ST. PAUL, Minn. – A state Senate committee approved a Republican proposal to take away an emergency power that Governor Tim Walz used to close schools to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The State Government Committee voted 5-3 along party lines to send the bill to the Senate Education Committee. The Senate is controlled by Republicans. Walz is a Democrat, whom Republicans have targeted for anti-pandemic initiatives. Senator Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, who proposed reins on gubernatorial emergency powers, said that decisions on closing schools belong with local school boards. Nelson’s bill has no corollary in the Democrat-controlled House. The House has blocked previous attempts to rescind the governor’s emergency powers to deal with the Co-Vid spread.
