For the fifth time, Senator Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson) and the Minnesota Senate voted to end Governor Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency powers relative to the COVID pandemic. The state is currently in the midst of its longest peacetime emergency in history. Gov. Walz first put the state under emergency powers on March 13, 2020.

Senator Newman issued the following statement in response:

“The situation now is not much different than when I voted to end the governor’s excessive emergency powers last month, or the month before, or the month before that. We are well beyond the ‘emergency’ portion of the outbreak. Yes, the virus is serious. But we know how to manage the crisis and we know how to stay safe. It is time for the governor to give up his powers and start working in good faith with the legislature on the best path forward – not just for beating the virus, but for our economic success.”

The vote to end the governor’s peacetime emergency powers was 36-31, with one Democrat joining all 35 Republicans supporting the resolution.