10 Bills That Could Impact Your Business

Next week, legislators will start a week-long legislative break. Now’s the time to schedule a virtual meeting or call with your legislators to let them know how their actions can help or hurt your business’s road to economic recovery. Below is a list of 10 bills that could have the biggest impact on businesses around the state. Urge your legislators to support employers and employees as our state’s economy recovers from the economic downturn.

SF 263 / HF 501 – Providing needed tax relief for businesses who took PPP loans to keep their employees employed during the pandemic

The Minnesota Senate passed full federal tax conformity for the forgivable PPP loan with a strong vote of 55-12. It is a Minnesota Chamber priority for the session. With a $1.6 billion surplus and billions more dollars now coming from the federal government, there is no reason Governor Walz and House leaders shouldn’t provide this tax relief now – just like neighboring states have done. Providing this one-time relief will help the 100,000 businesses that received a PPP loan to continue growing the economy and creating and sustaining jobs for Minnesotans. Click here to read a fact sheet on PPP tax relief.

HF 1336 – Safely reopening the economy to speed economic recovery

The Chamber supports this bill that uses transparent metrics to safely reopen Minnesota’s economy. As the number of positive cases decline, hospital capacity increases and more Minnesotans are vaccinated, it is time for a transparent plan to reopen our economy that Minnesota businesses, their employees and customers can rely on – rather than an indefinite pause that suspends economic recovery. The Legislature and Walz administration must develop such a strategy based on transparent metrics that allows for a responsible, phased reopening. Other states have already done this; why can’t Minnesota?

HF 1153 / SF 694 – Lowering health insurance costs for entrepreneurs, self-employed and small employers

Reinsurance is an important, proven cost-saving provision for entrepreneurs and those who are self-employed, as well as small employers who help their employees purchase insurance in the individual market. Without this program, premiums could rise up to 25%. This is a Chamber priority for the 2021 legislative session.

HF 55 / SF 146 – Analyzes costs to premiums for health insurance mandates

The Chamber supports this bill because small and mid-sized businesses bear the cost of state-imposed health insurance mandates. Minnesota already has one of the longest lists of mandated benefit sets in the country, at more than 60. Before adding new coverage mandates, legislators should know the cost/benefit tradeoffs associated with any proposal to add to that already long list. Click here to read a letter from the Chamber in support of this bill.

SF 919 / HF 2062 – Needed changes to the new wage theft law

The Chamber supports this bill to make needed changes to Minnesota’s wage theft law. These changes would be minor in order to make compliance with the new wage theft law less costly and confusing for employers in Minnesota while still keeping with the spirit of the law’s original intention.

HF 1200 – Mandating 24 weeks of employee paid leave

This overreaching bill would impact hiring, staffing, employee retention and other workplace management decisions as well as continue to increase the cost of doing business in Minnesota, making the state a less competitive place to do business. Click here to read a fact sheet on this bill from the United for Jobs Coalition.

HF 7, HF 41 – Mandating one-size-fits-all sick leave

These bills would mandate that employers offer fully paid time off in a specific format, for an expanded set of familial persons for an expanded list of qualifying events. Cost, compliance and operational impacts of mandates such as HF 7 and HF 41 put pressure on employers, especially small employers.

HF 39 – Subjecting businesses to uncompetitive and unworkable hiring processes

Employers already adhere to a strict set of labor laws and workplace standards at all levels of government in order to maintain safe, healthy, respectful and inclusive workplaces. This bill would add unneeded regulations making it difficult to hire employees during a time of economic recovery. Read this letter submitted today to the House Ways and Means Committee on the Chamber’s opposition to HF 7 and HF 39.

HF 11 / SF 1029 – Increasing health care costs and decreasing access due to a public option

The Chamber opposes a public option because it would increase health care costs and decrease access in the long term. It would also lead to increased instability in our state’s health insurance market and would threaten the continued viability of the individual and small group markets in particular.

HF 1335, HF 2114, HF 2228, HF1689 – Increasing taxes on businesses while employers try to recover from the pandemic. This week, the House will hear a number of tax increases on businesses. Despite having a large budget surplus and billions of dollars coming to the state from the federal government, some legislators still want to raise taxes on businesses who are trying to recover from the pandemic-related economic downturn.