Dear Neighbors,
Earlier this year, the legislature passed legislation that corrected the state's over funded unemployment insurance trust fund, which was carrying a nearly all-time high of $1.6 billion.
The bill credited employers and reduced future obligations, giving our small, local businesses the ability to reinvest in employees and our communities.
In total, a reduction of $258 million will be applied to taxes paid between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017 for local businesses around the state.
If you are interested in learning more about this initiative, please visit this website.
Along with this exciting update, I wanted to share some information regarding what we did this year to address a significant issue with the state’s health insurance exchange, MNsure.
To help rein in MNsure and protect Minnesotans, the legislature eliminated estate recovery claims retroactively for those aged 55 to 64 on Medical Assistance who are not in a long-term care facility.
In addition to this important legislation, we passed a number of other initiatives to improve programs for our most vulnerable, including:
- Expanding Safe Harbor services for vulnerable and exploited youth
- Expanding crisis housing eligibility for adults with mental illness
- Allowing for matching federal dollars to expand community behavioral health clinics
- Increase rate reimbursements for foster care and adoption assistance
- Reducing the county share of chemical dependency treatment costs
- Increasing the provider rate for rural ambulance services in Greater Minnesota
As always, please be sure to let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding these items or anything else related to state government. I can be reached by phone at 701-361-1909 or via email at rep.jeff.backer@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
Jeff