State lawmakers head into 7th special session, focus on COVID-19 relief

State lawmakers will be heading into their seventh special session of the year Monday.

They’ll be working to pass a coronavirus relief package to help businesses and unemployed Minnesotans struggling with the latest round of shutdowns.

Lawmakers are largely focusing on the state’s businesses and the hospitality industry, but there’s also a chance struggling families will get some money.

Lawmakers are close on agreement, but not there yet. If lawmakers are able to lock in a package deal soon, money will be made available before the end of the year.

There are still specifics to be ironed out, but a general agreement on a few points has been reached by DFL and GOP members. That includes around $100 million for bars, restaurants and health clubs, just more than $100 million for county grants to local businesses and $14 million for conference centers and movie theaters.

That’s about $216 million in relief. Gov. Tim Walz said he’d like the state to help with as much as $600 million.

Because the state is months into the pandemic and in its second round of aggressive shutdowns, some businesses don’t have much more time before their lights are out for good.

"This is not about helping them thrive, this is about helping them actually survive and stay open,” Sen. Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake) said.

The Legislature is still working out details surrounding possible $500 payments to qualifying families and extending unemployment benefits. Right now, they disagree on how long those benefits should last.

“The Senate is at five weeks. We are at 13 weeks. They have a hard end date of March 20 and we have a hard end date of April 24,” Rep Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) said.

Republican lawmakers will be holding a press conference later Monday morning, during which they could provide an idea of how conversations went over the weekend.

The special session begins at 3 p.m.

Stay with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS and KSTP.com for updates.