SF1 offers more attacks on the Governor, no plan to keep workers safe
St. Paul, Minn. —Today on the Senate Floor the GOP introduced Senate File 1, a bill to revoke the current and future Governor’s ability to close businesses or limit their capacity using the power of an executive order.
In response to this bill, Senate DFL Leader Susan Kent (DFL-Woodbury) released the following statement:
“Today the Senate Republicans continued their attack on the Governor’s emergency powers which will impact our state’s ability to meet the challenge of future emergencies. We all want our businesses open and for Minnesota to return to business as usual. But the reality is that we are still fighting a global pandemic and nothing in this legislation offers assurances to keep our workers safe during an emergency. There are real concerns that we will not be able to adequately enforce safety measures under SF 1, which does nothing to protect the safety of our workers and communities. This is especially true in a time when Senate Republicans have been resistant to enforce basic COVID-19 safety procedures, like mask mandates, to keep their own staff safe. We are still in the middle of a global health crisis and watching the GOP focus on partisan politics instead of working to protect the health and safety of Minnesotans is disappointing, at best.”
Throughout this unprecedented health crisis, Governor Walz has made decisions based on facts and public health, while seeking to support businesses and communities across Minnesota. Governor Walz has also outlined the preconditions that he would like to see prior to lifting his executive orders, which include a continued mask requirement and protections for workers from retaliation when asking for a safe workplace.
Senate Democrats put forth multiple amendments to ensure worker safety provisions would be included with the bill, but none of those amendments moved forward.
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