Walz signs state budget into law

Krystal Frasier KSTP

Gov. Tim Walz has officially signed off on the remaining bills which were part of the two-year state budget.

An email sent by the governor’s office at 4 p.m. Saturday said Walz signed the bills earlier in the day.

Among those signed included a bill which denies adult undocumented immigrants access to the state’s public health insurance program, and any adult undocumented immigrants who are currently enrolled will be phased out of the program by the end of the calendar year. That bill was passed during a one-day special legislative session on Monday. The legislation will still allow the children of undocumented immigrants to enroll in MinnesotaCare. You can find the full text of the bill here.

Also signed was a $700 million bonding bill which addresses infrastructure projects, which also includes a grant program for public, private, and charter schools to install special law enforcement key boxes on buildings.

The bonding bill also provides $80 million for roads and bridges, $29 million for housing, $7.4 million for programming and support space at the Lino Lakes prison, $67 million for a new BCA Regional Office and Lab in Mankato and $55 million for a new DCT Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center.

Walz’s office also said the following bills were among those signed:

  • Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Omnibus Bill (funds the DNR, MPCA, the Minnesota Zoo, the Board of Water and Soil Resources and more groups).
  • Commerce and Consumer Protection Policy and Appropriations Bill (funds the Office of Cannabis Management, the Department of Commerce, modifies the state’s reinsurance program and makes changes to the state’s laws governing insurance).
  • Capital Investment Cash Bill, which will include $10.5 million for public safety, public housing, economic development expenses.
  • Transportation Finance and Policy Omnibus Bill (establishes funds for MnDOT, the Met Council and transportation activities for the DPS). The bill will also provide funds for a central State Patrol headquarters, establishes the Elmstrand, Finseth, Ruge Heroes Bridge in Burnsville and the Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic Memorial Bridge in Minneapolis.
  • Data Center Regulatory Bill, which will create environmental and energy requirements for data centers, and also modifies sales and use tax exemptions.
  • Legislative Corrections Bill
  • Human Services Appropriations Bill, which will invest in building capacity for forensic mental health beds to lower the need for patients to be held in jails and hospitals. It will also increase funding for anti-fraud efforts.
  • Tax Finance and Policy Bill – will change the rate and distribution of the cannabis gross receipts tax, eliminates a tax exemption for electricity use by data centers and also allows the Research and Development Tax Credit partially refundable.