ST. PAUL — The Minnesota House blocked a GOP attempt Friday to terminate the emergency powers that Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republicans contend that Walz has used those powers to govern unchecked, causing economic harm without achieving better results than states with looser restrictions, such as Wisconsin. But Democrats argued that the coronavirus is still a serious threat and that the governor still needs authority to act quickly.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 39-29 to cancel the governor’s special authority. Three Democrats voted with the Republican majority, but one later said her vote was a mistake.

That vote was largely symbolic. The Democratic-controlled House voted 73-61 to reject a similar House GOP bid.

“It is disappointing House Democrats voted today to keep us under the governor’s emergency powers for another month,” Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, said after the vote.

“This will bring us to 120 days under his unilateral decisions, the longest time we have lived under a state of emergency since World War II. The governor’s approach has both crushed our state economy and failed to protect vulnerable citizens and the simple fact is we no longer have an emergency. It is time to end the emergency powers, restore balance at the Capitol and safely re-open our state.

Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, agrees with Swedzinski.

“It’s (emergency powers) been in effect now for 90 days. I think businesses have been shown they can manage their business,” when it comes to safely reopening, he said.

Dahms said another issue is that legislators in the Minnesota House and Senate have had little input in Walz’s decision-making process. Over the past 30 days, he said, “We’ve had very little communication” from the governor.

Swedzinski said he was pleased the Legislature approved legislation to distribute federal CARES Act relief for businesses.

Dahms said there are a number of other topics and bills that legislators will need to address in the special session. He thinks there is an opportunity to pass a bonding bill, and the Legislature does have some economic bills that would help aid Minnesota communities affected by COVID-19.

“I very firmly believe there’s a good chance” that a DEED grant program could get passed, Dahms said. A bill that would help distribute aid dollars from the CARES Act to local governments is also “a very high priority,” Dahms said.

“I think there’s four or five bills we have agreement on,” he said.

Police reforms, and deciding how to move forward from protests and property damage in the Twin Cities, are another topic that will be prominent in the special session. However, Dahms said it will be important that legislators don’t rush their response.

“It’s been a long time this issue has been coming about,” Dahms said. There are also multiple communities involved. He said it will be important legislators to make sure they are doing the right thing, and to go through a hearing process that gathers public comments.

“You can’t just start passing a bunch of bills that haven’t been vetted,” he said.

Meanwhile, health officials said they’re on alert after the number of the coronavirus cases in Minnesota increased for the third straight day, following four straight days of declines. The state confirmed 490 new cases and 25 more deaths.

Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said she’s “anxiously awaiting the data” regarding the uptick. But she also noted that there are about 200 fewer people hospitalized and 70 fewer in intensive care from highs recorded a couple of weeks ago.

Kris Ehresmann, the state’s infectious disease director, said officials can adjust quickly if “things move in the wrong direction.”