Ramsey County government relations reviews session wins, looming budget pressures and federal policy risks

Ramsey County staff on Thursday briefed the Board of Commissioners on the 2025 state legislative session, special session outcomes and federal policy proposals, highlighting several wins for county programs and signaling potential budget and administrative pressures ahead.

Jennifer O'Rourke, director of government relations for Ramsey County, told commissioners the legislature completed a two-year budget in special session and the governor “signed all of the budget bills,” producing a two-year budget the presentation cited as about $66,800,000,000. O'Rourke called the session “one of the most unique and kinda crazy times,” noting a tied House, co-chaired committees and delayed starts that complicated advocacy.

County staff described specific state-level outcomes they said would affect Ramsey County operations: extensions to previously allocated funds for youth treatment homes and youth technology workforce programs; passage of enabling authority to give the Ramsey County HRA Authority certain economic development (EDA) powers; a technical child-support redirection fix requested by the County Attorney’s Office; $35 million for modernization of…