Dear Neighbors,

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a great deal of uncertainty, and I know many community members have questions about what the coming days, weeks, and perhaps months might look like. While an in-person gathering isn’t practical at this time for obvious reasons, I think it would be helpful for Duluth neighbors to get together, if even virtually.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25, at noon I’m hosting a Virtual Town Hall Meeting. We will meet on Zoom, a free video teleconferencing platform. You can access our meeting here. If you have any questions or input you’d like me to address, feel free to email me them ahead of time at rep.liz.olson@house.mn.

WHAT: Virtual Town Hall Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, March 25, at noon

WHO: Rep. Liz Olson, Duluth community members

WHERE: Zoom

When you join, you’ll be prompted to download a free app, or you can download it ahead of time here. I look forward to answering your questions and listening to your input.

COVID-19 Updates

Governor Walz and his administration, legislators, and public health officials continue working to address the public health and economic impacts presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor has issued a series of executive orders including a ban on price gouging, a moratorium on evictions, a special 30-day health insurance enrollment period through MNsure, and flexibility for the Department of Human Services to help ensure services for people with disabilities, mental health support, childcare, food support, housing, and other critical public health programs and services can continue. The Governor frequently shares updates which I encourage you to subscribe to here.

While many of us aren’t at the State Capitol physically right now, lawmakers continue to work on measures to keep Minnesotans safe and healthy. These include: Here are some of the measures we are working on:

• Ensuring hourly workers and contract workers at our schools get paid
• Ensuring workers have paid time off for COVID-19-related illness or business closure
• Licensing extensions and flexibility for businesses
• Preventing evictions and foreclosures during the pandemic
• Forgiveness for expired driver’s licenses
• Giving the DHS Commissioner temporary authority to keep our long term care and disability services up and running
• Child care provider support
• Local jobs and projects bill
• Abatement of penalties for late income and property tax filing
• Resources to help homeless Minnesotans be safe and healthy during the emergency
• Additional support for food shelves

Help available for displaced workers

Last week, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, Governor Walz ordered that bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, and most other public gathering places be closed. This was a difficult step, and as a result, workers and business owners alike are facing an uncertain economic situation for themselves and their families due to no fault of their own. As challenging as this step is, it highlights what’s at stake for us to take this epidemic seriously.

Unemployment Insurance benefits are available, and displaced workers are encouraged to apply online at www.uimn.org.

Many restaurants are still open for business offering take-out, curbside delivery, and drive-thru options. If you’re able, consider supporting a local business for dinner or lunch.

Help available for small businesses

The Small Business Administration’s Disaster Loan Assistance Program is now live and applications are available to help businesses impacted by COVID-19. This program provides loans of up to $2 million to help small businesses and private nonprofits overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing. For more information, call the SBA's disaster assistance customer service center at 1-800-659-2955 or visit the COVID-19 section of their website.

Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has established a Small Business Emergency Loan program that can help bridge the gap for businesses until their federal loans are approved, offering immediate assistance. Loans are available between $2,500 and $35,000, are 50 percent forgivable, and have a 0 percent interest rate. Learn more here.

Income Tax Filing Deadline Extended

The Minnesota Department of Revenue has announced that taxpayers filing their individual income tax returns for tax year 2019 now have until Wednesday, July 15, 2020 to file, without any penalties or interest. This deadline conforms with the deadline for federal tax returns, also recently pushed back to July 15. For more information, please visit the Department of Revenue’s website.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is still the best source for accurate, up-to-date information about the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have questions, please visit their website, which also has COVID-19 information in Hmong, Spanish, and Somali. You can also call their hotline, staffed by public health professionals from 7am-7pm daily, at 651-201-3920.

This is a difficult, unprecedented situation for all of us. If you are still encountering difficulty from the resources listed above, please reach out to me directly at rep.liz.olson@house.mn or call me at 651-296-4246 and I will assist just as soon as I am able.

As Minnesotans, we care for another. We will continue to as this situation continues to develop. Please be safe, be healthy, and be well.

Sincerely,

Liz Olson
State Representative