Ewald at the Capitol/September 18

Special Session IV

On Friday, Sept. 11, the governor called the Legislature into special session so he could renew his peacetime emergency powers, which expire every 30 days.

Both the House and Senate once again debated the governor’s use of peacetime emergency powers. A Senate resolution to revoke those powers passed, but it was not taken up in the House.

The Senate holds the unique power to decide whether to confirm the governor’s commissioners, and once again, voted to remove a commissioner from their position. This time, Department of Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley was not confirmed. The surprising part of the scenario is that it was not a clean-cut party line vote. Two DFL members voted against Kelley, while one GOP member voted in his favor.

The Senate also voted to confirm two commissioners. Commissioner Janet Johnson of the Bureau of Mediation and Commissioner Joe Sullivan of the Public Utilities Commission received the votes necessary to remain in their positions.

No legislation passed, including a bonding bill. Due to the way bond sales work, a bonding bill was not on the table for this special session but stakeholders, and many legislators, are hoping for another special session in the near future that will finally tackle this unfinished business.

House Pandemic Committee

The Minnesota House Select Committee on Pandemic Response and Rebuilding held a hearing last week to learn about health impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 34 percent of people who have contracted the virus are Latinx and 22 percent are African American or Black. The COVID-19 death rate in both communities have so far shown to be double that of white Americans.

The committee heard from several witnesses including Stella Whitney-West, CEO of NorthPoint Health and Wellness and a member of the Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers. Legislators learned about factors that researchers believe are contributing to these numbers, such as a lack of access to health care, economic disparities and a higher distrust in the government within these populations. Professionals who testified presented the committee with the following suggestions:

Targeted funding to pay for testing in communities at highest risk;
Establishing specific locations and times that are devoted solely to testing in order to overcome fears about visiting clinics where exposure may be possible;
Developing partnerships with people and organizations already trusted in the community to better deliver a vaccine when the time comes.

Firefighters to Oregon

Gov. Walz recently announced the deployment of 29 Minnesota firefighters to Oregon to assist with efforts to contain wildfires. The current series of wildfires affecting western states have touched more than 4.7 million acres and killed at least 34 people. The fires have been raging since mid-August.

Gov. Walz authorized the deployment of two task forces, which fulfils the amount of aid that Oregon requested. Firefighters from Brainerd, Fisher, Bemidji, Eden Prairie, Motley, Cross Lake and Spring Lake Park/Blaine/Mounds View, along with two trucks, arrived in Oregon this week.