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Senate finance panel trims required misclassification study, restores apprenticeship funding in jobs omnibus
Summary
The Minnesota Senate Finance Committee adopted an amendment that removes a mandatory biannual misclassification fraud impact report and restored the corresponding funds to the Department of Labor and Industry’s apprenticeship program. The committee also adopted an amendment requiring notification and reporting on STEM ecosystem subgrants.
The Minnesota Senate Finance Committee adopted amendments to the jobs omnibus bill that remove a statutorily required, biannual misclassification fraud impact report and reallocated the funding to apprenticeship programs.
Senator Jerry Champion, chairing the committee’s portion of the jobs bill work, offered A76. Megan Bursch, fiscal analyst supporting the labor committee, told the panel that “the A76 amendment removes the requirement that DLI, DEED, and DOR complete a biannual misclassification fraud impact analysis and report, and adds permission for them to complete the analysis.” Bursch also explained the budget change: A76 removes corresponding appropriations of $555,000 in the 2026–27 biennium and $320,000 in the 2028–29 biennium from the workforce development fund and increases appropriations for the DLI apprenticeship division by an equivalent amount, a net-zero change within DLI and the workforce development fund.
Senator Draheim objected that the amendment weakened oversight. Draheim said the original report language was “quite lengthy” and expressed concern that the pared-down language did not specify who would perform or review the analysis. Draheim warned she planned to offer an amendment on the Senate floor to add clarity. Champion responded that the money was being returned to apprenticeship programs and that committee staff and members, including Senator McEwen, would continue the conversation about clarifying language.
The committee adopted A76 by voice vote. Champion later offered an amendment (initially A77, later printed as A79) from Senator Draheim that would require the Minnesota STEM ecosystem to notify the commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development prior to issuing any subgrants and to include a summary of subgrants in the program report. Senator Draheim described the change as intended to “just be informed who’s getting the money” rather than to create an onerous approval process. Committee members treated the STEM-notification language as friendly and adopted the printed amendment (A79) without roll-call.
With those technical and conforming changes adopted, Senator Champion moved Senate File 1832 as amended; the committee agreed by voice vote and sent the jobs omnibus toward the floor.
The changes adopted adjust reporting and the allocation of already-budgeted funds rather than creating new net spending. Several senators asked for follow-up language or future floor amendments to clarify who will be responsible for any voluntary analyses and what data or standards would be used.
The committee moved on after adopting the amendments; the jobs omnibus portion closed without a roll-call vote recorded in the transcript.
