We noticed a op-ed piece in the Star Tribune this week by Rep. Steve Drazkowki, R-Mazeppa, calling for the Legislature to pass a resolution ending the peacetime called by Gov. Tim Walz in March to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. This would, he said, allow “the House and Senate to develop plans for Minnesota going forward, with the governor – and to pass them into law. This is the proper way for the Legislature to act to end the peacetime emergency.”

Drazkowski advocated such a resolution on Tuesday, the same day the Legislature acted to pass a law setting up a program to allow diabetics who can’t afford their over-priced insulin to get low-priced, affordable insulin in an emergency. This was literally a life-or-death issue, inspired by Alec Smith, a young man who aged off his mother’s insurance plan, couldn’t afford the $1,300 a month cost for his insulin and testing supplies, and died while trying to ration his insulin.

This was a bill that had been introduced in the 2019 legislative session, had been debated for months and very nearly passed, only to die in the waning moments of the session. Despite every legislator’s agreement that this was an issue that needed to be addressed, legislators were unable to come up with an agreeable option in time for a special session. Finally, a year after they should have passed the Alec Smith insulin bill, the Legislature acted.

Can we trust a group that takes a year to haggle over a life-and-death issue to act swiftly and decisively when it comes to a public health emergency like the one we are currently going through? We think not.