Draft regulations are coming down that are designed to add more teeth to the enforcement of social distancing directives. Yesterday, the governor not only extended the Public Health emergency for another month, but also exercised her authority to fast-track the implementation of new rules to impose hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in fines for violators.

In her latest Order, the governor noted that since her stay-at-home directive, the police have had to respond to more than 3,300 violations of social gathering and social distancing. Public Health spokesperson Janela Carrera acknowledges they've received plenty of complaints.

“For the past several months we've really just been kinda going at little by little,” she said. “Just sort of encouraging people to follow the executive order.”

Apparently, public health will go from merely 'encouraging" compliance, to more serious enforcement. It will soon release draft rules and regulations that will allow it to come down much harder on violators of DPHSS directives.

“And it does include a proposal to levy fines for those who are not in compliance with the executive order and so in the draft rules and regs it has a scaled version of fines,” Carrera said.

“The fines will range from $100 up to a $1,000 for individuals, and from $1000 to $10,000 for businesses. Meanwhile, to fast-track the process, the governor invoked the emergency health powers act and "suspendended rule-making procedures," in short, it allows public health to shortcut the typical process for new rule-making under the administrative adjudication act.

“If we go the normal route of the triple a process by the time we get that done that could really take awhile,” Carrera said.

But republicans, including Sen. Jim Moylan have seized on the triple-a suspension. The GOP in a news release comparing it to a dictatorship, and Moylan introducing a new bill to impose more checks and balances under the health powers act.