The DFL-controlled House reaffirmed Gov. Tim Walz’s pandemic-related emergency powers — by rejecting a move to bring up a resolution aimed at ending them — and also passed more than $30 million in grant assistance for disability service providers before wrapping up a four-hour special session Wednesday afternoon.
Walz last week called lawmakers back together for the third time this summer in order to extend the COVID-19 peacetime emergency declaration in place since March. Like the special sessions in June and July, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a resolution to end that emergency. But a House motion to take up its own resolution to end the emergency was again unsuccessful.
Both chambers must vote to end a peacetime emergency. Continue reading.