Dear Neighbors,
After almost two years of closure, the State Office Building is finally reopening to the public on March 21st. If I had things my way, the building would have been opened long ago. Nevertheless, it is great news that constituents will more easily be able to travel to St. Paul to petition their representatives in person.
If you plan to be in St. Paul anytime soon, please reach out to my office to set up an appointment. It would be great to chat with you and discuss ways we can bring our best days to reality and strengthen our Northland!
Employer Tax Hike Coming
Historic inflation is impacting all our budgets. Unfortunately, prices may go even higher here in Minnesota as the deadline to approve legislation that would avert significant tax increases on employers came and went this week.
Minnesota needs to replenish its current deficit in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund. The Fund was depleted as record levels of Minnesotans applied for unemployment benefits during the pandemic. With more than $10 billion in budget surplus and federal aid, we have more than enough to fix this issue. If the Fund isn’t refilled, the default repayment (funded by employers) is tax increases on local business owners by 15% or more.
Unfortunately, the House DFL majority refused to act on legislation that would have addressed this issue. This is made even more frustrating because there is bipartisan consensus on a bill that would have restored the Fund and prevented these taxes from taking effect.
The bill is supported by Governor Walz, Senate Republicans, most Senate Democrats, and House Republicans. The only group opposing its passage is the House DFL majority.
Now, main street businesses in the Northland will have to suffer the consequences. This is unacceptable and an issue I will continue to work to resolve.
First Committee Deadlines
We are rapidly approaching the first committee deadline of March 25th. The first deadline is for legislative committees to act favorably on bills in their house of origin. This means for bills to have a chance of becoming law this year, they need to receive at least one hearing before March 25th. If not, the bill is highly unlikely to continue moving through the legislative process.
This means that the next week will be busy as committees work to make sure that bills receive their first hearing.
Stay tuned on this.
Staying in Touch
I will do my best to keep you updated on what’s happening in St. Paul. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may have. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-4936 or via email at rep.spencer.igo@house.mn.
Have a great day,
Spencer