ARTICLE 1 – JOBS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Section 1.  Appropriations.

Section 2.  Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Subdivision 2.  Business and Community Development.  Appropriates $2,000,000 in fiscal year 2019 from the general fund for the redevelopment grant and demolition loan programs.

Subdivision 3.  Broadband Development.  Appropriates $15,000,000 in fiscal year 2019 from the general fund for broadband development.

Subdivision 4.  Workforce Development.  Appropriates $25,000 in fiscal year 2019 from the workforce development fund to the Cook County Higher Education Board to provide education programming and academic support.

Section 3.  Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals.  Appropriates $33,000 in fiscal year 2019 from the workers’ compensation fund for salary adjustments for judges at the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals.

ARTICLE 2 – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Section 1.  Qualified job training program.  Removes program requirement relating to average length of a training course, clarifies age upon date of enrollment, and modifies income and asset guidelines for participation in the program. Sections 1 and 2 are from S.F. 2629 (Draheim).

Section 2.  Duties of program.  Removes reporting requirements specific to the job training program and clarifies that reporting shall be consistent with other workforce programs through the uniform outcome measurement and reporting system.

Section 3.  Use of money.  Restricts spending, appropriations, or transfers from the Douglas J. Johnson economic protection trust fund to only those listed in section 298.292. This is from S.F. 2915 (Eichorn).

Section 4.  Business and Community Development.  Amends appropriations in Laws 2017 for the Minnesota investment fund by reducing the appropriation in fiscal year 2019 and specifying that $1,000,000 in fiscal year 2019 is for a lactic acid production initiative.  Specifies that $1,500,000 in fiscal year 2019 is for a forgivable loan to a paper mill.   

Section 5.  Workforce Development.  Amends appropriations in Laws 2017 to extend availability of funds for an American Indian workforce development training pilot project. This is from S.F. 3769 (Bakk).

Section 6.  Public Facilities Authority.  Amends appropriations in Laws 2017 by extending availability for a grant to the Clear Lake - Clearwater Sewer Authority.

ARTICLE 3 – LABOR AND INDUSTRY

Section 1.  Grant awards.  Clarifies that the commissioner of labor and industry shall award the youth skills training grants to local partnerships located throughout the state, with a cap of $100,000 per grant, and that the commissioner may use part of the appropriation for administration of the grant program. Increases the appropriation to the youth skills training program to $1,000,000 (from $500,000) each year beginning in fiscal year 2020. Sections 1 and 5 are from S.F. 3157 (Anderson, P.).

Section 2.  Accessibility; public buildings.  Specifies that the state building code must require new public buildings and existing public buildings, when remodeled, to be accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. This is from S.F. 3558 (Draheim).

Sections 3 and 4.  Manufactured home installers; fees.  Modifies the licensing fee provisions for manufactured home installers to be consistent with other fee reductions and licensing changes made in 2017. This is from S.F. 3378 (Draheim).

Section 5.  General support.  Amends appropriations in Laws 2017 for the youth skills training program to reflect that five percent of the appropriation may be used by the commissioner of labor and industry for administration and to increase the base amount for the program to $1,000,000 per year beginning in 2020.

ARTICLE 4 – WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

Section 1.  Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals and compensation judges.  Increases the salaries of the judges and the chief judge in the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals. This is from S.F. 3630 (Dibble).

Section 2.  Retired judges. Allows judges retired from the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals or the Office of Administrative Hearings to hear cases when there are not enough judges available for a quorum to hear a case before the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals. Sections 2 to 4 are recommendations from the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council and contained in S.F. 3630 (Utke).  

Section 3.  Uses that may be made of reports.  Specifies who has access, with and without an authorization, to workers’ compensation reports of injury filed with the commissioner of labor and industry.

Section 4.  Coordination of the Office of Administrative Hearings’ case management system and the workers’ compensation imaging system.  Governs coordination of the case management system and the workers’ compensation imaging system pending completion of the modernization program. Provides that documents related to a workers’ compensation dispute that require action by the Office of Administrative Hearings must be filed with the office as provided by the chief administrative law judge. Specifies the documents that must be filed with the commissioner of labor and industry. Provides that documents filed with the department of labor and industry under Chapter 176 (workers’ compensation) are private data on individuals and nonpublic data except that documents are available to: the office and the department, the parties to the workers’ compensation claim, intervenors in a dispute, attorneys to a party in a dispute, a person who has written authorization from a party to the workers’ compensation claim, and as otherwise allowed by law.   

ARTICLE 5 – UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ADVISORY COUNCIL; POLICY

Section. 1.  Multi-state employment.  Clarifies when employers must pay Minnesota unemployment taxes on employees that also work in other states. Amends terms used in the section to assist with clarification. Articles 5 through 9 are from S.F. 2565 (Isaacson).

Section 2.  Coverage for J-1 Visa holders.  Adds J-1 Visa holders to the types of employment that are considered “non-covered employment.”

Section 3.  Unemployment insurance tax reduction.  Makes technical clarifications on application of a tax reduction mechanism to businesses that have experienced a change in business structure.

ARTICLE 6 – UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ADVISORY COUNCIL; INTEREST

Sections 1 and 2.  Interest.  Clarify that interest on amounts past due will only be charged on unpaid principal, not on interest that has already accrued or other fees or penalties. Specify that interest is assessed at a rate of one percent per month or any part of a month.

ARTICLE 7 – UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ADVISORY COUNCIL; BASE PERIODS

Sections 1 and 2.  Base period.  Makes clear that the base period for the first month of each quarter does not include the most recently completed calendar quarter.

ARTICLE 8 – UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ADVISORY COUNCIL; HOUSEKEEPING

Section. 1.  Employment.  Addresses a request from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding traveling salespeople by incorporating a reference to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.

Section 2.  Failure to timely report; late fees.  Adds a cross-reference to the statute authorizing compromise authority. 

Section 3.  Exceptions for taxpaying employers.  Clarifies the duration of “relief of charges,” by providing that the relief ends if an employer hires back a separated employee and employment relationship starts over.

Section 4.  Garnishment.  Clarifies language concerning garnishments.

Section 5.  Payments that delay unemployment benefits.  Clarifies when vacation or sick payments, which delay unemployment benefits, are considered effective.

Section 6.  Workers’ compensation and disability insurance offset.  Makes clarifications regarding application of the offset.

Section 7.  Leave of absence.  Clarifies that leaves of absence are not considered discharges or quits.  

Section 8.  Employment misconduct.  Eliminates “substantial lack of concern” from the definition of employment misconduct.

Section 10.  Aggravated employment misconduct.  Codifies a court decision regarding how the unemployment insurance program should evaluate criminal charges and convictions in determining aggravated misconduct.

ARTICLE 9 – UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ADVISORY COUNCIL; TECHNICAL

Sections 1 to 13 provide technical corrections regarding electronic transactions, computation of experience ratings, reimbursement elections, cancellation of amounts due, compromise authority, misrepresentation, representation and fees, notification to applicants and priority of debt, and remedies; Revisor instructions; and an effective date for Articles 5 to 9.

CDF/syl