*Creating state agencies or commissions
*Redirecting state agencies and departments to help a certain purpose
*Issuing directives necessary to cope with a disaster or emergency
*
Executive agreements between counterpart governors (similar to
interstate compacts)
Note that some of these powers can only be invoked ''after'' the declaration of a state of emergency.
Reactions and controversy
In light of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, virtually all US state governors issued some type of order either putting in place a
stay-at-home mandate or advisory. As tensions escalated and Americans grew tired of quarantine, there were many
protests in response, especially in Michigan. These protests called for “reopenings” of states, and many have brought into question the
constitutionality
In constitutional law, constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applic ...
of long-term quarantines and other large-scale societal changes imposed by governors.
See also
*
List of United States governors
*
List of states and territories of the United States
The United States, United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 U.S. state, states, a Capital districts and territories#United States, federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major ...
*
Decree
A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...
*
State legal systems
References
{{Reflist
Law of the United States
State law in the United States
Public administration
Sources of law