ST. PAUL – Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund will now be filled thanks to legislation that passed the House last Thursday and was signed by Governor Walz on Friday.
The legislation will provide $2.7 billion to fully repay the fund and eliminate the interest fee charged by the federal government.
“Minnesota has been waiting on this bill for months,” Representative Nels Pierson, R-Rochester, said. “This is one less burden our job creators will have to face now.”
Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund was depleted throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state was then forced to pay the federal government $50,000 a day in interest to continue unemployment payments. With the passage of this legislation, Minnesota job creators are no longer required to pay a 15% tax increase.
In February, Senate Republicans brought a bipartisan bill that would repay the Unemployment Trust Fund and fill it to solvency. House Democrats refused to bring the bill to floor, citing a deadline of April 30.
In addition to the $2.7 billion to repay the fund, the bill allocates $500 million in payments for frontline workers and $190 million for the Minnesota Management & Budget agency to provide for COVID-19 expenses.
Job creators who have questions regarding the unemployment trust fund can find answers here and more information for frontline workers can be found here.
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