WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE BUILDING 1, ROOM 226-E 1900 KANAWHA BLVD., EAST CHARLESTON, WV 25305-0470 PHONE (304) 340-3397 PAT MCGEEHAN EMAIL: comm'm?es? . Veterans A?alrs and Homeland Security, Chair April 30: 2020 Banking and Insurance Judiciary Honorable Roger Hanshaw Speaker of the House West Virginia Capitol Charleston, WV 25305 Dear Speaker Hanshaw, This is an age of adversity. For many of us, the ongoing pandemic has been more than a challenge, bringing about serious hardship for the people of our country and the residents of our state. Without question, this terrible experience has continued in sometimes surreal ways, as so many innocents have suffered awful tragedy and misfortune. Beyond the pandemic itself though?and quite distinct from it?are the overzealous actions taken by our own state government in response, some of which have given cause for grave concern. Under dire emergencies, certain powers are admitted for the Executive which are presumed to be granted from the rare ontological. status of an existential danger. However, it is only right and proper for a self-governing people to question the source and limits of these powers, which by their natural sovereignty, must necessarily be few and de?ned. By such de?nition, emergency powers can never be long-lasting. Moreover, within a constitutional order,they can never be left unrestrained. The implication of allowing otherwise does not simply subject our citizens to vague and arbitrary power in the present, but would submit future generations to a growth in absolutism that the kings and monarchs of old seldom possessed. As the Executive continues to extend the legal duration of the emergency by ?at and decree, the former becomes ever more apparent while deep-seated precedent is profoundly conditioned for the latter. Going forward, the legislative branch must no longer sit idly by for an emergency perpetually held by the Chief Executive. First, Constitutional questions must be addressed, especially with the potential infringement against the First Amendment?s protection of peaceful assembly and the exercise of religious worship. But more broadly, the Govemor?s executive orders in totale are acutely problematic, as they are dif?cult, if not impossible, to coherently reconcile with the core maxims that stand behind the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Still on another fundamental level, the prolonged and systematic violation of private property rights en masse should not be condoned without epistemic justification?and thus far, only tacit appeals to poorly subjective utilitarian ethics have been attempted alter the fact. What?s more, an erroneous belief that only two options are available to combat the pandemic has presented a false dilemma: Either establish a defacto command-and-control economy or an oblivious and uninformed state will result?one that is carelessly committed to taking zero precautions. On the face of it, this logical fallacy appears to have played a part in persistently misguided policy. Ultimately though, one recurring lesson of history should be heeded, which can not be discounted with noble intentions or by the irrational effects of fear: Empowering the Executive branch?with its myriad of modern technocrats?to impose central solutions across society will often result in the creation of far more dif?culties and troubles, many of which will tend to be more harmful than the original problem. A novel disease does not require novel government powers, for insisting the opposite, even upon popular demand, implicitly denies another history lesson: Free innovative societies are better equipped to confront social ills than their authoritarian counterparts. In the short term, the role of a sovereign people charting their own course must be remembered, while in the long run, the right lessons must be taken to heart from this most unfortunate episode. It is hoped that an appropriate balance of power is soon restored and that these excesses by the Executive will be checked?making clear that the Legislature is the exclusive branch of government vested with the power to make law. This charge must be fervently guarded, for a pointed sketch was once drawn by Saint Augustine that illustrates the arrested loss of first principle: ?Without justice, what else is the government but a great band of robbers.? To avoid this decay, let us instead strive toward a different end by recalling the ideal oru' American ancestors handed down: government of laws and not of men.? Sincerely, Pat McGeehan Chris Phillips Delegate, District Delegate, 47th District Pat McGeehan (Apr 30, 2020) Mark Dean S. Marshall Wilson Delegate, let District Delegate, 60th District Mark Dean(Apr 307020) 5. MarshallWilson(Apr 30,2020) Jim Butler Delegate, 14th District Butler (Apr 30, 2020) Lany Kump Delegate, 59th District - . 4m I. cc: The Honorable Jim Justice, Govemor of West Virginia Scott Cadle Delegate, 13th District swift Scott Cadle (May 1, 20263