Greetings District 10!

It’s been another busy week in St. Paul with committee hearings to discuss and debate legislation. Please note the Governor announced today loosening restrictions on restaurants, businesses, weddings and additional venues. 

Executive Order: EO 21-07 

Detailed Guidelines: Stay Safe MN Guidelines

The Executive Order is effective Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 12:00 pm. 

Walleye Limit Reduction Bill Receives Its First Hearing

On Wednesday, I presented my bill that seeks to protect the walleye population in Minnesota by lowering the bag limit from six to four with one over 20 and two sauger. This language is identical to the Lake of the Woods regulations and other special regulation lakes, making it consistent statewide. According to the State Walleye Committee, where implemented, the change has not been detrimental to anglers or businesses. The goal is to help protect the walleye population for future generations.

This bill has been in the works for a long time – it’s been great having everybody come together to make sure we got the legislation right – the legislation is especially pertinent this year because we’ve seen new pressures on the fishing industry. This past season, Minnesota sold 128,000 more fishing licenses than in the previous year, and that puts a lot of strain on our resources. Technology and social media have also made an impact on harvest numbers. We need to maintain our resources so we can continue to do the things we love in Minnesota!

Legislative Oversight for Peacetime Emergencies

The Senate’s State Government Finance & Policy Committee heard legislation this week that would reassert a fair balance of governing power between the legislative branch and the executive branch during future states of emergency. The bill would require the governor to obtain legislative approval to extend any emergency declaration beyond 30 days.

This differs from current law (and our current situation), which allows the governor to extend a peacetime emergency indefinitely for 30 days at a time and only grants the legislature the option to cancel emergency powers with a majority vote of both the House and Senate.

Minnesota families depend on the legislature and the governor to work together and find solutions that keep them safe and help our state emerge from the pandemic. We do not need to operate in a one-size fits all solution – we are edging close to the one-year mark for Governor Walz’s emergency powers. What measurement indicates when the governor will relinquish authority? Let’s show that together we are committed to keeping residents safe and getting Minnesota back on track!

Unemployment Insurance

This week, the Minnesota Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation holding employers/businesses harmless to unemployment insurance experience ratings due to COVID-19 closures and shutdowns. Record unemployment in 2020 because of COVID-19 and Governor Walz’s Executive Orders would have dramatically increased the amount businesses would need to pay into the Unemployment Insurance Program.

An end-of-2020 sunset on language led to this legislation. The language stated unemployment benefits paid as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic would not be used in computing the future Experience Rating of unemployment insurance taxpaying employers. These ratings are typically calculated based on taxable wages and benefits paid by the employer over the previous 48-month period.

To make sure the Experience Ratings paid because of COVID-19 are not factored into the calculations, the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Program needs to examine each individual charge and determine whether it is related to COVID-19. 

This bill will ensure:

• Employer’s experience ratings are held harmless by carrying their 2020 experience rating forward into 2021
• It will give the UI Program the time it needs to remove benefit charges relating to COVID-19
• Caps the taxable wage base for UI at $35,000 for 2021
• Ensuring COVID-19-related UI benefits will never be used to compute employer Experience Ratings now or in the future

It’s critical that our employers be held harmless for COVID-related layoffs, DEED will hold all employers’ rates flat for 2021, and taxable income will be held flat for 2020. Our businesses have been suffering for nearly a year, and this is a move in the right direction towards economic recovery.

Minnesota Education Social Studies Standards

The Senate Education Committee approved a bill that would suspend for two years the further development and implementation of Governor Walz’s controversial new K-12 social studies standards. The proposed changes have drawn criticism for advancing a non-academic political agenda at the expense of landmark historical events such as the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I and II, and the Holocaust, or important historical figures like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

Under current law, the Minnesota Department of Educations is authorized to “review” and to “revise” state social studies standards on a regular cycle. But the law was only intended for necessary corrections and updates, not for a governor to radically change curriculum for every public-school student in the state. It’s important to teach both the good and the bad of historical events, not suppress certain historical events to teach a political viewpoint. Critical thinking is vital to teach our children. Indoctrinating them with biased activism is not the school’s proper role.

Minnesota Increased Revenue Collections

The State of Minnesota Management and Budget Office released its January 2021 monthly receipts, and there are increased revenue collections. This is a very good sign for the upcoming February forecast – where we will get a full accounting of the state’s budget. Taxes are coming in at or above the forecast, showing the strength of Minnesotans in the face of our economic disruptions complicated by constantly changing closure policies. I wonder where we would be if Minnesota businesses were totally open? 

Thank you for taking the time to read my legislative update. If you’re looking to hear more from the Capitol, please like me on Facebook. Have a great start to your weekend!

As always please feel free to contact my office with any questions you might have. My office can be reached by phone at (651) 296-4913 or at sen.carrie.ruud@senate.mn.

Talk to you soon!
Carrie Ruud