The House and Senate agreed Monday on a proposal to provide $216.5 million to help businesses that have experienced a sales decline. As part of the year s seventh special session â necessitated by Gov. Tim Walz extending his emergency powers in response to COVID-19 â members also agreed on a plan to extend unemployment benefits to applicants who have exhausted all available state and federal unemployment benefits.
Following the 117-13 House vote â after 62-4 passage by the Senate a few hours prior â all that s needed is the governor s signature.
Negotiated mostly out of the public eye, and sponsored by Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) and Sen. Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake), SSHF45/SSSF31 would provide:
Updated: 7:57 a.m.
Minnesota lawmakers passed legislation Monday night designed to help businesses and workers hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure approved in a special session includes grants to struggling small businesses and an extension of unemployment benefits for out-of-work Minnesotans.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushed for the COVID-19 relief, but Republicans made it clear that DFL Gov. Tim Walz is the one who put businesses in financial peril with his executive orders that restricted their ability to operate for the past three weeks.
“This is a very important bill,” said Sen. Eric Pratt, R- Prior Lake. “A very important bill for our communities, a very important bill for our small business owners that have been impacted by the latest executive order and important for the employees that work in those industries.”
Routine public access to the Minnesota Capitol and legislative proceedings will remain under restrictions into next year as officials weigh when to dismantle a fence and to conduct more business in person.
Both realities were disclosed Tuesday during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Capitol Security, which is chaired by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and includes members of all three branches of state government.
The panel was told the chain-link fence ringing the Capitol building since the tension following the killing of George Floyd in late May will stay in place indefinitely.
State officials say dozens of incidents of graffiti and vandalism have occurred since summer and they believe the fence has prevented even more damage to the 115-year-old building. Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said his agency has tracked credible threats and copycat incidents that have hit capitols in other states.
State officials urge keeping fence around State Capitol well into 2021 Advisory panel is told that unrest still poses a threat to safety and property.
By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune December 15, 2020 9:49pm Text size Copy shortlink:
Public safety leaders want to see a drop in protests and vandalism at public buildings in Minnesota and nationwide before taking down the fence that has surrounded the State Capitol since May.
First meant as a temporary precaution against a threat to the building amid rioting after George Floyd s killing, the fence has remained at the urging of state officials fearful that continued volatile protests will spill over onto the Capitol steps. It is costing the sta
Minn. legislators reach truce on COVID business relief, but deal could sour over unemployment snafu
After weeks of negotiations, the split Legislature says they agree on a $216 million bill for struggling businesses. But Democrats and Republicans can t agree on an extension of unemployment insurance benefits, which could sink the deal. Written By: Sarah Mearhoff | ×
The Minnesota Senate convenes at the state Capitol in St. Paul. (Forum News Service file photo)
ST. PAUL Minnesota lawmakers say they have agreed on at least one component of a highly anticipated coronavirus relief bill to aid struggling businesses. But unless they reach a consensus on how to extend unemployment insurance benefits, the whole deal could be doomed.