ST. PAUL, Minn. (KWNO)-Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, Gov. Tim Walz, and House Speaker Melissa Hortman reached a verbal agreement on replenishing the state’s unemployment insurance fund and bonuses for frontline COVID workers.
“We did strike a verbal agreement [Wednesday], which includes $2.7 billion so fully refilling the unemployment trust fund account. It will also include $500 million for frontline workers,” Miller said on KWNO’s In the Know Thursday.
Miller says the money will come from the state’s American Rescue Plan allocation.
The bill’s next stop is a House and Senate Conference Committee. Rep. Gene Pelowski chairs the committee’s House representation and expects the committee will get the bill to a floor vote in short order.
“It should be a one-meeting conference committee once we get the numbers from the speaker, governor, and majority leader,” Pelowski said during a KWNO interview before news of the agreement broke.
Pelowski says the bill also includes a mechanism to refund businesses who’ve paid out extra taxes. The agreement makes the state’s unemployment account solvent and pays back the federal government through state funds instead of additional payroll taxes on businesses.
“This is great news,” Winona Area Chamber of Commerce President Christie Ransom told KWNO. Ransom said some area businesses saw their payroll taxes increase by as much as 200%.
She thanked Miller and Pelowski for working on getting an agreement together.
House Democrats upped their proposed UI fund injection from $1 billion while Senate Republicans doubled funds allocated to the bonus pool for frontline COVID workers.
The bonus payout structure has not been announced.
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!
