DALLAS — Dallas County commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to limit some of the authority for county Judge Clay Jenkins during an emergency.
The changes now require a majority of the county commissioners to approve any extension of the "safer at home" order beyond April 30.
The order originally went into effect on March 23 and then on April 3 Jenkins extended the stay-at-home order through the end of April to be in line with the similar statewide order from Gov. Greg Abbott.
The changes also include adding check-cashing businesses and pawn shops to the list of "essential businesses". That mirrors a change Jenkins made to the emergency declaration on Monday.
The emergency declaration is in place until May 20.
The amendment, authored by District 2 Commissioner J.J. Koch, also requires at least three hours notice to commissioners before Jenkins makes any more stringent requirements on local businesses.
Koch told WFAA the amendment wasn't about reigning in Jenkins authority, but rather putting to rest, in writing, any public concern that the county judge would move to extend the shelter-in-place measure without input from commissioners.
"We’re going to have a vote on the 30th for extending safer at home," Koch said. "And if the facts are that we need to extend it, I think we’re unanimously going to. And if the facts are we can do something different, I believe we’ll unanimously do something different.”
The amendment passed unanimously but Jenkins did abstain on the portion related to the "safer at home" extension requirement.
