The author of a House resolution aimed at stopping the governor from enforcing the stay at home order will not move forward with the legislative measure. House GOP Caucus Chairman Blake Miguez says he will only revive the effort if Governor Edwards does not swiftly move the state through the federal reopening plan.
“I consider it a tool in the toolbox. It was a pipe wrench that was needed at the time to leverage a stubborn Governor to consider the voice of the small businesses across the state,” said Miguez.
The resolution cleared a House committee last week and was scheduled for full House debate on Wednesday.
Miguez believes protests, letter-writing campaigns, social media posts, and his resolution pressured Edwards into dropping the stay at home order.
“The Governor has got a lot of tough decisions that he is going to have to make and he is surrounded by people that are all making government paychecks and they are all government people. The private sector and the people back home had a voice in that matter and they expressed that voice through their legislators,” said Miguez.
Edwards says he moved the state into Phase One only after the numbers, and his medical experts, indicated it was safe to do so.
Miguez says if the reopening does lead to a spike in cases, it should not result in the entire state being put back on lockdown.
“If you go and you take a step forward and you have some kind of spike or increase in numbers and you take a regional or parish approach you can still allow the remaining part of the state to move on to Phase Two,” said Miguez.
Governor Edwards said if a strict stay at home order is needed again, he’ll use a regional approach, instead of statewide.
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