House and Senate reach agreement on spending priorities

DFL legislative leaders have reached agreement on allocating roughly $283 million in new spending.

Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, and Rep. Lynn Carlson, DFL-Crystal, on Monday announced their spending targets for each budget division.  Health and Human Services will see the biggest increase in spending – roughly $104 million – in the current budget cycle. Spending on early childhood and K12 education will increase $54 million.

The budget bill conference committee is now the second major committee to enter the final stage of work.

DFL legislative leaders initially set a spending target of $293 million for the current budget cycle. The conference committee scaled back that spending by $10 million – meeting one of Gov. Dayton’s requests. (Targets below)

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A tax conference committee reached agreement last week on $103 million in tax cuts.

Negotiations are still underway on an $846 million public works borrowing bill that includes an additional $200 million in cash for construction projects.

Gov. Dayton signed a tax bill in March that cut $443 million in taxes and dedicated $150 million to the state’s budget reserve.

Spending Breakdown

E-12: $54 million

Higher Education: $22.25 million

Health and Human Services: $103.9 million

Jobs and Economic Development: $19.8 million

(Note: a $10 million transfer from the Assigned Risk Pool will boost total spending to $29.8 million)

Transportation: $15 million

Environment and Agriculture: $12 million

Judiciary and Public Safety: $35 million

State Government and Veterans Affairs: $705,000

Additional Spending: $20 million in various bills (Women’s Economic Security Act, synthetic drugs, medical marijuana, etc.)