INDIANAPOLIS–Governor Holcomb is suing to overturn a new law allowing legislators to call themselves into session.
Holcomb warned in a veto message he considers it unconstitutional for anyone but the governor to call a special session. The lawsuit asks Marion Circuit Judge Sheryl Lynch to say so directly. Legislators haven’t tried to use the law yet, but Holcomb says its “very existence” creates uncertainty about the operation of state government.
Legislators overrode the veto earlier this month. The law allows the 16-member Legislative Council to call legislators back for an “emergency session” to review a governor’s emergency declarations.
The lawsuit names the council, the General Assembly, Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray (R-Martinsville), and House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) as defendants.
The lawsuit was filed by the Indianapolis law firm Lewis Wagner, not by Attorney General Todd Rokita. State law requires the attorney general’s permission for any state agency to hire outside attorneys to represent it in court, and Rokita declined to give it.
Holcomb press secretary Rachel Hoffmeyer says the office believes Rokita’s approval isn’t needed because the attorney general would have a conflict of interest, with both sides claiming a right to have him represent them. Rokita responds the main reason his office exists is to resolve disputes between state agencies so that the state speaks with one voice if it goes to court. He also argues Indiana Supreme Court precedent prohibits a state agency from asking a court to declare a law unconstitutional before it’s put to use.
Bray issued a two-sentence statement saying the lawsuit is “not unexpected” and that Holcomb and legislators have a “fundamental disagreement” about the law’s constitutionality.
“Gov. Eric J. Holcomb asked a trial court judge to find key provisions of HEA 1123 unconstitutional and to issue a permanent injunction to prevent them from being used,” read a prepared statement from the governor.
“I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the State of Indiana and I have an obligation do so. This filing is about the future of the executive branch and all the Governors who will serve long after I’m gone,” said Holcomb.
