SAINT PAUL, MN – Ahead of an expected announcement this week by Governor Walz loosening Minnesota's COVID restrictions, Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, 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.
“The science is clear: the time to lift COVID restrictions and end the emergency powers is now,” said Scott. “If Gov. Walz thinks Minnesotans can gather at a ‘pretty close to normal’ state fair or attend a sporting event with thousands of spectators, then surely he can provide a roadmap for ending the COVID emergency. Minnesota families and businesses have been left in the dark for too long. It is time for Gov. Walz to give us a clear end date for his COVID restrictions and emergency powers.”
Rep. Scott and 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.