State Peacetime Emergency to End July 1st

(KNSI) – The House and Senate have voted to end the state’s peacetime emergency on July 1st.

An 11th hour deal struck late Tuesday night with the United States Department of Agriculture will protect monthly emergency food payments for Minnesotans. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, the USDA may provide additional emergency food assistance allotments during a federal public health emergency to requesting states for which an emergency or disaster declaration has been issued due to COVID-19. In Minnesota, these emergency allotment benefits now total $45 million per month. Minnesota has received over $505 million in increased benefits.

The House introduced the amendment Tuesday night, allowing for an orderly transition of the state’s COVID-19 response.

The amendment allows the Commissioners of Health and Human Services to declare a public health disaster related to COVID-19-preserving $45 million in monthly emergency SNAP benefits; continues executive orders related to state COVID-19 staffing and unemployment insurance regulations until August 1st; and preserves the governor’s powers to coordinate, allocate, distribute, and manage COVID-19 vaccination and testing without a peacetime emergency-and also his authority to declare a new peacetime emergency as necessary.

An end to the peacetime emergency means millions of dollars in federal aid will stop, but Minnesota has seen a rapid reduction in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, so the governor had already agreed to end the peacetime emergency on August 1st.

The legislature has until midnight tonight to pass a $52 billion budget to avoid a partial government shutdown.

___