Apple Valley Chamber Of Commerce: 10 Bills That Could Impact Your Business

Press release from the Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce:

March 23, 2021

APPLE VALLEY CHAMBER NOTE: The following issues are ones which may or may not concern you as noted by MN Chamber. We are independent of MN Chamber but we are a member of MN Chamber and wanted to share this with you. If you see issues which concern you, we encourage you to drop an email or call to our State Senator and/or State House members in St. Paul. Recovery is on the way and there is no need for regulatory impediments to your business at this time.

THE MN CHAMBER AT THE CAPITOL 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 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 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. THE HARMFUL HF 1200 – Mandating 24 weeks of employee paid 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 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.

This press release was produced by the Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.