Politics & Government

Gov. Tim Walz Signs 2 Coronavirus-Related Executive Orders

The orders are aimed at protecting Minnesotans' financial security amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Protestors pack the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol building on June 16, 2017 in St Paul, Minnesota. Protests erupted in Minnesota after Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on all counts in the shooting death of Philando Castile.
Protestors pack the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol building on June 16, 2017 in St Paul, Minnesota. Protests erupted in Minnesota after Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on all counts in the shooting death of Philando Castile. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

TWIN CITIES, MN — Gov. Tim Walz Thursday signed two executive orders aimed at protecting Minnesotans’ financial security amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Executive Order 21-02 ensures that recent federal COVID-19 relief payments are not intercepted by third parties or immediately garnished for consumer debt, and go directly to Minnesota residents.

Executive Order 21-03 also ensures that the COVID-19 relief payments "are not counted as income for federally funded assistance programs, and that pandemic unemployment benefits paid to high school students do not make families ineligible for certain assistance."

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These executive orders are effective immediately.

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