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Dear Neighbors,
I want to start by wishing you and yours a safe and healthy holiday, and thanking you for your support these past 22 years. It has been an immense honor to represent the East Side in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and I look forward to returning to life as a constituent in our community.
Since announcing my retirement, it has been anything but a conventional year at the Minnesota Legislature. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our state, and though there’s light at the end of the tunnel with the first vaccines being administered, tough times remain in the months ahead.
In this final month of my legislative career, much of it was spent negotiating and eventually passing the latest round of assistance for those impacted by COVID-19. The new law includes:
- A 13-week extension of unemployment benefits. Without this legislative action, over 100,000 Minnesota workers were on track to lose benefits on December 26 when funding under the federal CARES Act expires.
- $88 million of financial aid to businesses experiencing economic harm due to the pandemic. Those eligible businesses include restaurants, bars, coffee shops, breweries, wineries and distilleries with taprooms or tasting rooms, caterers, bowling alleys, and some gyms and fitness centers.
- $14 million worth of grants to movie theaters and large convention centers.
- $114.8 million for county grants to other affected businesses, including hotels, museums, arcades and live theater venues.
- Waiver or delay of a series of fees for the hospitality industry, including 2 a.m. liquor licenses for bars, caterers that serve alcohol, wastewater permitting fees for small breweries, and certain late payment penalties for food related businesses.
- Extension of the deadline for families to apply for free and reduced-price lunch.
More information on what’s in the bill can be found here, and the specifics on eligible businesses, program requirements, and payment amounts here.
While this assistance will be a lifeline to many, it’s not a fix-all solution. Federal assistance remains sluggish at best, but hope of additional help from Congress remains optimistic. Please continue to support your favorite mom and pop establishments as you are able, with takeout meals, gift cards, or merchandise. Our local businesses are the economic backbone for our communities, and we are all counting on them to make it through this crisis.
I’ll remain your state representative until January 5, and from that point on I wish Rep-elect Thompson the best as he gets started on the work of representing our community.
Thank you again for all of your support, and I wish you a happy new year.
Sincerely,
Tim Mahoney
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