SF40 makes additional unemployment benefits available from the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. These benefits are specifically for applicants who were laid off due to lack of work between April 3, 2022 and March 4, 2023 and worked in the mining industry.
The Minnesota State Senate passed SF40 on January 12, 2023 by a vote of 56 to 10. We have assigned pluses to the nays because it is not the government’s responsibility under the constitution to provide safety nets for those who are struggling. Even so, providing additional unemployment benefits exclusively to individuals who were laid off from the mining industry during a specific timeframe discriminates against other unemployed individuals who were not employed in the mining industry during that period.