ST. PAUL – Legislation to repay Minnesota’s unemployment insurance trust fund deficit and reverse tax hikes employers in the state faced despite a $10 billion surplus has been enacted into law. Rep. Shane Mekeland, R-Clear Lake, said he was pleased the House approved this bill (S.F. 2677), which provides $2.7 billion to fully repay the trust fund which was depleted with more people out of work during the pandemic. “We needed to get this bill done to support our employers and further inaction was not an option,” Mekeland said. “The injustice of allowing job providers to suffer a significant tax increase because of the House majority’s failure to act at a time the state has a massive surplus could not be allowed to continue. It is a relief for our employers who have had the deck stacked against them the last couple of years for this situation to finally be resolved.“ Senate Republicans approved a clean bill to rectify this issue in February, with broad, bipartisan support. House Democrats delayed action until late April, when they added more than $1 billion in other funding to the bill. Mekeland said this change complicated matters and delayed final approval, costing state taxpayers $50,000 in interest for every day the legislation languished. Final language in the package includes $500 million in payments to frontline workers – approximately $750 per person – and $190 million is provided to Minnesota Management & Budget for continued COVID-19 expenses. Another measure allows just one legislative body to reject an expenditure instead of the current requirement for both bodies to object. “The additional spending House Democrats added to the bill has nothing to do with unemployment insurance and the fact the majority treated employers as pawns in negotiations is an insult,” Mekeland said. “These other subjects should have been considered on their own merits and voted up or down accordingly, in the spirit of our Constitution.” Approval of this bill replenishes the unemployment insurance trust fund, uses the state’s remaining federal American Rescue Plan funding and halts automatic payroll tax increases that kick in by default when the trust fund dips beneath required levels. The bill was widely supported, with a 124-5 House vote and near-unanimous passage in the Senate on Friday before Gov. Tim Walz enacted it the same day. -30- |