Semi Bird wants to use the national guard to solve homelessness. Constitutional scholars are skeptical [Video]

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Republican candidate for governor Semi Bird wants to use the Washington National Guard to solve homelessness. The legality of that idea is an open question according to legal scholars.

Bird’s campaign website says that if he is elected governor he will declare a state of emergency and deploy the national guard.

“Under Article 3 [Section] 8 of the Washington State constitution, I will activate our national guard to bring forward immediate housing, physical, psychological, and dental health services, which will include alcohol and drug addiction intervention and treatment,” Bird’s website states.

Whether Bird could actually constitutionally declare homelessness a state of emergency and subsequently use the emergency powers of the governor’s office to address that declaration is unclear.

University of Washington law school professor Hugh Spitzer, a leading state constitution scholar, thinks it is unlikely Bird could actually make such a move.

“[Article 3 Section 8] simply …