The Minnesota Legislature is in the final stretch of the 2022 session that will end May 23, 2022. This week the Senate passed supplemental omnibus bills on the Senate floor.

Landmark UI and Frontline Worker Agreement Passes Senate
Today the Senate passed legislation relating to Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund and providing bonuses to workers who worked the frontline during the COVID pandemic. 
 
The legislation uses $2.7 billion to pay off the loan from the federal government and refill the UI fund to its necessary balance using mostly federal funds. As part of the agreement, $500 million from the surplus will go to frontline workers who were most at risk during the COVID pandemic. As the Senate proposed two weeks ago, the House Democrats will decide which workers get bonuses.

“I’m pleased to see that both bodies of the Legislature finally passed meaningful legislation that repays the UI trust fund and provides bonuses to the brave men and women that were on the front lines of COVID. Paying down the UI debt ensures that current employees do not lose access to this critical benefit in the future, and it upholds our promise to Minnesota businesses that they will not be held accountable for utilizing the UI funds. I’m proud to say that today’s bill lifts a financial burden off our businesses, and thanks the brave workers who selflessly showed up to work throughout a pandemic.”

The bill spends the remaining federal ARPA funds available to Minnesota for COVID, which otherwise would have been available to Gov. Walz on June 1 if left unspent.
 
Senate Passed Agriculture, Broadband & Housing Package to Help Minnesotans
The Minnesota Senate passed a significant Agriculture, Broadband and Housing bill to help Minnesota farmers and families. The legislation works to expand broadband funding, addresses urgent concerns in our agriculture sector and improves access to affordable housing. The legislation also works to help farmers combat the ongoing Avian influenza outbreak by appropriating $500,000 to the agricultural emergency account to be used for avian influenza testing supplies. Additionally, included is $350,000 for the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Minnesota for equipment to test for chronic wasting disease (CWD), African swine fever, avian influenza, and other animal diseases. 
 
We want Minnesotans across the state to have access to reliable internet and affordable housing, and we want to address issues facing our agricultural industries, and this bill strikes a balance between those priorities. The legislation makes smart investments that will help Minnesota families and farmers across the state.
  
Other notable provisions in the bill include:

 – Provides historic funding up to $210 million of federal money for Broadband
 – $35 million investment in the Homeownership Investment Grants Program 
 – $10 million in funding for the Workforce Homeownership Program 

A portion of this bill also continues to invest in meat-cutting programs championed by Senator Ruud in previous legislative sessions. This includes investments in meat cutting and butchery training programs; money to start, modernize or expand meat, poultry, dairy, and egg processing facilities; and grants for training high school students and employees of small processors. 

Jobs, Labor & Energy bill Supports First Responders & Frontline Worker Bonuses
This week, the Minnesota Senate passed a significant jobs, labor and energy bill that focuses on first responders, increases transparency at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), updates wage theft laws, funds frontline worker bonus pay, and moves Minnesota energy forward. Also included is the funding of a study on the current benefits to support the families of permanently disabled police officers, firefighters, and troopers. Additionally, this bill incorporates funding for experimental mental health therapy for first responders dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Notably, this bill includes the Senate’s proposal for a one-time disbursement of $250 million for the Frontline Worker Bonus Pay program. The language specifically covers first responders or other emergency frontline workers that performed frontline services such as law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics, ambulance personnel, corrections officers, and long-term or other health care frontline workers.

This bill does not include burdensome mandates, expensive new programs, or excessive regulations on businesses. The legislation passed in the Senate with bipartisan support.

Comprehensive HHS Bill to Address Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis 
The Senate passed a comprehensive health and human services reform bill that addresses critical short-term and long-term staffing challenges facing personal care assistants, direct support professionals, nursing homes, and assisted living and intermediate care facilities.

As a result of Covid and its after-effects, many of these facilities continue to face stress as staffing shortages have ravaged the industry. There are currently about 23,000 open positions in Minnesota’s long-term care industry. This crisis is further compounded by the closures of residential providers, therefore driving individuals to other facilities already facing staffing shortages. This assistance will help prevent many facilities from closing to ensure individuals have access to these essential services.

“There has been a large gap in the long-term care workforce, and this bill address that by retaining the workers that have stayed and recruiting new workers to fill gaps in the industry. These are the homes and workers that have served our most vulnerable citizens through a pandemic—they deserve our continued support.”

Included in this legislation is a $1 billion surplus priority, that raises the wages of workers in Minnesota’s long-term care, personal care, and disability waiver rate service industries. This is in addition to the $322 million rescue package to address the staffing crisis facing care facilities, which was introduced earlier this session.

Additionally, included in the package are several provisions originating from the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Of note is the inclusion of interstate compact agreements for nurses, counselors, and speech language pathologists. The bill also streamlines fingerprinting for licensed individuals, updates requirements for the EMSRB board, allows pharmacists to perform lab tests and administer certain vaccines, and creates a 90-day temporary permit for licensed individuals to practice medicine in Minnesota to ensure new hires are eligible to work as quickly as possible. 

Public Safety Bill…Supports Law Enforcement & Prioritizes Safe Communities
The Minnesota Senate passed a comprehensive public safety bill that provides critical funding to hold criminals accountable and keep Minnesota’s communities safe. This legislation focuses on supporting law enforcement, addressing growing crime rates throughout the state, and increasing transparency and accountability in prosecution decisions. There are three main objectives in the bill: provide support for law enforcement recruitment and retention; toughen penalties for criminal activity; and increase transparency and accountability in judicial and prosecutorial actions. 
 
To provide support for law enforcement, the bill includes two provisions already passed by the Senate this year. The first is funding for the Department of Public Safety to develop and conduct an advertising campaign to elevate the law enforcement profession. The second provision contains funding for the award-winning Pathways to Policing Program to support non-traditional candidates for law enforcement who already have an associate’s degree in another discipline. To retain current law enforcement officers, the bill also provides $3,000 in one-time bonuses to all licensed police officers and an additional incentive of $7,000 to officers nearing retirement who choose to continue serving.

This bill also incorporates “tough on crime” bills that increase penalties for repeat offenders, carjackers, and violent crimes involving firearms. There is also enhanced support for the Violent Crime Enforcement Teams (VCET), which have been successful at targeting drugs and guns across the state. In response to the growing instances of violent criminals becoming repeat offenders and frequent decisions by prosecutors and judges to go easy on criminals, this bill takes several steps to improve transparency for the decisions that lead to early releases and failures to fully charge criminals.

“The bill affirms our commitment to public safety, supporting law enforcement, and ensuring crime does not spread into greater Minnesota. Minnesotans deserve to feel safe, wherever they live. That means supporting officers in their important work and holding judges and prosecutors accountable for sentencing criminals.”

The legislation passed on a vote of 48-19 & now awaits action in the House.

Additional Information…

I was happy to join Tony Sertich to answer live questions about the 2022 Legislative Session. We talked about unemployment insurance, ending the tax on Social Security, renewing the Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund, and much more. You can watch the full interview on Minnesota Legislative Report—April 24, 2022: Senator Ruud.

MN Legislative Report: Interview

Thank you for taking the time to read my legislative update. If you’re looking to hear more from the Capitol, please like me on Facebook. 

As always please feel free to contact my office with any questions you might have. My office can be reached by phone at (651) 296-4913 or at sen.carrie.ruud@senate.mn.

Talk to you soon!
Carrie Ruud