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Dear Neighbors,
Thursday my colleagues and I returned to the State Capitol – practicing MDH’s physical distancing guidelines– to enact a bipartisan, comprehensive package of legislation addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill created a new $200 million COVID-19 Fund in the state treasury to enable state agencies to respond to COVID-19 related challenges. It also included $9 million to the Department of Human Services for emergency food shelf funding, $26.5 million for the Emergency Service Grants program to provide shelter for Minnesota’s homeless population, $30 million in one-time grants to child care providers, $10 million for small business loans, financial relief for displaced workers, and the necessary flexibility for state agencies to respond to the pandemic.
Below is a breakdown of the components of the legislation:
AGRICULTURE & FOOD
- Modifies the Rural Finance Authority’s disaster loan recovery program to allow applications related to any highly contagious animal disease or an infectious human disease such as COVID-19, for which the Governor has declared a peacetime emergency.
- Temporary waiver of commercial pesticide applicator requirements.
COMMERCE
- Flexibility to modify deadlines, licensing registrations, continuing education requirements, business filing deadlines, and other requirements for regulated entities – like insurance agents and real estate brokers – if meeting those requirements would be more difficult during a declared emergency.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
- Through Peacetime Emergency Child Care Grants, nearly $30 million will be available in one time grants to child care providers who agree to remain open throughout the peacetime public health emergency, prioritize spaces in their program for the children of essential workers, and use health and safety practices that prevent the spread of COVID-19 in a child care environment.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
- Gov. Walz’s Food Security Supplemental Budget, which appropriates $9 million from the to address food security related to COVID-19. The measure supports regional food banks, allows food shelves to purchase food, diapers, toilet paper, and other necessary supplies, and supports a network of transportation organizations to assist in the distribution of food and supplies.
- Gov. Walz’s Homelessness Supplemental Budget, which includes $5.53 billion in housing supports and $26.5 million for Emergency Services Grants, which includes shelter space, motel vouchers, and support staff.
- Modifications to the 2019 Opioid Response Bill.
HIGHER EDUCATION
- Gives the Office of Higher Education (OHE) the ability to modify or waive requirements that apply to SELF loan programs, work study programs, the state grant program, and other OHE aid and scholarships.
- Aligns state and federal work study guidelines to help students receive payments, even during the COVID-19 emergency.
- Holds state grant recipients harmless to ensure best outcomes for students.
- Provides flexibility to hold childcare grant recipients harmless if a recipient fails to enroll or reduces enrollment because of COVID-19.
JOBS
- A Loan Guarantee Program loans from private banks to small employers (up to 250 employees). This includes bars and restaurants and will allow them to keep paying their workers, even when they shut down. $10 million from this program will leverage $25 million to $30 million in private loans to 100-200 small businesses.
- Small Business Emergency Loans, a program launched after a Governor Walz executive order last week, which provides 0% interest, forgivable loans to small businesses that are impacted by orders to shut down.
- Temporary relaxation of restrictions on Minnesota Investment Fund loans, allowing cities to make loans to restaurants, bars, lodging and retailers.
- Codifying into law Governor Walz’s executive order which enabled workers to receive immediate Unemployment Insurance benefits without affecting the assessment paid by businesses.
PUBLIC SAFETY
- Giving the Dept. of Corrections’ medical director authority make health care decisions for certain inmates lacking decision-making capacity and who are placed in an outside facility on conditional medical release, if there is not a documented health care agent already assigned.
- A provision allowing the DOC ability to place an inmate with 90 days or less to serve in their prison sentence in a county jail for the remainder of their term.
- Temporary delay of the fingerprint requirement for any background check required for essential workers during a peacetime emergency. The state’s LiveScan fingerprinting service is currently shut down due to COVID-19.
STATE GOVERNMENT
- A COVID-19 Emergency Fund of $200 million to be made available to state agencies to assist with the response to the outbreak. Potential expenditures would include increased staffing costs at prison facilities or costs associated with activities by the Minnesota National Guard.
- $11 million in grants for Minnesota’s 11 tribal nations to help the tribal nations mitigate the health and economic impacts of COVID-19
- Waivers for workforce and equal pay certificate requirements for emergency purchasing.
TAXES
- Pushes back the deadline for petitioners with property tax appeals from April 30th to May 30th of 2020.
TRANSPORTATION
- With the federal deadline on the horizon, the legislation modifies the minimum standards to obtain a REAL ID including documents to be permitted such as a high school transcript, debit card statement, cell phone bill and more. It also extends the timeline from 90 days to one year for them to be accepted. The federal government has also extended the REAL ID deadline to October 1, 2021.
- $2.4 million to pay for a temporary increase in license staff to reach a 45-day turnaround time.
- A provision allowing individuals with driver’s licenses, permits, or disability parking permits that are set to expire at least two months in which to renew them following the end of our peacetime emergency.
VETERANS
- $6.2 million for the Minnesota Dept. of Veterans Affairs Soldier Assistance program, which will provide financial assistance to any veterans or surviving spouse of a veteran needing assistance as a result of the COVID-19 disaster.
You can access the entire bill here and read a recap from nonpartisan House Public Information Services here.
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What didn’t get done
We still have more work to do for Minnesotans during this pandemic. I was very disappointed Senate Republican leaders chose to block efforts that would protect hourly workers’ pay in K-12 schools, and various other K-12 education measures to keep Minnesota’s education system intact, and the state’s teachers and students whole. In the Minnesota House we worked on a bipartisan basis to develop a proposal that anticipated the needs of schools, staff, students, and families for a clear path in confusing times. Multiple attempts over the past week to engage the Senate GOP in a productive exchange were met with silence.
School staff and their families deserve to know if they are going to be paid during this distance learning period. Schools need to know if they are going to receive the anticipated revenues, they need to pay those staff. High school seniors need to know if they are going to be allowed to graduate and younger students if they are going to progress to the next grade. Teachers and administrators need to know if they are going to be able to renew their licenses and everyone needs to know if state testing is on for this year or not.
Senate Republicans also failed to work with the House to secure workers compensation coverage for first responders who contract the COVID-19 virus. These are the folks who are on the front lines, responding to emergency calls and putting their health at risk. We should have their backs and assure them of workers compensation coverage if they become sick.
A public health crisis is not a time for silence. I will continue to do all I can to get the Senate on board for reasonable and swift action for first responders and Minnesota students and families.
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Housing
Governor Walz announced this week Executive Order 20-14 Suspending Evictions and Writs of Recovery during the COVID-19 peacetime emergency. The suspension went into effect at 5:00 p.m. on March 24, 2020.
I was hoping we could provide more assistance to renters, but a House measure to deliver $100 million in relief was thwarted by Senate Republicans. Despite agreement from housing advocates & landlords, it did not gain the bipartisan support it needed. We must keep working to get this done- financial future of renters & landlords depend on it.
The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has prepared a helpful list of resources at their website to help answer questions related to COVID-19. Additionally, homeless providers and local public health agencies are urged to connect with each other about COVID-19 preparation and response. Local public health agencies may download a list of all shelter and drop-in programs operating within their jurisdictions.
Update for Small Business Owners, independent contractors, and gig workers
The economic crisis provoked by efforts to manage the COVID-19 virus has exposed how our system of social supports has not kept up with changes in the way we work. The federal government acknowledged this with important changes in the stimulus bill that the U.S House passed and the president signed the $2.2 trillion federal stimulus package that provides various types of assistance to states, workers and businesses dealing with the pandemic. To get a sense of what is included in this package, you can check out the following excellent sources:
https://www.ncsl.org/ncsl-in-dc/publications-and-resources/coronavirus-stimulus-bill-states.aspx
https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/03/27/your-guide-to-the-federal-stimulus-package/#2eb1ed9d2711
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/whats-in-stimulus-package-coronavirus-149282
The federal bill does a couple significant things regarding unemployment insurance. First, the benefit period is extended from 26 weeks to 39 weeks, which helps those whose benefits are about to expire. Second, it provides additional benefits of $600 per to week to unemployed workers, which are added to existing state level benefits (currently up to $740 per week in Minnesota). Unemployed workers would be able to receive these additional benefits for up to four months. Importantly, this $600 per week in federal benefits is available to independent contractors, self-employed individuals, and gig workers who are otherwise not eligible for unemployment benefits.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/27/airbnb-uber-lyft-unemployment/
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, or if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Jim Davnie
State Representative
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