Committee lays over omnibus state government finance bill after adopting technical revenue and drafting corrections

The House Ways and Means Committee on April 23 adopted an A4 amendment to House File 2,783, the omnibus state government finance bill, and laid the bill over for further action pending combination with an elections bill.

Committee chairs said the finance bill provides funding for constitutional officers, the legislature and approximately 30 state agencies, and contains provisions intended to prevent waste, fraud and abuse. Chairs highlighted inclusion of a business filing fraud prevention provision, a healthy aging subcabinet, changes to certified public accountant standards, lottery retail provisions, transit assistance funding, and a provision to permit minority leads to request fiscal notes under certain conditions.

Co‑chairs said the committee added four positions to the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) to help with investigations; they said the bill aimed to spread cuts fairly across major agencies in light of targets but preserved certain fraud‑fighting and direct services where possible.

Members asked about several items: rental office‑space savings and plans to consolidate staff into state‑owned buildings; a one‑year extension for the St. Anthony Falls cut wall study (no new appropriation was added, the deadline was extended because work was delayed by weather); and changes to medical assistance fraud penalties. On the latter, counsel explained the new statutory language increases the maximum penalty for the most severe medical assistance fraud offenses to up to 20 years in prison when the fraud exceeds $35,000, replacing an earlier statute with a lower maximum term.

Members also discussed the advisory council on infrastructure, which the bill repeals, and asked whether that repeal removed a useful coordination mechanism for local infrastructure asset management; chairs said the repeal was part of compromise negotiations and could be revisited in conference.

The A4 amendment (technical revenue corrections and internal cross‑reference fixes) was adopted by voice vote. The committee laid HF 2,783 as amended over to be combined with the elections bill at a later time; nonpartisan staff were authorized to make technical adjustments as needed.

Ending: Chairs said the bill will return to committee in amended form when combined with the elections bill and thanked nonpartisan and partisan staff for work on technical and revenue corrections.