For the sixth time, the Minnesota Senate on Monday 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 Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids) issued the following statement in response:

“Folks in my district are being hammered more by the governor’s business closures than the virus itself. I talk to people every day who aren’t sure how they are going to make it. It’s got to stop. We’ve got to get these businesses back open safely, so folks can return to work and start providing for their families.

“We aren’t at the beginning of the outbreak anymore. We know what we are dealing with; there’s no longer a need for emergency powers. Every step that Gov. Walz feels the state must take to address the coronavirus can be taken in consultation with the legislature. One-man rule doesn’t work. We need a new approach that balances the need to address both the health crisis and the financial crisis that families are facing.“