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ST. PAUL, MN — Ahead of an expected announcement this week by Governor Walz loosening Minnesota's COVID restrictions, Representative Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, is calling for transparent and concrete dates and/or metrics for the end of the peacetime emergency. Just this week, Florida lifted all remaining COVID restrictions, and Governors of Democrat states like New York and California have established target dates for the lifting of capacity limits and other COVID restrictions. Other deep-blue states like Connecticut lifted capacity limits starting as far back as March.
“Throughout the pandemic, Governor Walz has consistently failed to engage the legislature and stakeholders in his decision making,” said Rep. Erickson. “As vaccines have come online and hospitalizations and deaths have dropped, it is clear that the emergency phase of the pandemic is long over. It is time for Governor Walz to give up his special powers and let Minnesotans make smart decisions for themselves.”
House Republicans have voted more than a dozen times to end the peacetime emergency, and have put forward numerous proposals to end or modify the Governor's Chapter 12 powers, as well as proposals to establish timelines and metrics that would end the peacetime emergency. Democrats have refused to advance those proposals in the House, and have even stonewalled proposals from their own party to wind down the Governor's emergency powers.
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