Senate President Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) released the following statement in response to new guidance from the United States Department of the Treasury regarding the use of federal stimulus funds that makes it clear that the money can be used for federal conformity measures, like Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits. Additionally, the state government’s portion of the federal stimulus money that will need to be appropriated is now $2.833 billion, which is about $200 million more than originally estimated. This does not include federal stimulus money that is going directly to counties, cities, schools, or colleges and universities.

“After receiving the long-awaited guidance from the federal government today, I hope the Minnesota House of Representatives will take immediate action on providing small businesses and individuals incredibly important tax relief by passing legislation to conform with the feds on PPP loan forgiveness and exempting Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits from state income taxes. The Minnesota Senate passed these provisions with strong bipartisan support back on March 11 and after today’s guidance, there is no reason for the House to delay this vote any longer. It’s time to send this bill to the governor for his signature. It’s time to get this much-needed relief out to Minnesotans.

“Many small businesses and individuals depended on federal Covid assistance to make it through the pandemic. The federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans provided small businesses with urgent resources to help keep their workforce employed during the pandemic and the additional federal unemployment insurance benefits helped individuals through difficult and uncertain times.”