Senator Utke, Minnesota Senate Passes Change to Require Legislative Approval for Future Peacetime Emergencies

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

This legislation would reverse current law, which currently 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 previously passed the same legislation last session with a bipartisan vote of 36-31.

“Folks have been left to rely solely on the Governor for any direction—from decisions on when businesses can open and when kids can return to school, to when they can visit with their family without violating an executive order—it’s gotten out of hand,” said Senator Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids). “Minnesotans deserve to have a say in the decisions that impact their livelihoods, yet their representatives have been completely shut out from any decision-making. This was never the way we were meant to govern, and this policy needs to change.”

Minnesota has been under peacetime emergency powers for just over a year. The Governor has offered to end his emergency powers, but only if legislators agreed to pass a laundry list of partisan demands first.

A number of other provisions are 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.