Commerce commissioner details governor's budget requests: reinsurance, Petro Fund, EV charger testing and staffing needs

Commissioner Grace Arnold of the Minnesota Department of Commerce presented the agency’s priorities and the governor’s budget recommendations to the Senate Commerce Committee, outlining operating requests, regulatory proposals and several targeted fee and staffing changes.

Arnold said the department regulates more than 40 industry areas, oversees 187 state‑chartered banks and 60 state credit unions, supervises insurance filings for individual and small‑group health plans, enforces consumer protection efforts and administers unclaimed property and the Petro Fund. “We’re with you every day, and I’ve started to joke that that’s not in a creepy way,” Arnold told Chair Seaburger and committee members.

She called the premium security (reinsurance) program “proven” and warned funding shortfalls would put the individual market at risk of “premium increases of 25% or more” if not funded. The department proposes a market assessment to fund the program; Arnold said the proposal is structured to be revenue neutral and intended to stabilize premiums and enrollment.

Other budget items described as revenue neutral or narrowly targeted include: a modest operating increase (roughly $3 million general fund request over the…