On Monday, the Minnesota Senate voted on a bipartisan 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 back on March 13, 2020.

“Governor Walz continues to use his emergency powers to make unilateral decessions for Minnesotas, treating our state’s government like a  one-man show,” said Senator David Osmek (R-Mound). “Why, Though? On a day that was decreed by Walz to be the peak day of hospitalizations and deaths, Minnesota only had two new deaths, and all the other measurements were also magnitudes lower than we were led to believe.”

“While COVID-19 remains a threat across this nation, clearly our state has taken the proper precautions to weather this storm, removing the need for this unilateral authority. Rather than allow one man to have full control and to allow the continued undermining of the true purpose of our emergency powers, today, the Senate voted to restore balance in our government while ensuring the voices of our communities can be heard as Minnesota continues to push forward.”

The vote to end the peacetime emergency was passed 36-31 with bipartisan support. The resolution now heads to the House, where it requires majority support before it can be adopted.