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.

“At what point will Governor Walz allow our government to operate as a democracy and restore the balance of powers?” said Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria). “Our state continues to have low daily death tolls, and the administration’s predictions of an unmanageable disaster have never come to light. Yet, despite the virus now being manageable for our health care system, Walz continues to make unilateral choices for Minnesotans. To make sure Minnesotans are heard and represented the Senate has once again voted to end Governor Walz’s emergency powers related to COVID-19.  We want our Governor to respect the balance of powers and working with legislators on solutions that benefit all our communities moving forward.”

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 bipartisan 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.