On Thursday the Minnesota Senate again voted to end Governor Walz’s emergency powers. For the last year, Minnesotans have been left to rely on announcements from the Governor’s office, dictating whether their businesses can open, whether their kids can return to school, and whether they can visit with family members without violating executive orders. Current law requires a majority vote from both the House and the Senate to repeal an Emergency Order. 

“Folks want to return to normalcy—legislators were elected by the people to be their voice at the Capitol, and the Governor has shown no interest in allowing us to have a say in any meaningful decision-making, and it’s wrong,” said Senator Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids). “Our government was meant to run with the Executive and Legislative branches working together, but the Governor keeps moving the goal posts so he can hold onto his unilateral powers. Our Governor has been operating completely on his own, and it’s brought us some pretty bad ideas: purchased a $6.7 million dollar building to use as a COVID morgue, putting our seniors in an online lottery for vaccinations, keeping our kids out of schools for weeks on end… Minnesotans deserve to be represented by the legislators they elected. We need to re-establish the balance of power in our government and ending the emergency powers is a step in the right direction.”

In the wake of repeated votes to end emergency powers, Governor Walz sent the legislature a list of requests that must be met before ceding executive power, including a statewide mask mandate. 40 other states are currently reviewing laws on emergency powers. No timeframe on the release of emergency powers has been provided by the Governor.

This Session, the Minnesota Senate has passed multiple COVID-related relief bills. Bills passed with bipartisan support include legislation to safely reopen schools and businesses, and to achieve federal PPP tax conformity.