Democrats show discord over rollbacks of paid family leave, other past priorities

After two years of banding together to pass a slate of Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party priorities, fractures are showing among lawmakers over rollbacks of measures they passed under full DFL control in St. Paul.

Those disagreements could delay or potentially stall out final negotiations over a two-year state budget. The prospect of an on-time finish to the session is already dimming as the May 19 adjournment deadline nears and much remains to be done.

Moderate members of the DFL have sided with Republicans to advance efforts to exempt some businesses to a pair of programs designed to give workers guaranteed time off. They are covered by the relatively new earned sick and safe time law and the soon-to-launch paid family and medical leave program. 

Both were priority policies for Democrats in 2023 and passed with few votes to spare. But now DFL lawmakers from political swing districts say they want exemptions to relieve some of the financial burden on smaller employers.

Members of the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus on Thursday said they’re not willing to budge over those exemptions or efforts to pare back benefits for hourly school workers or expanded health care options for immigrants in Minnesota without proper documentation.

“We're trying to protect Minnesotans,” Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, DFL-St. Paul, said. “And so what we're saying is ‘These are the things that are not negotiable.”

Lawmakers are rapidly approaching their constitutionally required adjournment deadline but haven’t yet struck a global budget framework. That is needed to help guide how much the state government spends on education, health programs, public safety and other services. 

The proposed changes to the earned sick and safe time, paid family and medical leave, school worker unemployment insurance and health insurance access laws have been sticking points between Republicans and Democrats.

Members of the POCI Caucus and advocacy groups that pushed for the changes in 2023 have held news conferences and rallies aiming to highlight the value of the services. They’re hoping to pressure Democrats who have backed rollbacks.

Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, sponsored a bill that limits the number of businesses that would have to offer paid family and medical leave benefits spelled out in state law. The program is set to launch in January. Frentz, a head of the new Blue Dog Coalition in the Senate, said he expects that he and other Democrats from politically purple districts would support that effort. 

A handful of moderate Democrats voted with Republicans this week to limit businesses required to offer earned sick and safe time, the program that gives employees better access to accrued time off to deal with short-term illness or family emergencies.

“The Blue Dog coalition was founded with a couple ideas, a little more bipartisanship, a little more fiscal responsibility, and I think we'll stick to that to the finish line,” he said.

He noted too that the fate of the paid leave bill – and others – now lies in the hands of legislative leaders. They are writing the global agreement and chair committees that could decide whether bills move to a floor vote or get shelved.

Republicans have sought exemptions for the programs. They see full elimination of the MinnesotaCare benefits for undocumented people as a must-have in the budget negotiations.

“The elections changed the (DFL) trifecta here, and we take that very seriously,” Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, said. “That has to be part of the final negotiations before we wrap up our session this year.”

DFL Gov. Tim Walz has a powerful say in those budget talks. He said he’s open to potential compromises when it comes to revisiting the newly enacted policies. 

“If some of those things are being asked to make modifications to, as long as the spirit and the impact that we get out of them remains the same,” Walz said this week. “We're always willing to try and make some tweaks around them.”

Walz drew a clearer line on the proposal eliminating MinnesotaCare for people lacking legal immigration status. He said morally he thinks it’s important to ensure people in the country without proper documentation can access care – especially kids. Without it, he said the costs could be borne by others because hospitals can’t turn away people seeking emergency care.

Rep. Esther Agbaje, DFL-Minneapolis, is a co-chair of the POCI Caucus. She said so far House DFL leaders have heard concerns about maintaining benefits established over the last two years. 

“Folks are still talking and they are also listening to us. They're also hearing us,” Agbaje said. “So we will see what comes from that. But what we want to do is make sure that the real stories of real impacted people are out there, to make sure that that's part of the conversation as well.”

On at least one issue, Democrats were able to divert a budget bill with a provision that they opposed. Co-chairs of the House Education Finance and Policy Committee struck a deal on a bill funding schools from preschool through high school. It moved through their committee and another key panel last week before hitting a wall. Democrats opposed efforts to take it up for a floor vote and it was ultimately paused.

DFL members said they wouldn’t support the bill if it contained a proposal to sunset a program in 2028 that now provides unemployment benefits for hourly school workers like school bus drivers, paraprofessionals and janitors during summer school breaks.

“It would be very disappointing to have our budget bill stalled because of a policy that was put in, especially a policy that wouldn't come into effect for four years and along the way, does not save our districts any money,” said Rep. Cheryl Youakim, the DFL co-chair on the committee. “So hopefully we'll get this straightened out and we can move forward.”

If lawmakers don’t approve a budget before July 1, the state would face a government shutdown.

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