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Dear Neighbors,
Late yesterday, the Minnesota Legislature approved a new economic assistance package designed to help small businesses and workers struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation includes direct financial assistance to the hardest hit businesses and helps protect economic security for workers by extending unemployment benefits.
Key components of the assistance bill would:
- Extend Unemployment Benefits: Provides up to 13 additional weeks in unemployment benefits for MN workers who have exhausted all federal and state benefits. There are an estimated 100,000 MN workers who could qualify for this extension, showing how needed this extension is.
- Business Assistance Grants: Provides $216.5 million in grants to restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters and many other entities directly affected by the executive orders and the pandemic. It is estimated that these grants will be able to assist over 6,000 businesses that have been hurt by Covid-19.
- Certain Fees Waived for Hospitality Industry: This is another straight-forward practical action we can take to help ease the financial burden our local businesses are facing. While this is a smaller portion of the total relief, it should go a long way towards helping these vulnerable businesses.
COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution Plan
Last week Governor Walz announced our state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan. The goal is to quickly, equitably, and safely deliver the vaccine to anyone who wants one at no cost. The first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine have already been shipped to Minnesota.
The first to receive the vaccine in our state will be health care workers and long-term care residents, who would then be followed by essential workers, seniors, and people with preexisting conditions who are more likely to become seriously ill with this virus.
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