DFLers on the Jobs Committee made investments across the entire state, supporting programs and organizations in our urban, suburban, exurban, and rural communities. These investments will have far-reaching immediate and long-term impacts and will benefit workers and communities in every corner of the state. As a package, these efforts had broad bipartisan support, leaving the committee on a unanimous voice vote.
The impact of the Jobs bill extends far beyond numbers on a spreadsheet. Among other benefits, it provides additional needed support for workers facing layoffs, maintains hard- fought gains for the Family Leave program, provides money to continue replacing lead service lines to homes, supports an equine-therapy program for first-responders suffering from PTSD, and includes new good-government oversight measures on top of those enacted in 2023 to help ensure that state investments are not stolen.
Highlights of the Jobs portion of the 2025 Job-Labor Omnibus include:
- A healthy increase in Workforce Development Fund via a $25 million transfer from the General Fund.
- Extended unemployment benefits to certain iron ore miners once their regular benefit eligibility expires.
- Adding flexibility to the Minnesota Forward Fund so that state resources are not dependent on federal matching funds, so our entrepreneurs and business owners continue to grow, innovate, and provide jobs.
- A report on the cost of fraudulent misclassification of workers.
- Creating scholarships for childcare teachers and workers. Funds almost 200 scholarships for kids of childcare workers (no more than $5k per scholarship) and designates money for Economic Area 3 inNE MN (the Arrowhead)
- $3 million for lead service line replacement in FY 2026-27.
- Creating a task force on competitive grants.
- Ongoing funding for Promise Act recipients so organizations can be fully prepared for using funds and better plan for the future.
- Helped bail out DEED: provided $5 million for VRS, which will help prevent some layoffs in this program.
- Reversing cuts to MN Tourism in the House version of the bill. (The House proposed to completely cut the MN Film office.)
- Requiring additional reporting requirements from grantees to help assure public investments are spent wisely.
- The bill did not include the Governor’s proposed cuts to Individual Placement and Support services, which help people with mental illness find and keep a job
Direct investments in jobs and economic growth include
- Continued funding for the PROMISE Act – for targeted neighborhood development funds tocommunities and historically disinvested businesses across the state.
- Because of changes in the bill, more entrepreneurs will be eligible for Promise Act grants and loans.
- Bipartisan funds to provide employment opportunities and services for people with disabilities.
- A bipartisan provision providing funding for workforce development programming at the AmericanIndian Opportunities and Industrialization Center.
- Bipartisan funding to support and expand workforce development programming and services at Hired,including efforts to connect lower-skilled job seekers to entry- level and gateway jobs in high-growthsectors.
- Bipartisan provision to provide funding for the Minnesota STEM Ecosystem, a statewide network that connects regional STEM networks with resources and ideas from across the state.
- Bipartisan funding to provide career education, wraparound support services, and job skills training in high-demand health care fields.
- Funds will help low-income parents, nonnative speakers of English, and others build secure pathways out of poverty while also addressing worker shortages in one of Minnesota’s most innovative industries.
- Bipartisan funding to provide technical assistance tailored to the needs of individual communities that could not otherwise afford such services.
Other policy provisions and technical changes in the final Omnibus
- Allow DEED commissioner to designate someone to serve on the Job Skills Partnership Board
- Expand the youth-at-work grant program to include pre-employment services and mentoring
- Lower minimum loan amount for the community wealth building program from $50,000 to $10,000.
- Allow non-postsecondary degrees to be counted for workforce outcomes.
- Modify 2023 appropriation to online hospitality program so outcome reporting is not required.
- Modify the CanStartup loan program by increasing the maximum state contribution to a loan and making other administrative clarifications.
- Modify the CanTrain program at the request of DEED to only make grants to organizations.
- Adopt extensions of 2023 appropriations:
- Drive for 5 until 6/30/27
- Launch MN admin until 6/30/26
- Small business assistance partnership until 6/30/26
- CanNavigate until 6/30/27
- CanTrain until 6/30/27
Other organizations and programs receiving support:
Nearly 60 programs or organizations throughout the state received direct support that will help them continue to provide workforce training, youth programming, business and entrepreneur development assistance, and targeted support for job skills and other training in communities across the state.
Expanding and Strengthening Workplace Protections
House and Senate Republicans’ primary goals entering the 2025 session was to tear down critical expansions in worker’s rights, protections, and benefits passed under the DFL trifecta- attacking the Paid Family and Medical Leave program, Earned Sick and Safe Time Law, the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, and the ban on Non-Compete Agreements.
Senate DFLers led the way to protect these programs- funding wage increases supported by the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, blocking any changes to the ban on Non- Compete agreements, and accepting just minimal changes to the PFML and ESST laws.
Key Labor Provisions:
Strengthening Mandatory Breaks Laws
SF 17 contains provisions to strengthen and clarify Minnesota’s mandatory break laws. Minnesota statute currently states that an employer must allow each employee “adequate” time within each four hours of work to utilize the restroom and “sufficient” time to eat a meal at least once in a shift that is eight hours or more.
SF 17 will change these standards to a restroom break or other rest break of at least 15 minutes once every four hours and a meal break of at least 30 minutes once every six hours. This proposal does not change requirements that rest breaks be paid and that meal breaks are not required to be paid.
The labor bill also modifies the Department of Labor and Industry’s penalty authority for enforcing mandatory break laws. Current law only allows DLI to issue penalties for repeated or willful violations. The bill would make an employer liable to the employee for the rest break that should have been provided at their rate of pay plus liquidated damages of an equal amount.
Construction Codes Fee Modifications
The Labor budget will increase permit, inspection, and plan review fees within the department’s Construction Codes and Licensing Division. Current fees assessed in a number of areas are inadequate to fund the costs of providing services, which can be seen in declining balances in the construction codes fund and delays in plan review and approval timelines.
The final version of this proposal has broad stakeholder support (with some parties neutral) and no known opposition, as the proposal is expected to improve processing and approval speeds, helping construction and maintenance projects to move forward with fewer and shorter delays.
Expanded Authority for Enjoining and Restraining Orders
SF 17 contains language to expand DLI’s ability to file for enjoining or restraining orders- functionally expanding rapid response tools that allows DLI to force immediate change for violations of labor laws. The Department currently has this authority for violations of child labor laws and has used this authority to force immediate compliance with child labor regulations as litigation is still ongoing.
The proposed change would expand this authority to additional labor and employment violations, including violations related to minimum wage, overtime protections, mandatory break requirements, payment of prevailing wages, earned sick and safe time, worker misclassification, and more. This expanded authority would allow DLI to support the worker in asserting their rights and protections immediately. If Labor enforcement is required to go through a full court process to see corrections, that may lead to increased worker harm. For example, in situations like alleged violations of workplace pregnancy accommodation protections, a process to enforce violations that takes two years means worker rights could continue to be violated throughout the worker’s entire pregnancy.
Funding Lead Service Line Replacements
In 2023, the legislature created a lead service line removal and replacement program that is jointly administered by the Public Facilities Authority and MDH. The program seeks to identify, map, and fund the removal and replacement of lead service lines, which are a substantial environmental and public health concern in a number of states. The program received $240 million in state funding and Minnesota will also receive an estimated $342 million in federal funds to support LSL replacement.
MDH estimates that there are approximately 100,000 lead service lines in Minnesota, with an estimated total cost to remove and replace all lines of $1 billion. SF 17 contains $3 million in additional funding for the lead service line removal and replacement program. This amount is a separate line item within the global budget agreement and is an addition to the Jobs and Labor budget areas contained in the bill.