Senator Pratt, Senate, Pass Legislation Requiring Legislative Oversight for Future Peacetime Emergencies

On Monday, the Senate passed legislation with tripartisan support that would reestablish a balance of governing power between the legislative branch and the executive branch during any future state of emergency. The bill would require the Governor to obtain legislative approval to extend any emergency declaration beyond 30 days.

This legislation would reverse current law, which currently 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. The Minnesota Senate previously passed the same legislation last session with a bipartisan vote of 36-31.

“For the last year, Minnesotans have been left to rely on announcements and decisions from Governor Walz as to whether their businesses can open, whether their kids can go to school, or whether they can even visit with family without violating an executive order—we have completely removed the Legislature from the governing process and in turn, have stripped the voice of the people,” said Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake). “We need to rebalance the relationship between the Governor and the Legislature so that we can also restore the people’s voice. We have been living under the Governor’s unilateral authority for over a year and changing this policy will ensure that the Legislature and the Governor must come together to solve problems.”

Minnesota has been under peacetime emergency powers for just over a year. The Governor has offered to end his emergency powers, but only if legislators agreed to pass a laundry list of partisan demands first.


A number of other provisions are included in the legislation:

  • The bill requires the Governor to give three days’ notice to the majority and minority leaders of each body if they intend to extend a peacetime emergency when the legislature is not in session.
  • The bill prohibits the Governor from canceling an emergency order and issuing a new declaration for the same emergency in order to avoid approval by the legislature.
  • The bill clarifies that if the Governor declares two peacetime emergencies concurrently, the same legislative approval of any extension past 30 days is required for the second emergency.