INSIDE THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Feature
Rep. Andy Smith
Sen. Carla Nelson
DISTRICT 25B
DISTRICT 24
What is an outcome from the 2023 Legislative Session that will have a significant impact on the Rochester area business community? We have done some incredible work this legislative session. The two I will highlight here is our historic bonding, transportation, and housing budget bills. The first two will bring construction projects and jobs to our area, while our Housing budget bill addresses a key need for Rochester by providing more public funds for affordable housing. What is a notable or key accomplishment from the session? There are so many great accomplishments this session, but I think the biggest one is Paid Family & Medical Leave. This landmark legislation will make small businesses more competitive in the talent wars, support small business owners, and bring more workers back into the workforce.
What is an outcome from the 2023 Legislative Session that will have a significant impact on the Rochester area business community? There were laudable goals for the 2023 Legislative Session, however, much of this could have been accomplished in a better way. Forced mandates and increased taxes will impact the Rochester business community. Minnesota is a high tax island; now exacerbated by $9B in new taxes. This is even more difficult to understand with our $18B existing surplus. These are regressive taxes that hit middle- and low-income Minnesotans the hardest leading to economic development challenges in the future. Throughout this Session, I voiced my concern for the new Paid Family Medical Leave payroll tax that adds undue burden to small businesses in our state as well as disrupts many current paid leave programs- making it harder & inflexible for employers to meet their employee’s needs. There was a better way: utilizing a private market solution of authorizing family leave insurance and tax incentives for businesses to provide these benefits to employees. What is a notable or key accomplishment from the session? Coming into the 2023 Legislative Session, we continued to face a crisis with nursing homes in our state. For much of the Session, this crisis went unaddressed, however I am relieved we were able to utilize budget negotiations to be a voice for our aging populations who desperately needed our help. I was glad to support $300 Million in new funding for nursing homes, so they won’t continue to risk closure. Along with this new funding, I secured a historic infrastructure package for our state that included roughly $42 Million for the Dodge and Olmsted County region. This new funding will bring jobs, economic growth, and much-needed infrastructure investments to our region.
JUNE 2023 — ROCHESTER AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ADVANTAGE MAGAZINE | 7
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