Another broad emergency power relates to a so-called menace to public health. It resides in the Public Health Code, in the same section as the imminent danger powers.
The most concerning element of this power is that the term “menace to public health” is not defined anywhere in Michigan law. What constitutes one is left entirely to the opinion of the state health director. This official may exercise these powers, according to the statute, when he or she “determines that conditions anywhere in this state constitute a menace to the public health.”[89]
The word “menace” appears 21 other times in Michigan Compiled Laws, but these uses do not shed light on how this emergency power may be used. The term refers to many different things: released prisoners, dynamite, fire hazards, urban blight, inadequate drain filtration, neglected or abandoned trees and plants, economic insecurity due to unemployment, and the habits and conduct of a juvenile, among other things.[90] What a menace to public health means in the Public Health Code is a mystery.
The scope of authority in this statute is also ill-defined. The state health director may “take full charge of the administration of applicable state and local health laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances” to deal with the menace. Whether this would allow the director to issue unilateral emergency orders is not clear. Further, the department already administers state health laws and regulations, so exercising this power may amount to simply enforcing local health laws and regulations.
If this interpretation is correct, the scope of authority to deal with menaces to the public health would be sufficiently constrained. But the statute should still be considered broad and potentially far-reaching. It relies on a completely undefined trigger and provides no durational limit or procedural safeguards.