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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM REP. CAL BAHR - DISTRICT 31-B

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

 

Walz Has Extended the Peacetime Emergency... again.

In a speech that sounded every bit like a high school football coach, Gov. Walz addressed the residents of MN tonight in another attempt to thread the needle. He KNOWS that a significant majority of Minnesotans are ready to ignore him completely and begin their regular lives whether he gives his "blessing" or not. He introduced four new Executive Orders detailing how he expects us to "behave" given his generosity. In the coming days, there will be significantly more analysis and detail of what today's orders contain but here's my best attempt at a quick summary:

  1. Exec Order 20-53 extends the Peacetime Emergency until June 12th.
  2. Exec Order 20-54 lays out the administrations conditions that employees can expect in the workplace.
  3. Exec Order 20-55 lays out the restrictions that will be in place for "at risk" populations.
  4. Exec Order 20-56 details the new guidelines and restrictions that will be in place once the Stay-at-home order expires on May 18th.

Good luck to all you small business owners trying to muddle through and figure out what you are supposed to do to get back to work. When the dust settles, our hope is that the damage wrought by the chief executive pales in comparison to the ingenuity of the American entrepreneur.

CAUCUS STATEMENT REGARDING EXTENTION OF PEACETIME EMERGENCY DECLARATION

St. Paul – The members of the New House Republican Caucus (NHRC) released the following statement regarding Governor Tim Walz’s decision to extend the peacetime emergency declaration:

“Governor Walz’s decision to extend the peacetime emergency order is foolhardy, dictatorial, and self-centered. The emergency declaration is the mechanism which gives the governor the ability to issue his executive edicts. However, the governor knows that his executive orders no longer enjoy the consent of the governed. As such, the governor announced that the stay-at-home order will expire on schedule, and businesses will be permitted to operate in an extremely limited capacity. Clearly, the governor still believes he has the almighty authority to suspend our God-given rights. But instead of going full speed in the wrong direction, Governor Walz has now opted to go half-speed in the wrong direction.

Moreover, a majority of Minnesota legislators are complicit in allowing the governor to maintain total control. The legislature could cancel the peacetime emergency order and end the economic shutdown today. Our caucus has led the effort to stop this governor’s unconstitutional actions by moving to end his peacetime emergency declaration. Instead, every single member of the Democrat majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives has repeatedly voted to give up their election certificates and authority to the governor. Those legislators have brought shame upon themselves that the history books will record. They have surrendered their seats to the governor’s office, and Governor Walz seems to enjoy nothing more than accumulating power.

So far, the most impactful thing Governor Walz has done during his tenure as our state’s executive is create a devastating recession. Proportionally, Minnesota has suffered twice the amount of COVID-19 deaths and twice the amount of unemployment as free states. That is not a record which demonstrates leadership, thoughtfulness, or capability. In the interest of five and half million Minnesotans, it is time for Governor Walz to admit his huge failure and end his destructive shutdown in its entirety. We are beginning to hit the rocks and the ship is breaking up.”

The NHRC is led by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (Republican-Mazeppa). It includes Rep. Cal Bahr (Republican-East Bethel), Rep. Tim Miller (Republican-Prinsburg), and Rep. Jeremy Munson (Republican-Lake Crystal).

 

Coming Up

We still have several days of session yet to go and we certainly have not reached the end of Government Shenanigans. You will be hearing from me again with further updates as we try to wrap up this biennium.

Choose Freedom,

 

CalSig

Cal Bahr
State Representative, 31B

 

Contact:

If you have any questions regarding COVID-19, please don’t hesitate to contact me or my office. We are still attempting to provide regular contact remotely so if you have other needs, please email my Legislative Assistant, Barbara, at barbara.smith@house.mn.

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