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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota legislative leaders announced a deal Thursday to refill the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund and to pay bonuses to frontline workers, resolving a months-long impasse.
The tentative agreement includes $2.7 billion to replenish the trust fund and pay back a debt to the federal government for jobless aid, and $500 million in bonuses for workers who took risks during the pandemic. House Democrats came down from their $1 billion proposal for bonus checks — cutting the amount per worker in half to $750 but keeping eligibility at about 667,000 workers.
A House provision making hourly school employees eligible for unemployment insurance during the summer months was cut in the compromise.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, and Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, announced the agreement during a MinnPost panel discussion, saying they reached the compromise with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz Wednesday night.
Miller and Hortman said the bill is expected to pass off the Senate floor on Thursday before being voted on by the House later Thursday or Friday morning, The goal, the leaders said, is to get the bill to Walz’s desk for him to sign on Friday to avoid a Saturday due date for employers who saw their tax bills increase when lawmakers missed a March 15 deadline to replenish the trust fund.
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