MN Republicans Working To Enshrine Unilateral Emergency Powers Into Constitution!
House Minority Kurt Daudt (Left) and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (Right)
If you have been following the North Star Liberty Alliance over the past year, this news should not come as a surprise.
Minnesota House Republicans have introduced more bad legislation on executive power reform, except this one takes the burden off of their shoulders and kicks it to the voters.
That’s right, phony conservatives are proposing that voters make the decision on amending the governor’s ability to declare an emergency in 2022 -- 18 months from now! Minnesotans cannot wait that long to end Governor Walz' emergency powers! Unfortunately, it only gets worse when you read into the details of the proposal.
As it currently stands, the governor can declare a peacetime emergency through Chapter 12 of the Minnesota State Statutes. This proposal from House Republicans would give the governor power to declare an emergency through the State Constitution, which is darn near impossible to repeal!
This proposal is complete and utter trash compared to the “Never Again” legislation proposed by Representative Erik Mortensen.
His proposal includes 4 main points that this other bad bill does not:
- Takes away the Governor’s Unilateral Ability to declare an emergency. 2/3rds supermajority vote in both bodies (the House and Senate) needed to declare an emergency.
- The Governor does not get to create laws through executive orders. Only the legislature has the power to declare law.
- If the Governor breaks provisions of these statutes, the Governor is thrown in jail for 90 days or fined $1,000.
- A citizen’s bill of rights. Even in an emergency, the state cannot infringe upon these rights.
Now is the time for NSLA’s grassroots army to stand up and demand real results from their elected leaders. If you support Mortensen’s proposal, then reach out to your State Representative and tell them to ditch this bad bill, and sign on to the “Never Again” proposal.