(The Center Square) — Gov. Tim Walz expanded his wish list to legislators for an upcoming special session. Walz marked three priorities for lawmakers to agree on: Frontline Worker Pay, drought relief, and pandemic response.
Walz’s final peacetime emergency ended in July, so he needs lawmakers onboard to make the sweeping changes on his agenda. He urged legislators to address the following 11 items:
He called for the state to follow President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 mandate and testing requirements for many long-term care workers, businesses with more than 100 employees, and teachers and school staff.
He called for consistent school requirements that help keep kids safely learning in the classroom, including parental notification of cases, isolation and quarantine. Additionally, for lawmakers to ensure that districts provide food and other essential services for students when they cannot hold in-person classes.
The GOP has pitched a plan for $250 million in bonus pay with each eligible nurse, first responders, corrections officers, long-term care workers, and hospice providers to pocket $1,200. Eligibility requires the workers couldn’t work from home, received less than one month of unemployment, and worked a minimum of 1,200 hours between March and December of 2020. There is no income cap on the proposal, and an application process would provide bonus pay as soon as the application is approved.
But the DFL said that wasn’t enough. Walz said he was ready to call a special session as soon as lawmakers reach an agreement.
Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, said he was confident lawmakers could agree on frontline worker bonus pay but called the growing wish list “not productive” to expediting that payout.
“The growing list of requests from Governor Walz is not productive towards ensuring these dedicated workers receive their bonus pay in a timely manner,” Miller said in a statement. “They took the biggest risk and kept us safe during the pandemic, and they deserve meaningful bonus checks.”
Scott McClallen
Scott McClallen is a staff writer covering Michigan and Minnesota for The Center Square. A graduate of Hillsdale College, his work has appeared on Forbes.com and FEE.org. Previously, he worked as a financial analyst at Pepsi.
