ST. PAUL – State Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, is calling for a transparent and concrete process for ending Minnesota’s peacetime emergency that has been in place for more than one year.
Gov. Tim Walz is expected to soon announce a loosening of Minnesota’s COVID-19 restrictions. This comes after Florida lifted all remaining COVID restrictions, and governors of Democrat states such as New York and California have established target dates for the lifting of capacity limits and other COVID restrictions. Other deep-blue states such as Connecticut lifted capacity limits starting as early as March.
“The Legislature is still in session and we should be working with the governor on developing a plan to fully reopen our state,” Demuth said. “The public deserves for this to be a transparent process based on data, with dates and metrics laid out for them instead of having to play wait and see with the governor. It concerns me that a lack of transparency will only further complicate matters and, unfortunately, give life to the idea the governor’s emergency powers are rooted in politics and serve as leverage in budget negotiations. We can put that talk to rest by setting out a plan that shows people what our path forward looks like with concise, consumable data.”
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.
-30-