During the 2024 legislative session, Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and our legislative partners passed policies that provide critical refinements to existing programs at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). These laws will enhance DEED's commitment to excellence, transparency, equity, and innovation and will impact Minnesotans in every corner of the state. 

Here are some DEED highlights from the 2024 legislative session:

• Improving and expanding the Dislocated Worker Program (Employment & Training Programs). This will allow thousands of Minnesotans to receive skills training and career support to enter careers that provide economic security for themselves and their families.
• Enhancing flexibility for the Job Creation Fund (JCF) and the Innovative Business Development Public Infrastructure (IDBPI) programs (Economic Development). The changes allow businesses to have greater agency so they can hire employees for both full-time and part-time roles while meeting the requirements of the JCF program; and also allow applications on a rolling basis so the IDBPI program can work for each project's timeline.
• Strengthening the Paid Leave program. The changes and clarifications refine the program so employers can efficiently and effectively implement it. Paid Leave will improve the lives of workers of all income levels and their families and will be available to Minnesotans on January 1, 2026. The team at DEED is hard at work getting this program ready.
• Empowering the Office of Broadband Development (OBD) to seek federal funding – in order to expand broadband infrastructure projects so every Minnesotan has reliable high-speed internet access – and providing improved flexibility for programs and enhanced worker protections around broadband infrastructure projects.

The outcomes of the 2024 legislative session will provide Minnesotans with greater economic and employment opportunities, enhance worker protections and supports, and provide a better quality of life. This legislative work extends DEED's efforts to empower the growth of the Minnesota economy, for everyone.