Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Week four of Legislative Session is behind us and bills are moving steadily through committees. In Human Services Reform where I am honored to be ranking member, we had some deep discussion on bills related to workforce shortages with Personal Care Assistance, support for parents of children with disabilities, and increasing inclusion of all people in Minnesota in their communities.
The Governor also released his budget proposal and the Health and Human Services budget was presented at a high level in Committee on Thursday. There were some impressive investments met with equally disappointing cuts to key service areas. You can find more details on that within this newsletter, and as I learn more I will share it with you all. There are also some Vaccine updates as the state works to ensure we utilize the vaccines we have swiftly.
Thank you again for the honor of being your Senator and stay safe.
John
Legislation to help college students enter the PCA workforce
Minnesota faces a severe shortage of personal care assistants (PCAs) throughout the state. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, personal care and service positions have 10,155 vacancies as of the second quarter of 2019. The gap between the amount of available positions and workers seeking employment is expected to worsen because of the boomer generation’s retirement and increasing medical needs. Areas outside of the metropolitan area feel the impact of the shortage to a greater extent, leaving the people of Greater Minnesota with few options.
Legislation was heard in the Human Services Reform Committee this week to create a new program, called the Direct Care Service Corps Pilot Project, which encourages postsecondary students from around the state to work as PCAs. The committee also heard this bill last year before the COVID-19 crisis shifted the Legislature’s priorities towards pandemic response.
With this proposal, students would provide a much-needed influx of workers into the industry and alleviate the immediate impacts of the worker shortage. The program is beneficial to postsecondary students as they would receive financial incentives for their service as well as valuable work experience. Students can help their community through directed service while receiving financial benefits and closing a gap in the labor market.
The problem of unfilled positions in the personal care industry is critical because it directly impacts the elderly and people with disabilities. When people in need are unable to receive their required care, many are forced into group or nursing homes. Family and friends may also take off work or reduce their hours to compensate for the care that their loved ones should be receiving from PCAs. Without programs to encourage more workers to enter the sector, those in need and their loved ones are burdened with inadequate healthcare and financial stress. (SF 111)
Unemployment experience rating frozen
On a vote of 66 – 0, legislation (SF 192) passed the Minnesota Senate to temporarily freeze the unemployment insurance experience rating some businesses are required to pay at 2019 rates for rates payable in 2021. It also freezes taxable wages to $35,000.
An experience rating a business pays is dependent on their workers utilization of the unemployment insurance program. The more their workforce utilizes the program the higher the businesses tax rate or experience rating. The pandemic has forced many businesses to close, through no fault of their own, for an extended period of time resulting in layoffs. This proposal would hold their experience rating (tax rate) harmless, reducing some economic uncertainty facing our small businesses as we begin to recover from the pandemic.
Follow this link for more information on unemployment insurance in Minnesota.
Budget 2022-2023
Minnesota lawmakers are constitutionally required to set a 2022-2023 budget before June 30 this year, and Governor Walz took the first step in this process this week by announcing his budget priorities. The proposal is focused on helping Minnesotans recover from the COVID-19 pandemic by investing in schools and students, businesses, and working families.
Much of the budget is focused on helping working families find good paying jobs and providing small businesses with much-needed relief to help mitigate the challenges the pandemic has caused. Additionally, the governor’s budget works to empower students with the comprehensive support needed, including investments in summer learning programs, school-linked mental health services, increased school funding, and a teacher mentor program. The budget also prioritizes initiatives to address the achievement gap: it establishes an ethnic studies standard, increases resources for districts with low tax bases, and expands rigorous coursework offered at more schools.
The governor’s budget offers varied revenue sources to help offset the costs, including modest budget cuts and changes in the estate, vapor, and cigarette taxes. In addition, the wealthy and profitable corporations will be asked to pay their fair share through a new tax bracket for those earning more than $1 million – while more than 1 million Minnesotans receive a tax cut.
Health and Human Services Budget
Our Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) presented the Health and Human Services Budget proposed by the Governor. While it will take time to go through every part of it, some key things noted amongst the budget:
- Investments into child mental health through schools.
- Homelessness funds/grants increase.
- Investment for PCA’s increasing their wage over the next two years until it reaches 15.25 an hour, and increased vacation and holidays.
However, there are some concerns I am seeing that I have been and will continue to challenge as we develop the Senate’s Budget.
- Reduces or eliminates appropriations for a few grants in the disability services space, yield savings of 8.9 million next biennium, and another 8.9 following biennium. 17.8 total.
- Family support grant would see a reduction of 600,000 each year. 14% of current appropriation
- Semi independent living grant would see a 8.4% reduction
- Day training and habilitation grant eliminates grant to counties for day training and habilitation, 800,000 per year, 100% cut.
- Disability services innovation grants which will see a 52% reduction. Reducing large grants for innovations, preserve micro grants for individuals.
More concerning is the system to change our waiver services. While policy-wise it expands an individuals options and simplifies much of the process, including the ability to utilize a budget directly by an individual, the actual budgets proposed dramatically change our system. Rather than funds following an individual and they choose their services or living arrangements based on their choice and health, it is based more heavily on location. If you live in a residential setting (Corporate foster care, group home) the budget for an individual can go as high as 162,000 roughly for those with severe disabilities and high needs. Someone in the same situation living independently or with family would have roughly 75,000 to 78,000. This is unacceptable and we cannot approve such a change as they propose it currently. If we cannot care for those most in need, we are not doing our duty.
Thank you!
It is my greatest honor to represent you the citizens of Brooklyn Park, Champlin and Coon Rapids here at our great state capitol. In addition to representing you, I absolutely enjoy it when you come visit. You must schedule with our office to arrange an appointment before any arrival, and we also do Zoom meetings! So reach out and tell me what matters to you or schedule an appointment so I can continue working on your behalf. You can reach me by email at sen.john.hoffman@senate.mn or by phone at 651-296-4154. I am at 95 University Avenue Suite 2235 in the Minnesota Senate Building
Sincerely,
Senator John Hoffman
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to call my office at 651-296-4154 or by e-mail at jhoffman@senate.mn
The Governor announces update to speed up vaccinations
The Governor announced a plan this week to ensure vaccine administration is moving as fast as possible. The state is implementing new goals and tracking systems to encourage all providers to administer 90% of the vaccines they receive within 72 hours and the rest within one week. If a provider does not meet the goals, they should anticipate potential changes to their vaccine allocations. This progress can be tracked at the state’s updated vaccine data dashboard.
Some older adults have also started receiving vaccines through their local health care provider. To give more flexibility towards clinics and hospitals, health providers can begin to vaccinate patients using leftover doses from their allocation that aren’t needed for their critical health care workers. Some clinics who are further along in vaccinating their employees have started scheduling appointments for patients who are 65 and older. Smaller or independent clinics may not yet be at this stage.
The priority remains vaccinating older adults, teachers, child care workers, and other essential workers as quickly as possible. Older adults are at a much higher risk of developing severe illness due to COVID-19, especially those living in congregate settings, which is why they continue to be a priority during these early vaccination stages. At the same time, teachers and other school employees must also be prioritized to make sure our schools open safely. As states across the country grapple with limited supplies, the federal government must step up and deliver more vaccines. The Biden administration has announced good news that Minnesota’s allocation will be slightly larger in the coming weeks, and DFLers are hopeful this supply will continue to increase so that everyone who wants a vaccine has easy access to one
PPP loans and Minnesota taxes
The Senate Tax Committee considered a bill this week to address the differences between how the federal government and the state of Minnesota tax Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans received by some businesses in 2020.
The PPP loans were authorized in the federal CARES Act passed in March 2020 with the understanding they would be forgiven if used on allowable expenses, which included employee wages, rent, utilities, and other business-related expenses. Under typical circumstances, forgiven debts are required to be included in a taxpayer’s income for that year for both federal and state tax purposes, and any business expenses paid for with non-exempt income would be tax-deductible. However, Congress specifically exempted the forgiven loans from gross income for federal tax purposes and allowed the business expenses supported with the tax-exempt PPP loans to be deductible.
Authorizing a double-tax benefit is a big deviation from standard practice, but Congress was attempting to recognize the difficult situation many businesses are facing during the pandemic. Now, Minnesota lawmakers must decide whether to conform to the federal law. The bill heard this week proposes to do so, but at a cost of $438 million.
The bill’s supporters include many businesses that received the PPP loans. Committee members pointed out, however, that hundreds of Minnesota businesses applied for PPP loans but did not receive one, and they questioned whether spending nearly a half-billion dollars on a tax benefit for some businesses that already received support is the proper use of state funds – especially with a $1.3 billion deficit on the horizon.
There was bipartisan realization that the state must wait for the February forecast before moving on such an expensive proposal, making it unlikely this would pass before the April 15 tax-filing deadline. If Minnesota changes nothing about its tax law, loan recipients would have to include loan amounts in their income for state tax purposes, but they still would be allowed to deduct the business expenses the loans supported. That is most likely a revenue-neutral option. If the Legislature makes a different decision after April 15, businesses could file an amended return.
The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. (SF 263)
Bills I’m working on in Health and Human Services Reform
This week I introduced two bills into my primary committee working with the Chair. First is:
SF0189 This bill offers grants to support parent to parent programs that connect parents of children with severe disabilities with other parents who have already navigated our system of supports. This provides emotional and practical support in taking care of their children as parents who understand each other. This is a model that the Health Resource Service Administration has supported in all states. Minnesota needs to assure that as well.
S.F. 188 Abeler: This bill creates a grant that organizations and individuals can apply for to work on projects that include people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, or remove barriers for their inclusion in our communities. This is a small step but an important one to arm organizations and individuals to continue developing a state where all can participate freely.
Legislation introduced to establish legal sports betting in Minnesota
A press conference was held this week about recently introduced, bipartisan legislation to establish legal sports betting in Minnesota, which has been already approved in 25 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.
The legislation would establish a Sports Wagering Commission and guardrails to let Minnesotans make wagers on sports safely and legally within the state. The Sports Wagering Commission would be composed of 9 members: The Commissioner of Public Safety, the Chair of the Racing Commission, five members appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate, and two members appointed by the governor following the advice of the Indian Affairs Council. The bill allows onsite wagering at both casinos and racetracks, and after one year it allows remote or mobile sports wagering through casinos, as long as people have a registered account with the casino.
Sports betting would have two tax rates: 6% for onsite betting, and 8% for mobile betting. Approximately 0.5% of tax revenue will be appropriated for “compulsive gambling assistance,” and the rest of the tax revenue will flow into the general account. Many Minnesotans already engage in sports betting, either legally in neighboring states like Iowa, or in off-the-books bets. This legislation would simply establish a legal framework for activities that already occur and allow the state to regulate and tax it.