MARSHALL — Area residents said Monday they’re concerned with how legislation providing paid family and medical leave would affect their businesses. It was a concern shared by area legislators.

“We’re really relying on the Senate to have some kind of sense,” said Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent.

If voters could reach out to their state senators, he said, “Maybe we can improve this so maybe it’s livable.”

Both Swedzinski and Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, spoke with Marshall area residents during a legislative update Monday with the Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce. Both legislators spoke to area residents via Zoom.

Dahms said things have been “very fast-paced” this session, but the actions the Legislature has been taking have not necessarily been in the best interests of Minnesota businesses.

“It’s been a tough session to work with,” he said.

“A lot of the big issues that are before us are still in front of us,” Swedzinski said. In the Minnesota House, legislators were working on getting bills out of committee before their next break, he said.

In the Senate, most omnibus bills are now out of committee, Dahms said. After legislators come back from Easter break next week, they will have six weeks to get things done, he said.

Questions about paid family and medical leave legislation came from a few different audience members at Monday’s update. The bill provides Minnesotans with up to 12 weeks of medical or family leave. However, local businesspeople said the costs and requirements of the act would hurt their businesses.

Dahms and Swedzinski said they had also heard a lot of concerns about different aspects of the legislation, like the number of weeks of paid leave provided, and how broadly it defines family.

Dahms and Swedzinski said they would share suggestions of state senators that area businesspeople could contact to talk about the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act.

“It never hurts to have people contact them,” Dahms said. But at the same time, he and Swedzinski weren’t optimistic about the chances of stopping the bill.

Dahms said many new lawmakers in the Senate were “activists.”

“The new folks have pretty much taken over the DFL Senate, and they’re sticking together pretty well,” he said.

“This is going to be the liberal idea session, not complicated with reality,” Swedzinski said.

Another topic area residents asked about was the city of Marshall’s request to put a local option sales tax extension to a public vote. The city says the sales tax extension will play a crucial role in funding the construction of a new aquatic center in Marshall.

In the state Senate, the sales tax extension was laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus tax bill. However, Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, who chairs the House Taxes Committee, has not held hearings on any of the local option sales taxes brought to the Legislature this session, Swedzinski said. The reasoning behind the decision was that sales taxes are regressive, he said.

“We’ll see where that comes out in conference committee,” Swedzinski said.