Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives finished approving a new two-year state budget and adjourned sine die. The Minnesota House, controlled by Democrats, and the Minnesota Senate, controlled by Republicans, convened for a special session on June 14th to finalize a bipartisan budget agreement for the next two years.
“Despite divided government, we found compromise and made significant investments to help those who sacrificed the most during a challenging year,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “While this agreement does not contain everything we would have liked, we worked together and achieved a compromise that is in the best interests of Minnesotans. House DFLers will continue working to build a Minnesota that works better for everyone.”
“Workers and families are climbing out of an extremely challenging year, and they need their state government to help them emerge stronger with more opportunities to get ahead,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “The decisions made by the Legislature have real consequences. We can choose to build a state where all Minnesotans have economic security and can live with dignity, or we can choose to rig the system to benefit corporations, the rich, and well-connected.”
House Democrats are proud to have secured many investments in families, workers, students, and small businesses who’ve been hit hardest by the pandemic, including:
- A historic increase in funding for public schools and preservation of all day pre-K for 4,000 preschoolers
- Financial support for frontline workers who sacrificed their health to keep all of us safe during the pandemic
- Investments in access to affordable child care for families and increased funding for providers
- Rental assistance for tenants and landlords and expanded access to affordable housing
- Tax cuts for workers and small businesses impacted by the pandemic
- Investments to improve public health and reduce racial disparities in health care
- State aid for small businesses damaged during last year’s civil unrest
- Investments in transit, roads, bridges, and rail
- Substantial reforms to sexual assault laws to bring justice to survivors
- Measures to reform policing and increase accountability
- Investments in families who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness
- Delivering an overdue pay raise for personal care attendants and additional support for home and community-based services to help people live independently
- Substantial investments to reduce racial disparities and improve equity
- Funding for the Market Bucks program to provide healthy and affordable farmers’ market produce to SNAP/EBT users
As a result of a bipartisan deal to end Governor Walz’s emergency powers on July 1, the Legislature will not convene for a July special session or continue meeting monthly as it has done since the pandemic began.