Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Friday he extended the COVID-19 peacetime emergency for another month, which gives him sweeping authority under the state’s emergency powers law.
The Senate, which Republicans hold the majority of, voted Friday to block the move. The House of Representatives is discussing it Friday afternoon, but Democrats who control the House said Friday morning they would vote to allow the extension. Both chambers need to vote down the extension to block it.
“The emergency is over and business, churches and youth sports need to open back up,” the Minnesota Senate Republicans said in a tweet on Friday.
The Senate vote was 39-29, with three Democrats breaking ranks to vote with Republicans. Republicans contend that Walz has used those powers to govern unchecked, causing economic harm without achieving better results than states with looser restrictions, such as Wisconsin.
Walz said more than 50 community and public health organizations wrote to him, saying the peacetime emergency has allowed them to protect Minnesotans and asking him to extend it.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said Friday morning that Walz has properly exercised his emergency power.
“It has saved countless lives and has brought us the ICU capacity to be prepared for the surge that may be coming this summer or potentially this fall,” Hortman said, adding there are still a number of things that Walz needs to move quickly on, but that can’t happen in the divided legislature.
Walz said the peacetime emergency protects Minnesotans against evictions and wage garnishment, provides expedited procurement power for personal protective equipment, allows Minnesota to re-open the economy strategically, and protect workers from unsafe worker conditions. If it ends, more than $50 million in federal funding each month would be jeopardized, according to Walz’s office.
“Minnesotans’ health and safety is our top priority, and the actions we took over the last three months have saved lives,” Walz said in a statement Friday. “The peacetime emergency opens our toolbox, allowing us to take swift action as necessary to protect the health and well-being of our communities, businesses, and families. This pandemic is not over. We must continue to work together to put public health first.”
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
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