Legislative Recap

​This session legislators focused on building the FY24/25 budget and historic policy changes, including creating a $72B budget and the legalization of cannabis. 
 
Hospitality Minnesota had some great wins, including securing a $250,000 grant for ProStart/HTMP to Hospitality Minnesota Education Foundation and $350,000 + 25,000 in yearly maintenance for an online hospitality training program through the University of Minnesota Extension Tourism Center. 
 
Here are some other wins on our agenda: 

• Exempted food from the new delivery fee.  
• Federal tax conformity on pandemic relief. 
• Protection of the use of lodging tax for its intended purpose. 
• Increased funding for Explore Minnesota tourism (nearly doubled). 
• Driver's Licenses for All – regardless of immigration status.  
• No changes to post-Labor Day school starts.  

 
The session was not without its challenges to businesses, here are some policies and provisions that will impact business operations in Minnesota: 

• Paid Family Medical Leave (20 weeks of leave, 0.7% payroll tax, effective Jan 1, 2026). 
• Earned Sick and Safe Time (1 hour for every 30 hours worked, effective Jan 1, 2024). 
• Non-competes and no-poach/restrictive franchise agreements rendered unenforceable.  
• Captive audience ban.  
• Metro sales tax increase of 1% effective October (to fund housing and transportation). 
• Global intangible low-taxes income (GILTI) effective tax years 2023 and beyond. 
• Changes to game interactions for electronic pull tabs.  
• Increased costs to rideshare through minimum driver compensation to Uber/Lyft drivers. 
• Retail delivery fee of $0.50 on orders $100 effective July 1, 2024 (food exempt).  
• Carbon monoxide alarms are required in all sleeping units of hotels and lodging houses by August 1, 2024. 
• Municipal hotel licensing is now allowed after August 1, 2023.  

 
We’ll cover more as we continue to review the legislation from the end of the session, but these highlights paint a picture of what is most likely to impact our industry.