Senator Newman, Minnesota Senate approve bill requiring legislative oversight for future peacetime emergencies

On Monday, the Senate passed legislation on a tripartisan vote of 38-29, that would reassert a fair balance of governing power between the legislative branch and the executive branch during future states of emergency. The bill would require the governor to obtain legislative approval to extend any emergency declaration beyond 30 days.

Current law allows the governor to extend a peacetime emergency indefinitely for 30 days at a time and only grants the legislature the option to cancel emergency powers with a majority vote of both the House and Senate.

The Minnesota Senate passed the same legislation last session with a bipartisan vote of 36-31.

“For 12 months Gov. Walz has controlled our pandemic response with an iron fist, and it has rarely gone well,” said Sen. Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson). “His awful mismanagement led to thousands of assisted living home deaths. He closed businesses, threw people onto unemployment, and harmed a generation of kids with his school closures. These are consequential decisions that should never have been in the hands of only one person. This is not about partisanship; it makes no difference which party is in control. It’s about responsible government. If, God forbid, we ever have to face anything like this in the future, the governor has got to work in tandem with the legislature.”

Despite Minnesota’s harsh shutdown, mortality rates remain comparable to neighboring states. From Covidusa.net: 

  • Minnesota: 1.4%
  • Wisconsin: 1.1%
  • Iowa: 1.6%
  • North Dakota: 1.5%
  • South Dakota: 1.7%

The governor has offered to end his emergency powers, but only if legislators agreed to pass a laundry list of partisan demands first.

Other provisions included in the legislation:

  • The bill requires the Governor to give three days’ notice to the majority and minority leaders of each body if they intend to extend a peacetime emergency when the legislature is not in session.
  • The bill prohibits the Governor from canceling an emergency order and issuing a new declaration for the same emergency in order to avoid approval by the legislature.
  • The bill clarifies that if the Governor declares two peacetime emergencies concurrently, the same legislative approval of any extension past 30 days is required for the second emergency.