Legislative Deadlines Each year the leadership of the House and Senate agree on committee deadlines. This year they are:
Leadership and Key Committee Chairs In addition to contacting your own representative and senator, plan on reaching out the leadership and key committee chairs to urge their support on our issues. They are:
Earlier this week, the HM Board approved the 2022 State Legislative Agenda. While we track hundreds of bills per session, these are key issues we anticipate working on together this session at the State level.
Yesterday, we sent a letter to legislative leaders outlining our priorities. We also sent letters to the members of the tax committees and the jobs committees. The HM Advocacy Group met this morning to discuss the state of the economic recovery and our grassroots member engagement strategy. While there will be multiple opportunities for members to engage legislators this session, we ask that you consider reaching out to the legislators representing your home and business addresses NOW and ask them to support the hospitality industry’s economic recovery through economic stimulus and workforce development solutions. Feel free to attach any of the letters or any of the materials therein. Also feel free to utilize any of the data in our December Economic Snapshot. Need more information or have other specific advocacy issues on your mind? Please contact ben@hospitalitymn.com This afternoon, Governor Walz released documents outlining his budget proposals (we've highlighted key provisions), which includes $2.7B for the UI Trust Fund. As we have requested, the governor proposes using $2.7B in state funds to pay off the UI Trust Fund debt and replenish the fund, rather than drastically increasing payroll taxes. The proposal also includes direct payments to Minnesotans, and additional payments to frontline workers, which appears to include those in foodservice. (We will follow up with the administration on whether this can include other hospitality workers).
There are tax cuts for workers with child care costs, which has become a workforce issue in recent years. There is also a proposal to expand the Dual Pipeline training program, which we would like to see expanded to hospitality. Finally, there is a proposed $170M investment in broadband, a long-term goal of our association. We are seeking more information from the administration on the details of the announcement, including the governor’s position on the tax status of RRF emergency funds, additional small business relief, and other workforce development solutions we’ve proposed. More to come. |
Capitol UpdateFollow as we advocate for the hospitality industry at the local, state and federal levels. This work has been a hallmark of the Association for decades, and will continue to be a core benefit of membership. Archives
May 2023
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