H/T: Odyssues.
KARE 11 News: Minn. Senate passes bill to reopen businesses
A Soft Coup of Timmy Mussolini's draconian Tyranny? I'm all for it.ST PAUL, Minn. — In what was a largely symbolic move the Minnesota Senate's Republican majority Monday pushed through a bill that would let all Minnesota businesses reopen in spite of any emergency orders from Gov. Tim Walz.
Business owners would be expected to comply with CDC and Minnesota Dept. of Health guidelines on social distancing, masks and other infection control practices.
Under the Senate's legislation, those plans wouldn't have to be reviewed by the government and the state would be barred from stripping business and professional licenses from those businesses.
The DFL-controlled House isn't expected to pass a similar bill, but the debate once again allowed Republicans in the legislature to assert a position that distinct from the governor's measured response.
"The ma and pa shops that are on main street in many of our small towns in my district and throughout Minnesota, they’ve been continuing to call and ask and say we know we can operate safely," Sen. Andrew Mathews, a Republican from Princeton, told colleagues.
"I had a business owner who reached out, contacted me, and he laid out what his safety plan would be, he had already come up with it."
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"I think if the governor’s using that science the small businesses, the small boxes, ought to be able to use that same science that has currently allowed for the big box stores," Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, a Big Lake Republican asserted.
Upper Midwest Law Center, a Minnesota-based public interest law firm, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of multiple Minnesota churches and small business owners to strike down Gov. Tim Walz's 'stay at home' emergency executive orders as "unconstitutional under the First, Fifth and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution," a lawsuit states.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. To see a copy of the complaint, click here.
By posing other and different constitutional questions to a federal court, this lawsuit differs from a separate suit filed recently in the state appeals court by the Free Minnesota Small Business Coalition.
The following are named plaintiffs in the case:
Northland Baptist Church of St. Paul, and Pastor John Bruski,
Living Word Christian Center,
Glow In One Mini Golf LLC in Blaine, and its owner and operator, Aaron Kessler,
Myron's Cards and Gifts, Inc., and its owner and operator Larry Evenson,
Andrew Hulse and Gay Bunch-Halse, owners and operators of 18 | 8 Fine Men's Salons in Maple Grove and Wayzata.
"Governor Walz's scheme of selecting economic winners and losers by wholly shutting down some businesses while allowing others to remain open violates the Plaintiff businesses' 14th Amendment due process and equal protection rights," stated Doug Seaton, Esq., President of the Upper Midwest Law Center. "Governor Walz's actions also constitute a taking under the Fifth Amendment, and his prohibition on worshippers gathering violates churches' and individuals' First Amendment rights. The Constitution requires that the Governor respect the individual rights of all citizens at all times, narrowly tailor any restrictions, and apply the same rules to all. It is clear that his continuing lockdown executive orders fail these constitutional requirements."
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