Democrats yesterday brought forward a Jobs and Labor budget and policy package that expands government, increases regulations and funnels millions to private organizations. As a result, Minnesotans are left with fewer opportunities and higher costs. 

The Jobs portion of the bill spends $318 million from the general fund over the next two years, along with $154 million from the workforce development fund. Despite the large investment, the bill fails to build strong pipelines to high-wage, high-demand jobs and instead sends significant funding to nonprofits. 

“When we bring forward a ‘Jobs’ bill, Minnesotans expect us to invest in creating new jobs and expanding the Minnesota workforce, but this bill unfortunately just focuses on burdensome regulations that will hurt many small businesses in our state,” said Senator Karin Housley (R-Stillwater). “I’m especially concerned with the fact that this bill fails to address numerous concerns that have been brought up regarding the Paid Family Leave Program.”

One provision quietly claws back money that had been set aside to help small businesses comply with the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) mandate set to begin in January 2026. Democrats moved the funds without including the change in the bill text, instead burying it in the fiscal spreadsheet—a move that shielded it from public scrutiny and allowed Democrats to argue against the germaneness of any PFML-related amendments.  

DEED stated in a previous committee that they do not plan to have a call center open during the day the PFML program goes live. Housley offered an amendment that would have required them to ensure call center operations are fully operational, in order to provide customer service on day one of implementation. The amendment was ruled out of order.

“Though Paid Leave is an asset that will be helpful for many, for it to be useful and successful, that requires DEED to be ready for implementation, and it’s incredibly concerning that they do not have plans to staff a call center for the day the program goes live,” continued Housley. “We’ve already seen failures of system launches in Minnesota – MNLARS comes to mind immediately. We do not want Paid Leave to suffer the same fate, which is why I’m disappointed Democrats didn’t even want to discuss this much-needed amendment.” 

The Labor portion of the package totals $100 million, compared to $65 million when Republicans held the majority in 2021–2022. Beyond just the increased spending, the Labor bill also introduces costly new regulations that will harm Minnesota’s economy. 

Additional controversial labor provisions include the following:

• Increased fees and new inspection requirements for manufactured home, driving up the cost of affordable housing
• Shifting permitting control for manufactured homes from local authorities to the state, creating additional hurdles for homeowners and developers
• Changes to employee break laws and increased fines for employers that fail to adhere to new language