ST. PAUL — Minnesota legislators are continuing their fight to have more of a say over the state’s coronavirus pandemic response, with much of the decision-making power held by Gov. Tim Walz for nearly a year.
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, state senators advanced a bill that would require the Legislature to green-light the appropriation of federal coronavirus aid in the state. Currently, Walz’s office is able to delegate the federal dollars from the CARES Act and more.
The bill marks a continuation of a months-long power struggle between Walz and legislators. Walz and Democratic legislators say the governor needs to retain primary pandemic response control in order to act quickly. Republican lawmakers have decried what they consider a concentration of power in the executive branch, saying their own and their constituents’ voices have been drowned out in St. Paul.
Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Vernon Center, is the chief author of Senate File 8. She said under the current system in place, the only power legislators have over the federal aid spending is a pause button. But without lawmakers having a direct hand in negotiations, she said, “there’s no public voice.”
“I really feel like the Legislature was created and elected to listen and react to the concerns of the public and to make these corrections and appropriations,” she said Tuesday.
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Nearly every month since Walz first declared a public emergency over the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, legislative Republicans have tried and failed to rescind his emergency powers. Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, questioned at Tuesday’s hearing at what point the pandemic is no longer an emergency.
“At what point would you have a governor who could dictate that there are emergencies under his interpretation?” she asked.
Sen. Greg Clausen, D-Apple Valley, retorted that more than 6,000 Minnesotans have died from COVID-19.
“More people have died in this particular pandemic than died in World War II,” he said. “If we can’t call that an emergency, then we can’t call a war an emergency.”
SF 8 now moves on to the Senate’s finance committee.
Contact Sarah Mearhoff at smearhoff@forumcomm.com or 610-790-4992.
