On Monday, December 14, the Minnesota Legislature met in a special session and took up Senate File 31, which ultimately passed both the House and Senate on Tuesday night. There are two important parts of this bill for nonprofits regarding Unemployment Insurance (UI) and county grants:
- First, nonprofits who are reimbursing employers (about half of Minnesota nonprofits) will not be charged for the additional 13 weeks of UI benefits that the Legislature passed. The other half of Minnesota nonprofits, known as “tax-paying” or “contributing” employers for purposes of UI, will also not see additional cost on these 13 weeks.
- Second, the bill that passed on Monday appropriates money to counties, and the counties will grant to local businesses that were impacted by an Executive Order related to COVID. We assume each county will create its own process to award these grants, and it will happen fairly quickly – all grants must be awarded by March 15, 2021. Keep an eye out or contact your county for more information!
Regarding the UI issue, MCN and many nonprofits quickly mobilized to head off an effort to remove reimbursing employers from the bill, sending over 50 individual, timely messages to key legislators in just a few hours. Your voices were heard and made a difference!
Read a full summary here. |