(ST. PAUL) –   The Minnesota Senate today approved a partisan $1.5 billion Labor and Jobs budget agreement.

JOBS SECTION: GIVEAWAYS FOR DEMOCRAT ALLIES; LITTLE TO INCENTIVIZE JOB CREATION

The jobs portion of the bill includes a controversial earned sick time proposal; a new fund and task force focused on state capitol area livability and vitality; and a new loan program to revitalize ‘targeted groups’. The bill also provides significant funding for a variety of nonprofits and economic development programs on an uncompetitive basis.

“Single-party control of Minnesota government has been a disaster for small businesses and employees,” said Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake), the lead Republican on the Senate Jobs Committee. “Burdensome mandates and expensive tax increases will crush the very businesses we need to encourage, support, and incentivize. In addition to another inflexible mandate on small mom-and-pop businesses, this bill is loaded with giveaways to Democrat-allied nonprofits and partner organizations that offer little beyond slick branding campaigns. We are giving these groups over a billion on an uncompetitive basis – government choosing winners and losers is not good governance, nor does it give us the best value for our dollars.”

The earned sick time mandate requires all businesses with at least one employee to establish a sick time plan allowing employees to earn at least one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. The bill authorizes penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, as well as a civil penalty for employers who repeatedly violate the mandate.

The bill creates a Community Wealth-Building Grant Program pilot project to award grants to “partner organizations” to distribute to community businesses, with the purpose of encouraging revitalization, investment, and job creation for ‘targeted groups’, which the bill defines as “persons who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, low-income, women, veterans, or persons with disabilities. This no requirement for a rural-metro balance in loan distribution; the Department of Employment and Economic Development is merely tasked with making “reasonable attempts” at balance.

• The partner organization nonprofits will be allowed to keep up to 61% of each loan: 
  • Up to 50% of repaid loans for loan servicing and to provide further technical assistance;
  • Up to 10% to use for technical and legal assistance staffing;
  • Up to 1% loan origination fee charged by the nonprofit

LABOR SECTION: INCREASES COSTS FOR CONSUMERS; LACKS TRANSPARENCY

The Labor portion of the bill increases red tape for businesses and gives authority to non-government entities, which will lead to higher costs for consumers and taxpayers across the board. This legislation returned to the Senate with some of the most controversial Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA)-related provisions, which were previously stripped by the Senate through a bipartisan vote.

“The Labor budget bill had many issues when it left the Senate, but the newly added policies make this legislation even more problematic,” Senator Gene Dornink (R-Brownsdale), the lead Republican of the Senate Labor Committee said. “No Republicans were appointed to serve on the conference committee, and the lack of transparency throughout the process is clear in the final bill.  State government needs to listen more to all stakeholders to ensure there are no unintended consequences. This legislation, however, ignores the current needs of Minnesota’s labor industry. From increasing red tape to providing greater authority to non-government entities, this bill will result in significant costs for Minnesota consumers and taxpayers.”

Current law permits collective bargaining for “terms and conditions” of employment, including work hours, compensation and personnel policies related to working conditions. However, this legislation expands “terms and conditions” to include staffing ratios, adult-to-student ratios in classrooms, student testing, and student-to-personnel ratios. This will transfer managerial control away from the locally elected school board and reduce the flexibility for local school administrators and union leaders as they pursue mutually beneficial contracts. 

Additional PELRA changes include:

• Mandates “meeting and negotiating” the terms of e-learning days, which interferes with the locally elected school board’s control of policy
• Removes the exemption in current law that prevents teachers with a Tier 1 license from joining the local collective bargaining unit
• Includes preschool teachers in the collective bargaining unit of regular classroom teachers, which will complicate the negotiation process and does not allow for needed flexibility in these positions

“Senate Republicans strongly support Minnesota workers and desire to have them safe and protected. We support workers being able to have time off when needed, but we need to be careful. It’s critical that we have different options for different businesses. The Democrats’ Labor and Jobs budget, however, doesn’t do that. It treats all businesses the same. Small businesses are essential to Minnesota’s economy, but they operate much differently than large corporations. It’s essential to keep our small businesses top of mind to ensure we pass policies that help them thrive,” Senator Dornink concluded.