ST. PAUL, MN – Today, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill that resolves the differences between repaying and refilling the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund and providing bonuses to workers who worked the frontline during the COVID pandemic. The bill passed with nearly unanimous support this afternoon.

“I’m happy 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,” said Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake), author of the Senate’s original UI bill. “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. It’s only right that we also include bonus payments to frontline workers that deserve recognition for all they did during the darkest days of the pandemic. 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.”

“This bill represents what can happen when Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate and the Governor’s office work together to get great things done for the people of Minnesota,”said Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R- Winona). “This bill provides Meaningful bonuses to frontline workers who took risks to keep us safe during the pandemic. Not only did we meet our commitment to give them a ‘thank you’check, but we also doubled it. And it fully refills the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which protects a safety net for workers who get laid off during tough times.”

The legislation uses $2.7 billion to pay off the loan from the federal government and refill the UI trust fund to its necessary balance using mostly federal funds.This 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. Even with this bill, there remains more than $6 billion from the surplus left to give back to the taxpayers.

Businesses will have their employer UI tax rates for calendar years 2022 and 2023 recalculated to lower the base rate to 0.1% and eliminate the additional assessment and the special assessment. The recalculation stops the increases to UI tax rates that were automatically triggered in December 2021 because the UI Trust Fund was under the required balance.

Additionally, this bill directs the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to credit or refund employers any increase in the UI tax rate that has already been paid during the calendar year 2022. DEED must waive also any interest or penalties for businesses that may make late payments on first-quarter UI taxes.

As part of the agreement, $500 million from the surplus will go to frontline workers who were most at risk during the COVID pandemic.“Our people are our biggest asset, and the workers who took big risks to keep us safe during the pandemic deserve our thanks and gratitude,” Senator KarinHousley (R-Stillwater) said. Sen. Housley served on the bipartisan working group tasked with trying to find an agreement on bonus checks last summer.“This bonus payment will let them know that we appreciate what they have done, and we recognize they made sacrifices when they were asked to.”

As the Senate proposed two weeks ago, the House Democrats decided which workers get bonuses. The list includes everything from long-term and health care, emergency responders, public health, corrections, child care, schools, retail, transportation, and manufacturing. Eligibility requires the applicant to have worked at least 120 hours from March 15, 2020, to June 30, 2021, and cannot have received more than 20 weeks of unemployment benefits. An application process will be set up by the Department of Labor and Industry to verify eligibility. Current estimates suggest checks will be $750 per worker if the total eligible workers apply and are approved.