Walz signs remaining state budget bills into law

Gov. Tim Walz signed more than one dozen pieces of legislation into law on Saturday.

The 15 mostly budget-oriented bills represented the remainder of work the state House and Senate completed in the one-day special session that took place on Monday, June 9.

When totaled together, the spending bills that passed during the regular session (which ended May 19) and the special session amount to $66 billion to fund state government for the next two years. That’s a $6 billion reduction from the historic $72 billion budget during the 2024-25 biennium, which the DFL trifecta passed in 2023. This session the House was tied among Democrats and Republicans at 67 legislators apiece, and 34 Democrats to 33 Republicans in the Senate.

“I signed the final bills Melissa Hortman shepherded through the most narrowly divided legislature in the county. All of them bipartisan,” Walz wrote on social media. Hortman, the leader of the DFL caucus and a former House speaker, was assassinated on Saturday.

A press release circulated by the governor’s office broke down details on each of the bills Walz signed into law, including a stand-alone bill that repeals a recent expansion of MinnesotaCare for illegal immigrant adults.

Illegal immigrant adults who already enrolled in the program when it debuted on Jan. 1 can remain on the public health insurance until the end of this year. The bill also preserves the ability for illegal immigrant children to enroll in MinnesotaCare until they are 18. The legislation was part of a wide-ranging budget agreement Walz and legislative leaders finalized just days prior to the June 9 special session.

The House and Senate presented the bills to the governor’s office on Thursday, June 12. By law, the governor must sign or veto bills within three days, or they automatically become law.

Also among the legislation Walz signed into law is a $700 million bonding bill that funds infrastructure projects across the state, including $215 million for state asset preservation, $211 million for water programs, $80 million for roads and bridges, and $29 million for housing. It also includes $67 million for the new Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Regional Office and Laboratory in Mankato.

Other bills Walz signed into law on Saturday include:

• A health and human services bill, including provisions covering children, youth, and families spending, which contains support for Emergency Medical Services, food security, and several programs designed to increase reimbursements for mental health providers and hospital care. It also includes policy and budget provisions covering fraud prevention, telehealth, security at childcare centers, newborn screenings, a child welfare IT system, homelessness prevention, and opioid education.
• An education finance and policy bill that funds education programs and makes targeted reductions that address long-term budget challenges.
• A tax bill, which will change the rate and distribution of the cannabis gross receipts tax, eliminate a tax exemption for electricity use by data centers, and make the Research and Development Tax Credit partially refundable.
• A transportation bill, which funds the state Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Council, and transportation activities of the Department of Public Safety. The legislation also funds a new State Patrol headquarters, state road construction, and suicide prevention measures for the Washington Avenue Bridge. It also establishes the Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic Memorial Bridge in Minneapolis as well as the Elmstrand, Finseth, Ruge Heroes Bridge in Burnsville.
• An environment and natural resources bill, which funds the DNR, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Zoo, the Board of Water and Soil Resources and more groups.
• A commerce and consumer protection bill, which funds the Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Commerce, modifies the state’s reinsurance program, and makes changes to the state’s laws governing insurance.
• A capital investment cash bill, which includes $10.5 million for public safety, public housing, economic development, and other projects.
• A data center regulatory bill, which creates environmental and energy requirements for data centers, and also modifies sales and use tax exemptions.

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