The state Senate today, on a vote of 37-29, passed a bill authorizing certain insurers to offer paid family leave benefits. Democrat John Marty from Roseville voted “no” and said, “I think that the people of Minnesota who’ve been asking for this are going to be deeply disappointed because this does nothing that’s going to help them.” The bill’s author, Senator Julia Coleman of Waconia, said after Governor Walz’s pandemic mandate, Minnesota small businesses are saying, “they don’t need another threat of fine, another mandate, another tax.” Coleman says businesses are asking for “assistance to be able to compete with the large corporations already offering generous paid family leave benefits to their employees.” Democrats accused Republicans of putting up a bill that provides an “insurance product” that benefits only those who can afford it and disregards families struggling to make ends meet. Senator Lindsey Port of Burnsville said on the Senate floor that “Minnesotans need a paid family leave policy that is equitable, supportive of everyone and not tied to the scrutiny of the employer or the insurance industry.” The bill creates an insurance product to provide for paid family leave insurance and provides a tax incentive to businesses with fewer than 50 employees to offer paid family leave.