• Federal stimulus pkg came to an agreement last night, between R and D senators. Doing analysis right now with federal liaisons in DC. Not signed yet, waiting on details. Looks to incl loan guarantees, UI benefits, direct loans to individuals…Making sure our state response compliments - and doesn't overlap too much, to use state $ wisely.
• Continuing to set up SBEL program. Should be up by Thurs or Fri, to start taking apps. Intended to bridge the gap between needing $ and federal $ coming in thru SBA.
• Hearing more economic analysis at the Governor's 2pm calls, will continue to evolve. Yesterday, went into more detail on demographics on UI apps, to see who's affected the most. 155K applied thus far, largely restaurants/bar/food prep industries.
• This is affecting more women than men, from 33% typical to 63%. High employment rates for women in leisure and food. UI is affecting younger more as well. Largest group is betw 22-29 yo. Re educational attainment, average (largest increase) is for people with 13-15 yrs educ, and college of less than 4 yr degree.
• Also looking at job vacancy rate. Some are getting creative with the downturn, so many others are hiring like mad. Will get a better picture of who's hiring, which occupations are in demand. Want to help get people into the right industries asap. To help companies respond to demand.

• Commerce regulates over 300K individuals and a number of industries. All of those regulations involve some deadlines. We've been concerned about the ability of our licensees and businesses to meet those deadlines, as well as our own ability to respond if our staff were reduced due to COVID-19, and we couldn't meet the processing times required by law.
• Working with House and Senate on language. Legislature plans to meet on Thurs to take up some emergency actions. Relatively confident that in that package will be authorization to Commere to extend/waive/stay deadlines deadlines to meet the needs of licensees as well as to ensure the continuity of the dept processes.
• If you are one of those businesses, I hope you'll contact the part of the agency you work with if you are concerned about deadlines, so we can include the right range of actions in the follow up we take if Legislature and Governor provide authority to do so.

• As other agencies have, DLI has received increase in call/email volume. Reminder: any calls/emails re workplace safety and health should go directly to OSHA. Any re wage and hour laws, child labor laws should be directed to Labor Standards Dept. Any re workplace accommodations for those with disabilities should go to MN Dept of Human Rights or EEOC. UI is handled by DEED.
• US Dept of Labor has developed its official guidance on the legislation passed last week re expanded FMLA leave, providing for paid leave for individuals for the care of children who do not have school or daycare. In addition, also included paid sick leave for individuals affected by COVID-19. Paid leave for up to 80 hours. Guidance is on US DOL website now. We have routed that info/guidance to our Labor Standards investigators and those handling the phones to help customers who contact us.
• Scott (MCCL) re question on bldg codes from yesterday, and question re inspections. 3 subjects:
• March 31 is date for all new construction codes going into effect. Residential, commercial, accessibility, mechanical, commercial energy, etc. All slated for adoption on 3/31. question: does that date need to be changed? No. Construction industry has been planning on it, designing bldgs to it. The best we can do is to keep that date established.
• A week ago +, began receiving calls from contractors: some cities have completely shut down services, so construction projects are at a standstill because they can't get inspections to keep them going. Have been following up with the cities… Some had, in fact, implemented a complete shut-down. Not many, but some. Others are still trying to get their arms around which services to continue to provide. To get all on the same page, we sent out an email to all municipalities that enforce the state bldg code, along with their city administrator, reminding them that, unless some declaration comes from the Gov, they still need to maintain services for code enforcement. If they are reducing services, must call us to share their thinking. Got lots of calls from cities, grateful for the direction and expressing their concern about going into certain occupancies… could they use alternative technology such as live video feeds, photographs? We said of course, and inspections could be delayed if not critical. 150 municipalities contacted us, got them comfortable with procedures. Did something similar with contractors and homeowners. Letter to construction assns: if any contractors have problem getting inspections, gave them a direct # to call. Received less than a dozen calls, have been able to resolve all of them. To be clear, we have not communicated to cities to put themselves in harm's way, but they can't just close their doors (though some tried, limiting themselves to just police and fire). They now ARE keeping minimum services going. Need to be responsive to the construction industry.
• Question re whether or not we would view municipal inspectors as some sort of essential service. Not my decision to make. But, in the event of Shelter in Place declaration, we believe municipal inspectors still need to be available to provide emergency inspections for repairs: furnace goes out, pipes freeze, emergency services on health care facilities... Would need some minimum inspections to keep that process going.
• Folks can access our webpage for contractors and municipal officials to see what we've sent out. And calls have dropped off from municipalities. They seem to have found their comfort level for moving forward.

1. UI: according to EO 20-05, UI benefits paid and computing future UI tax rate of an employer, one chamber mbr has been told he has to contest each UI claim in order to avoid increase in future pymts. Is this true? Darielle: some folks had UI claims happening before the order… our team is doing a lot of this manually. The bigger thing is: be patient with us, processing a lot of claims/apps/benefits right now. We'll work with you to resolve that, after the initial flood is addressed. This happened mostly before the EO, so please be patient.
2. UI: co acquired another co within the last year, and grandfathered employees to their benefits using their original employment start dates. Are we to use grandfathered or "new" employment date for benefits? Can you waive the 1-year minimum for employees to qualify? Grove: encourage application to Shared Work program, to get response. These cases are so individual, don't want to respond globally here. Re the 1-year minimum for employees to qualify, not yet considered but will evaluate. Darielle: email address for Shared Work - team is processing apps and answering emails. Ask them directly. Frees up phone lines for cust svc and non-English speakers.
3. Bars/rest closed but have unused inventory of liquor. Can they sell the product, temp off premises licensing? Has helped in Fargo… Kelly: Is Dept of Safety question. DLI doesn't address either. Will get answer this week.
4. Can landlords get further info re EO prohibiting eviction of renters? Was well intentioned but are dealing with some renters who have ability to pay but who are NOT, taking advantage of the EO. This is creating hardship on the landlord. Grove: best for MHFA to address. This is a fresh issue. All kinds of tricky cases. Of course the EO was intended to ensure people weren't on the streets in this difficult time. That was the spirit of the order. Will look for more guidance for you. Kelly: we recognize potential domino effect. In communications with financial institutions, to ensure they are taking flexible approaches to their borrowers. To the extent that those landlords are impacted by temporary cash flow issues, should be having an early conversation with their lenders to get accommodations re their financing. No outcome is guaranteed, but lenders have been indicating to us they are prepared to ww their customers to postpone negative effects. Email mnhousing.portfolio@state.mn.us.
5. For Commerce: many co's have asked if liability insurance policies will provide coverage for COVID-19. Are you considering adding this peril to insurance documents at state or federal level? Kelly: don't know if it would be liability coverage. Have had numerous questions re business interruption insurance in property and casualty coverage. Many of those policies we've seen so far limit the coverage for interruption to instances of physical damage from, say, a tornado. After earlier rounds of virus issues in the past, many policies have exclusions for losses caused by virus. At least in standard policies we've seen, in most cases the businesses interruption insurance does not cover this situation. Read your policy carefully and discuss with your agent. Some may have it, so it's hard to draw blanket conclusion.
6. Business in my city would like to be connected to someone helping him distribute ventilators. He has 1000/week. where should he go? Grove: we hear so many offers of help, this is a great one. State Emergency Operations Ctr has set this up. Email hsem.ppp@state.mn.us. Taking in all private sector offers for assistance, and team will respond quickly.
7. Clarification on Families First, specifically for 50 employees for less. Are we automatically exempt or must we apply for a waiver? Blissenbach: expanded FMLA Expansion Act and Paid Sick Leave applies to employers with fewer than 500 empl. US DOL can give an exemption for hardship to employers with 50 or fewer employees. Is not automatic, go thru US DOL exemption process. Go to their website for more info. Legislation says there must be specific outline of hardship if the employer otherwise would provide those benefits outlined in federal legislation.