(ST. PAUL, MN) –  Senate Republicans again made ending the Governor’s emergency powers a priority in the opening of the year’s fourth special session, as deaths from COVID average seven per day for the last 30 days. The resolution to end the emergency powers passed on the same vote margin seen in past sessions this year: 36 in favor to 31 against the resolution. Senator Torrey Westrom joined the vote and made the following comments:

“It is time for the Governor to allow the legislative branch to be engaged and part of the response to Covid-19. It is not right for a single person to be making all crucial decisions, though that is what we have had going on six months now.  This is not how our government was set up or intended to operate on a long-term basis!”

“We need a handful of House DFL members to join in revoking Emergency Powers. Then, and only then, will the citizens of Minnesota have elected representatives effectively speaking for their local areas and concerns. We must get rid of the “one size fits all approach” that we have repeatedly seen from Governor Walz.  Missteps could have been avoided if the legislature was engaged as intended under our Constitution.”