Paid family leave bill passes during late-night vote in Minnesota House, Republicans voice frustration

A vote taken shortly before midnight late Wednesday in the Minnesota House of Representatives has allowed proposed changes to the state’s paid family and medical leave bill to move on to the state senate.

If passed, the changes would take effect in 2026, giving qualifying employees up 12 weeks of family leave and 12 weeks of medical leave per year. However, there’s a cap at 20 weeks total between the two categories.

Under the changes passed in the House, a payroll tax for the leave program would be about 25% higher than what was in the original leave bill that was passed last year. Employers would pay at least half of the tax and the rest would be deducted from an employee’s wages.

After that vote, members of the DFL moved to adjourn. The House isn’t allowed to meet past midnight unless a majority of lawmakers agree to do so.

Minnesota’s DFL party holds the majority, but House republicans claim the DFL cut off their debate as they head into the home stretch of the legislative session.

“The majority has had two years to get their work done. They’ve had two years to act on these so-called ‘priority bills’. Now they’re shutting down debate because they didn’t prioritize their time well enough. It is not the responsibility of the minority to pass the majority party’s bills. It is the responsibility of the minority to make sure the voices of our constituents are represented. this silencing of minority voices is absolutely shameful. This is not a house of 70 members, it is a house of 134, and Democrats are disregarding that,” said House Republican Minority Leader Lisa Demouth (R-Cold Spring) in a statement issued shortly after midnight Thursday morning.

Republicans are expected to give an update on the legislative session at 11 a.m. Thursday. You can watch their response in the video player above, or by CLICKING HERE.