Senate passes Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness, SF 263:
On the strong bipartisan vote, the Minnesota Senate passed the PPP loan forgiveness legislation. The bill was strongly supported by NFIB. Unfortunately, the House has chosen not to act quickly on this bill and negotiations continue. There are hopes that an offer to include no taxation on the federal cares act unemployment insurance benefits could be combined with the PPP loan forgiveness and an agreement could be reached.
COVID liability protection bill passes to the Senate floor, SF745:
Another top priority for NFIB, providing protection for small businesses from meritless COVID liability lawsuits has advanced to the Senate floor. However, the path forward is uncertain. NFIB is urging Senate leaders to bring this up in the session ending negotiations in May.
Renewal of critical reinsurance plan passes the Senate, SF694:
The Senate acted quickly on renewing the reinsurance plan that saved the Minnesota individual health insurance market back in 2017 and reduced and stabilized individual health insurance market premiums. No action yet in the House, however, the bill did receive a hearing and members are considering. There is one year left of federal funding included in the federal waiver for this program and hopefully the House will agree to renewing it eventually.
