Small Businesses Share Concerns Over Paid Family Leave Program
Local business owners took to the State Capitol podium last week to express their concern for the Democrats’ one-size-fits-all Paid Family and Medical Leave bill. Here’s what they had to say:
“Right now, we’re struggling to get employees, and then knowing the cost of training and getting people up to speed, could be up to $20,000 a year just by filling positions to be with us full and part-time. I’m here to ask things to slow down and put protections into place for small businesses.”
— Jodi Theis, owner of Paws Inn Essentials, a pet store in Waconia.
“The financial impact of this bill could be very significant and leave us with less resources to compensate our employees fairly in other areas. Furthermore, with districts throughout the state already facing staffing shortages, we will be challenged to fill these potential long-term positions with quality replacements. The opportunity costs to our students with this mandate could be significant. I encourage the legislature to come together and come up with a better solution for paid leave.”
— Stillwater Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Funk.
“We’re worried that government continues to get larger and larger, it’s harder to get things done in this state.”
— Scott O’Brien, owner of O’Brien’s Public House in Shakopee and a real estate development company.
State Senator Julia Coleman (R - Chanhassen), the sponsor of the press conference, introduced a private paid leave plan bill that would give small businesses tax credits for offering paid family leave benefits. The bill had Democrat support last session but went largely ignored this session.
“The costs of this program are not limited to the $3 billion tax hike on every worker and employer in the state, it’s through unfunded mandates to our local governments and school districts which will lead to higher property taxes, and through taxpayer-funded government, growth makes it more of an unpaid leave program. Worst of all, there is no promise that if you like your paid leave plan, you can keep it. Many Minnesotans with good benefits now will see them washed away and dumped into a state-run bureaucracy. Democrats are selling this as utopia and it’s going to be more of a nightmare.”
— Senator Julia Coleman