Ways and Means Committee OKs House budget resolution

Total net General Fund expenditures in the 2026-27 biennium will not exceed a hair less than $66.62 billion.

That is the budget resolution approved Tuesday by the House Ways and Means Committee.

It also sets the budget reserve account at $3.18 billion and the cash flow account at $350 million. About $1.6 billion will be left on the bottom line.

“This was the first major test of our ability to work together under this power-sharing agreement and I’m really pleased that we passed that test and delivered a budget resolution on time,” said Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids), who co-chairs the committee with Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska).

They and some partisan and nonpartisan House staff spent 12 straight days — often multiple times per day — putting together the numbers.

“The objective here, from my perspective,” Torkelson said, “was to make everyone a little bit unhappy. That’s what a true compromise looks like, and I think for the most part we’ve achieved that.”

[MORE: House budget resolution tracking, including finance committee targets]

Now, it’ll be up to House committees to massage the numbers into a package. The deadline for nearly all finance committees to act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills is April 11 at noon.

Stephenson and Torkelson acknowledge that much heavy lifting is yet to come, but both remain optimistic that a complete state biennial budget will be put together by May 19, the date by which session must conclude.

“If the rest of session can proceed the way these discussions went, I think we will be in good shape,” Stephenson said.

Four non-General Fund expenditure limits are in the resolution: Health Care Access Fund, Workforce Development Fund, Minnesota Forward Fund and the Premium Security Plan Account.

For the Health Care Access Fund, the resolution provides a $25 million increase over the planned spending amount for a health finance bill, thereby allowing that finance committee to spend this amount from the fund over their General Fund target.

For the final three items, the agreement effectively limits their spending to what was planned for the 2026-27 biennium.

The agreement also sets aside $124 million for a potential pensions bill, anticipates $87 million in cancellations of previous allocations, and sets aside $13.3 million for bills that may come through the House Ways and Means Committee aside from the finance budget bills.