HF 1345

as introduced - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to employment; requiring reporting of job
movement throughout Minnesota prompted by business
subsidies; requiring reporting under the state
dislocated worker program and the unemployment
insurance program about the termination and
outsourcing of employment; amending Minnesota Statutes
2004, sections 116J.994, subdivisions 7, 9; 116L.17,
subdivision 2; 268.044, subdivision 1.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 116J.994,
subdivision 7, is amended to read:

Subd. 7.

Reports by recipients to grantors.

(a) A
business subsidy grantor must monitor the progress by the
recipient in achieving agreement goals.

(b) A recipient must provide information regarding goals
and results for two years after the benefit date or until the
goals are met, whichever is later. If the goals are not met,
the recipient must continue to provide information on the
subsidy until the subsidy is repaid. The information must be
filed on forms developed by the commissioner in cooperation with
representatives of local government. Copies of the completed
forms must be sent to the local government agency that provided
the subsidy or to the commissioner if the grantor is a state
agency. If the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board is
the grantor, the copies must be sent to the board. The report
must include:

(1) the type, public purpose, and amount of subsidies and
type of district, if the subsidy is tax increment financing;

(2) the hourly wage of each job created with separate bands
of wages;

(3) the sum of the hourly wages and cost of health
insurance provided by the employer with separate bands of wages;

(4) the date the job and wage goals will be reached;

(5) a statement of goals identified in the subsidy
agreement and an update on achievement of those goals;

(6) the location of the recipient prior to receiving the
business subsidy;

(7) new text begin the number of employees who ceased to be employed by
the recipient when the recipient relocated to become eligible
for the business subsidy;
new text end

new text begin (8) new text end why the recipient did not complete the project outlined
in the subsidy agreement at their previous location, if the
recipient was previously located at another site in Minnesota;

deleted text begin (8) deleted text end new text begin (9) new text end the name and address of the parent corporation of
the recipient, if any;

deleted text begin (9) deleted text end new text begin (10) new text end a list of all financial assistance by all grantors
for the project; and

deleted text begin (10) deleted text end new text begin (11) new text end other information the commissioner may request.

A report must be filed no later than March 1 of each year for
the previous year. The local agency and the Iron Range
Resources and Rehabilitation Board must forward copies of the
reports received by recipients to the commissioner by April 1.

(c) Financial assistance that is excluded from the
definition of "business subsidy" by section 116J.993,
subdivision 3, clauses (4), (5), (8), and (16), is subject to
the reporting requirements of this subdivision, except that the
report of the recipient must include instead:

(1) the type, public purpose, and amount of the financial
assistance, and type of district if the assistance is tax
increment financing;

(2) progress towards meeting goals stated in the assistance
agreement and the public purpose of the assistance;

(3) if the agreement includes job creation, the hourly wage
of each job created with separate bands of wages;

(4) if the agreement includes job creation, the sum of the
hourly wages and cost of health insurance provided by the
employer with separate bands of wages;

(5) the location of the recipient prior to receiving the
assistance; and

(6) other information the grantor requests.

(d) If the recipient does not submit its report, the local
government agency must mail the recipient a warning within one
week of the required filing date. If, after 14 days of the
postmarked date of the warning, the recipient fails to provide a
report, the recipient must pay to the grantor a penalty of $100
for each subsequent day until the report is filed. The maximum
penalty shall not exceed $1,000.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 116J.994,
subdivision 9, is amended to read:

Subd. 9.

Compilation and summary report.

The Department
of Employment and Economic Development must publish a
compilation and summary of the results of the reports for the
previous two calendar years by December 1 of 2004 and every
other year thereafter. The reports of the government agencies
to the department and the compilation and summary report of the
department must be made available to the public.

The commissioner must coordinate the production of reports
so that useful comparisons across time periods and across
grantors can be made. The commissioner may add other
information to the report as the commissioner deems necessary to
evaluate business subsidies. Among the information in the
summary and compilation report, the commissioner must include:

(1) total amount of subsidies awarded in each development
region of the state;

(2) distribution of business subsidy amounts by size of the
business subsidy;

(3) distribution of business subsidy amounts by time
category;

(4) distribution of subsidies by type and by public
purpose;

(5) percent of all business subsidies that reached their
goals;

(6) percent of business subsidies that did not reach their
goals by two years from the benefit date;

(7) total dollar amount of business subsidies that did not
meet their goals after two years from the benefit date;

(8) percent of subsidies that did not meet their goals and
that did not receive repayment;

(9) list of recipients that have failed to meet the terms
of a subsidy agreement in the past five years and have not
satisfied their repayment obligations;

(10) number of part-time and full-time jobs within separate
bands of wages new text begin for the entire state and for each development
region of the state new text end ; deleted text begin and
deleted text end

(11) benefits paid within separate bands of wages new text begin for the
entire state and for each development region of the state; and
new text end

new text begin (12) number of employees in the entire state and in each
development region of the state who ceased to be employed
because their employers relocated to become eligible for a
business subsidy new text end .

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 116L.17,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Grants.

The board shall make grants to
workforce service areas or other eligible organizations to
provide services to dislocated workers as follows:

(a) The board shall allocate funds available for the
purposes of this section in its discretion to respond to
substantial layoffs and plant closings.

(b) The board shall regularly allocate funds to provide
services to individual dislocated workers or small groups. The
initial allocation for this purpose must be 50 percent of the
deposits and transfers into the workforce development fund, less
any collection costs paid out of the fund and any amounts
appropriated by the legislature from the workforce development
fund for programs other than the state dislocated worker program.

(c) Following the initial allocation, the board may
consider additional allocations to provide services to
individual dislocated workers. The board's decision to allocate
additional funds shall be based on relevant economic indicators
including: the number of substantial layoffs to date, notices
of substantial layoffs for the remainder of the fiscal year,
evidence of declining industries, the number of permanently
separated individuals applying for unemployment benefits by
workforce service area, and the number of individuals exhausting
unemployment benefits by workforce service area. The board must
also consider expenditures of allocations to workforce service
areas under paragraph (b) made during the first two quarters of
the fiscal year and federal resources that have been or are
likely to be allocated to Minnesota for the purposes of serving
dislocated workers affected by substantial layoffs or plant
closings.

(d) The board may, in its discretion, allocate funds
carried forward from previous years under subdivision 9 for
large, small, or individual layoffs.

new text begin (e) Each workforce service area or other eligible
organization receiving a grant from the board shall prepare and
submit an annual report to the board by February 15 of each
year, beginning in 2007. The report shall state whether each
dislocated worker receiving services pursuant to a grant from
the board during the previous calendar year was dislocated
because the worker's former employer outsourced the worker's
former job to employees located outside the state of Minnesota.
The report shall also state whether a worker's former employer
terminated the worker in anticipation of or in response to a
loss of business attributable to outsourcing. For any
dislocated worker whose dislocation is attributable to
outsourcing, the report shall indicate to where the employment
has been outsourced.
new text end

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 268.044,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Wage detail report.

(a) Each employer
that has employees in covered employment shall submit a
quarterly wage new text begin and employment new text end detail report by electronic
transmission, in a format prescribed by the commissioner. The
report shall include for each employee in covered employment,
the employee's name, Social Security number, the total wages
paid to the employee, and total number of paid hours worked.
For employees exempt from the definition of employee in section
177.23, subdivision 7, clause (6), the employer shall report 40
hours worked for each week any duties were performed by a
full-time employee and shall report a reasonable estimate of the
hours worked for each week duties were performed by a part-time
employee. In addition, the wage new text begin and employment new text end detail report
shall include the number of employees employed on the 12th day
of each calendar month and, if required by the commissioner, the
report shall be broken down by business location and type of
employment. new text begin Beginning in 2007, the wage and employment detail
report shall also include the number of employees who have begun
employment with the employer during the calendar quarter and the
number of employees who have left employment with the employer
during the calendar quarter. If employees have left employment
with the employer during the calendar quarter, the report shall
specify the number of jobs that have been or will be outsourced
to employees outside the state of Minnesota and the locations to
which the jobs have been or will be outsourced. The report
shall also specify the number of jobs terminated by an employer
in anticipation of or in response to a loss of business
attributable to outsourcing. new text end If the information required is not
submitted in a manner and format prescribed by the commissioner,
it shall not be considered a wage new text begin and employment new text end detail report.
The report is due and must be received by the commissioner on or
before the last day of the month following the end of the
calendar quarter. The commissioner may delay the due date on a
specific calendar quarter in the event the department is unable
to accept wage new text begin and employment new text end detail reports electronically.

(b) The employer may report the wages paid to the next
lower whole dollar amount.

(c) An employer need not include the name of the employee
or other required information on the wage new text begin and employment new text end detail
report if disclosure is specifically exempted from being
reported by federal law.

(d) A wage new text begin and employment new text end detail report must be submitted
for each calendar quarter even though no wages were paid, unless
the employer has notified the commissioner, under section
268.042, subdivision 1, paragraph (c), of termination of
business.

Sec. 5. new text begin REVISOR'S INSTRUCTION.
new text end

new text begin The revisor of statutes shall change the phrase "wage
detail report" or similar phrases to "wage and employment detail
report" or similar phrases wherever they appear in Minnesota
Statutes and Minnesota Rules when referring to those reports
required under Minnesota Statutes, section 268.044. The revisor
shall also make grammatical changes related to the changes in
terms.
new text end