Minnesota Lawmakers Strike Deal on Unemployment Benefits, COVID-19 Business Relief

(AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – As they gavel in for a special session, Minnesota lawmakers have a deal to send $216 million in cash relief to businesses and give a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits to ease the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re going to pass a bill today,” said state Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, one of the lead negotiators.

The unemployment extension will be a lifeline for 100,000 to 125,000 Minnesotans whose benefits are set to end later this month. The extension will last from Dec. 27 through mid-April, Baker told reporters.

The business relief package was announced late last week.

Businesses will be eligible for the grants even if they defy Gov. Tim Walz’s closure order and open this week, as some are planning to do regardless of what the governor announces Wednesday.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is urging Walz to allow thousands of gyms, restaurants, bars, and other businesses to reopen this weekend after his closure order ends Friday.

Lawmakers will not relax Minnesota’s liquor laws to allow takeout growler sales, as executives from the craft brewery industry had been hoping, Baker said.

The relief deal comes hours after the first shipment of coronavirus vaccines arrived in Minnesota. Walz said nearly 3,000 vaccines had been trucked via FedEx to the Minneapolis Veterans Administration hospital and some would be administered within 24-48 hours.

The Legislature is scheduled to gavel in at 3 p.m. for the seventh special session of the year.