Scott Hennen’s interview with State Senator Rob Kupec
Scott Hennen’s interview with State Representative Jim Joy
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota state lawmakers with districts in Clay and Becker counties have different views on Minnesota’s paid family leave law.
DFL State Senator Rob Kupec of Moorhead says despite some concerns from lawmakers and small business owners, he believes Minnesota’s paid family and medical leave law should go into effect starting next year. GOP State Representative Jim Joy of Hawley says of every person and business owner who has called him on the program, none of them have been in favor of it.
The plan offers up to 20 weeks of leave per year for eligible employees for family and medical reasons. Employers will fund paid leave benefit accounts managed by the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development through a new payroll tax of 0.88 percent which was amended from the originally stated 0.7 percent. The paid leave law requires employers pay at least half of their annual paid leave premiums with the option to deduct the other half from employees’ wages as long as it doesn’t reduce employees’ pay below minimum wage. The program also creates 400 new state jobs. Joy says the budget for them is $16 million a year.
Some lawmakers want the plan, which was signed into law by Governor Tim Walz last year, to be delayed by one year. A bill to do that, sponsored by Republican State Representative Dave Baker of Willmar, is in front of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Kupec says when he was running for Senate in 2022 he pushed for paid family and medical leave. He adds everyone he’s talked with in the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development Department says they are ready for paid family medical leave to be implemented January 1, 2026.
“I don’t really see a need to delay it a year if they’re ready to get going and hit the ground running. I think we should go ahead,” Kupec said.
The senator adds the plan would help families considering abortion.
“We know the number one reason that people decide that people don’t want to continue with a pregnancy is economic reasons. Most of these people already have two kids on average. If we give them a way to help them economically, they may make a different decision with their life,” Kupec explained.
Kupec says he has heard concerns from small businesses in Clay and Becker counties about finding an employee to take the place of another on paid family medical leave. He adds there is grant money from the state to help.
Joy, who owns a gas station in Hawley, says businesses are already struggling with inflation and rising minimum wages every year and they can’t afford the paid family medical leave program. He wants it delayed saying that’s not the same thing as cutting it.
Joy adds 30 employees out of 400 proposed for the program have been hired so far. He’s concerned the computer system they’re using could be out of date.
The representative is also concerned with Minnesota’s budget which is set to be forecasted Thursday by the state. Last year Minnesota had an $18.5 billion surplus. This year it was forecasted to be $616 million. Joy is concerned the DFL majority Legislature didn’t fund roads or bridges last year, but instead raised taxes by $10 million and grew government by 40 percent.
