On Tuesday, the Senate’s State Government Finance & Policy Committee heard legislation that would reassert a fair balance of governing power between the legislative branch and the executive branch during future states of emergency. The bill would require the Governor to obtain legislative approval to extend any emergency declaration beyond 30 days.

This differs from current law, which allows the Governor to extend a peacetime emergency indefinitely for 30 days at a time and only grants the legislature the option to cancel emergency powers with a majority vote of both the House and Senate.

“Minnesota isn’t at the beginning of the COVID outbreak anymore. In fact, we’re nearly a year into Governor Walz’s emergency powers,” said Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria). At this point, we know what we are dealing with, we’ve flattened the curve, and we’ve prepared our health care facilities to the point where there is no longer a need for emergency powers. Despite this, Governor Walz continues to extend his powers and run Minnesota exclusively under his authority. This one-person rule is not the solution. Minnesotans expect us to work together to find common ground solutions that get our state moving in the right direction.”