Senate votes to end peacetime emergency

The Minnesota Senate voted last week to end Governor Walz’s peacetime emergency powers relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the House agrees, it would end the state’s longest peacetime emergency in history. Walz first put the state under emergency powers on March 13, 2020.
“The legislature is, and has been, ready to work together through the COVID-19 emergency,” said Senator Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls). “Governor Walz had to make some tough decisions, and everyone towed the line to create a safe environment from the beginning.
“However, decisions about relief fund spending are now being made by a single person. That is unacceptable. The people elected the legislature to represent them, and we should be able to do our job -- making data-driven decisions and listening to the voices in our districts.”
The vote to end peacetime emergency was 38-29, with three Democrats joining all 35 Republicans supporting the resolution.
Senator Dahms is in his third term representing Senate District 16, which includes the communities in Brown, Lac qui Parle, Lyon, Redwood, Renville and Yellow Medicine counties. He also serves as chair on the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy Committee.