Ewald at the Capitol/June 26

Special Session Ends

The Legislature ended its special session around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, after being in floor session for over 21 hours straight, with recesses. Even after negotiations taking place all night long, agreements could not be made on bonding, police reform and some supplemental spending items from Gov. Walz. A compromise on CARES Act local government aid had been made among all four caucuses, but when additional items were added to the bill by the House, the Senate considered the agreement void and the bill was left on the table.

Since the last edition of Ewald at the Capitol, a few additional bills were passed prior to the end of special session and signed into law. Highlights of these bills include:

HF105, which gives extensions to some COVID-19 health and human services program waivers and modifications after the peacetime emergency ends.
HF33, which is an education policy omnibus bill.
HF41, which temporarily brings child care assistance program provider reimbursement into federal compliance.

Gov. Walz has not made any specific statements regarding the potential for another special session, but in order for the peacetime emergency to extend again, the Legislature will need to come back in mid-July. It is still too early to have a clear picture of what unresolved items may come up again in an additional special session, but bonding and police reform are both likely to be re-addressed.

Small Business Relief Grants Program

One of the first special session bills to be signed was HF5, providing $62.5 million to the Small Business Relief Grants Program. Eligible applicants will be chosen through a random computer-generated process and can receive up to $10,000. Funding distribution includes:

Half of the funding must go to businesses in greater Minnesota.
$10 million must go to minority-owned businesses, at minimum.
$2.5 million must go to veteran-owned businesses, at minimum.
$2.5 million must go to women-owned businesses, at minimum.
$2.5 million must go to operators of cultural malls, at minimum. Cultural malls are defined as “indoor retail and food markets with an ethnic cultural emphasis.” Operators of cultural malls are eligible to receive grants up to $250,000.

Applications for this program are now open and will close on July 2 at 5 p.m.

COVID-19 Local Government Aid

On June 25, Gov. Walz announced that he would allocate CARES Act funds for local governments using the arrangement that was agreed to by all four caucuses during special session. The total amount to be distributed to cities, counties and townships is $841 million.

“These funds will help make our local governments whole for the tens of millions spent on COVID-19 response and testing, purchase of personal protective equipment for front-line workers, and can be used to help keep our struggling businesses that are the anchors of Main Streets throughout Minnesota,” the House GOP wrote in a letter to Gov. Walz last week.

Counties will receive 55% of the funds, while cities and townships will receive 45%. There are different population thresholds for different amounts of funding per capita, but the agreement authorizes local governments to enter into collaborative agreements to share their aid disbursements. The funds may be spent on costs that arose from March 1, 2020 through November 15, 2020.