ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders announced Monday a framework deal for a supplemental budget to spend the state’s surplus.
The bipartisan agreement includes $1 billion for education, another billion for health care and human services and $450 million for public safety. It also includes $1.5 billion in “additional investments” and $1.4 billion in “capital investment projects.”
“This is a really good deal. It’s a responsible deal, a compromise deal. It’s good for Minnesotans. As you’re hearing up here, what you’re going to get out of this is you’re going to get relief, you’re going to get tax relief, you’re going to get bipartisan commitment around public safety, you’re going to get education funding and you’re going to get some reduction in some of those costs,” Walz said. “The parameters have been set and they’ve been done in a way that, again, I think should make Minnesotans proud.”
A $4 billion tax bill is included in the agreement, and $4 billion is set aside “to help the state manage future economic uncertainty.”
NEWS from St. Paul. The “big three” (as @CallaghanPeter likes to say) have a framework for an agreement for this #mnleg session supplemental budget.
Leaders and Gov. Tim Walz say that includes a $4B tax bill over next few years. pic.twitter.com/yn85SbjA15
— Caroline Cummings (@CaroRCummings) May 16, 2022
“In addition to giving money back, this bipartisan agreement delivers targeted investments in public safety, education, nursing homes, and core infrastructure projects,” Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller said. “But there have been no final decisions on really anything at this point. Otherwise we’d have the bills done and on the governor’s desk.”
The details of the plan “will be finalized in the days to come,” Walz’s office said.
“We have reached a bipartisan agreement on a budget framework that makes strong investments in families’ economic security, education, health care, and public safety to address the challenges Minnesotans are facing,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman said. “This is a positive step forward, but there is a lot more work ahead of us in this final week of the legislative session.”
Last month, lawmakers struck a key bipartisan agreement on frontline worker bonuses and the unemployment trust fund. After that deal, $6 billion of the state’s record $9.2 billion surplus was left to work with. Legislators passed a two-year budget last year.
In a divded legislature, Republicans and Democrats start the session gulfs apart and, by its end, they need to bridge the gaps and find agreement in order to get anything done. Agreeing to a budget framework like this is a key step in that process.
This week lawmakers will come together in special committees focused on specific policy areas to try to hash out the details.
The 2022 Legislative Session ends May 23. Walz has said he will not call a special session.
This agreement is for a supplemental budget, meaning it’s all just extra. The two-year state budget keeping government open was set last year.
