Greetings,
It was somewhat of a calm before the storm week at the State Capitol. Our first committee deadline is Friday, which represents the time when a bill must receive action from a committee in order for it to move forward the rest of session. I’m expecting plenty of bills to be heard in all of our House committees next week.
HOUSE DEMOCRAT INACTION LEADS TO MASSIVE TAX INCREASE ON MINNESOTA’S EMPLOYERS
Very sad news to report for our local employers, as they will soon feel the impacts of an unnecessary, and massive, tax increase thanks to the inaction of House Democrats.
A debt of more than $1 billion in Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is what brought the issue forward, and the default method to eliminate the UI debt is tax increases – in this case 15% or more- on statewide employers.
Even though Minnesota has more than $10 billion sitting in the state’s coffers, House Democrats – the party in charge of the Minnesota House - refused to hear any legislation on the House floor that would stop the local employer tax increase, while the Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation on a bipartisan basis. The deadline to prevent these unnecessary tax increases was March 15.
On Monday, for the second time, House Republicans tried to move legislation that would have prevented these tax increases. But House Democrats again blocked the bill from being debated.
So, if you’re a local business owner, you should understand that House Democrats are playing a political game with your money, and their inaction is the sole reason you are being forced into this unnecessary situation. House and Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, Governor Walz and Commissioner Grove were all on board with solving this problem. The lone holdouts are House Democrats, and since they’re in the majority, needed legislation did not pass.
AUDIT FINDS TROUBLING NEWS ON UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FRAUD
Unemployment Insurance also was in the news for a different reason this week, as Minnesota’s legislative auditor shared some troubling news regarding fraud, and the reporting of that fraud, within the program.
According to the report, during Fiscal Year 2021, the UI Division received nearly 24,000 fraud allegation reports from the public, most alleging an imposter applied for benefits using a stolen identity. in June 2021 alone, the division stopped payments on about 2,500 suspicious accounts—more than one-third of all new accounts opened that month. Yet over the past several years, only a couple of dozen fraud cases have ever been referred to law enforcement.
Minnesotans have the right to know that criminals are being held accountable for their crimes and that taxpayer dollars are not being wasted. As state law does not explicitly require DEED to report information about fraud in the UI program to the Minnesota Legislature, it appears we need to make changes.
KEEP IN TOUCH
As always I'm continuing to support constituent needs. Feel free to contact me anytime at rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn or by phone at 651-296-7808.
Be well,
Tim