Senate jobs panel advances small-business recovery loan program, restores $250,000 for economic analysis
Loading...
Summary
The Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee voted to advance Senate File 45-35, a forgivable-loan program intended to help businesses hit by recent enforcement actions. Members restored a $250,000 economic-impact analysis and debated safeguards and the Forward Fund source.
The Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee on April 15 voted to advance Senate File 45-35 as amended, a bill creating a forgivable, zero-interest loan program aimed at Minnesota businesses affected by recent federal enforcement activity.
Senator Champion, the committee’s chair and sponsor of the bill, said the program would provide “forgivable loans with 0 interest” that give businesses “an opportunity to get their footing” and emphasized that the proposal relies on loans rather than grants, with CDFI partners and DEED screening intended to limit misuse. "We want businesses across our state to know that we care about them and that we see them," he said.
A voice vote reinstated a previously removed $250,000 appropriation to fund an economic-impact analysis after a motion to reconsider the oral amendment prevailed. A member who supported the restoration said the analysis would help assess statewide effects and urged colleagues to back the change.
Opponents pressed several concerns. Senator Pratt criticized the bill’s funding source — $100 million from the Minnesota Forward Fund — arguing the fund was designed for deals that attract private investment and warning that diverting it could reduce tools to recruit new projects. Pratt also raised broader program-integrity concerns and cited widely reported figures about fraud in recent benefit programs, saying oversight and reporting had been inadequate. "I would encourage members to vote no," he said.
Senator Champion pushed back, calling some published fraud figures unverified and noting the bill’s safeguards, including DEED review and involvement of community development financial institutions. He said prior oversight under the Promise Act had identified and stopped attempted fraud and that the loan structure gives businesses “skin in the game.”
The committee passed the bill as amended by voice vote and referred it to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration. The measure’s proponents said the loans are structured for up to five years with partial repayment provisions intended to recycle funds back into the Forward Fund when recipients make payments; the bill text ties forgiveness to a staged repayment schedule.
