On Thursday, the Minnesota Senate voted for an eighth time on a resolution to end Governor Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency powers relative to the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote aims to end the state’s longest peacetime emergency in history, which began when Gov. Walz first put the state under emergency powers more than a year ago, back on March 13, 2020.

“Governor Walz continues to use his emergency powers to make unilateral decisions, disregarding our balance of powers and acting like our government is a one-man show,” said Senator David Osmek (R-Mound). “Why, Though? Minnesota is past the peak of hospitalizations, our health care system is prepared, we’ve secured all the necessary PPE, and just today, our state hit 2 million people vaccinated. Clearly, Minnesota has taken the precautions to weather this storm.”

“Minnesotans expect us to work together. They don’t want one-person leadership. Governor Walz must relinquish this need for this unilateral authority and come back to the table to work on solutions that ensure voices of our communities are being heard.”

The vote to end the peacetime emergency was passed with bipartisan support. The resolution now heads to the House, where it requires majority support before it can be adopted.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed Sen. Osmek’s legislation that would reassert a fair balance of governing power between the legislative branch and the executive branch during future states of emergency. That bill would require the Governor to obtain legislative approval to extend any emergency declaration beyond 30 days instead of the current system where the legislature needs to vote to end powers.