The Minnesota Senate on Monday voted for the sixth time in seven special sessions 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. The legislature also adopted a $216 million Covid relief package.

Senator Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo) issued the following statement:

“Businesses are hurting. I get it. I know they need help. But this is just not right. It’s not right that the governor picks and chooses which businesses can open and which can’t. It’s not right that he thinks he can tell you who in your family you can socialize with. It’s not right that he does these things by himself and then expects the legislature to clean up after him.

“There were actually two Covid relief proposals on the floor today: one was the $216 million package of checks and grants. The other Covid relief was to end the governor’s emergency powers and let businesses operate as normal. That’s the Covid relief plan that I voted for because it’s the only one that will truly work.”