House committee hears DEED briefing on workforce development fund as budget target cuts $50 million

The House Workforce, Labor and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee met April 9, 2025, in St. Paul to review budget constraints set by the House budget resolution and to receive a presentation from the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) on the workforce development fund and related programs.

The committee’s nonpartisan fiscal analyst, Ashley Eng of the House Fiscal Analysis Department, told members that “the budget resolution must set the maximum limit on net expenditures for the next fiscal biennium for the general fund,” citing House permanent rules (rule 4.03, paragraph B) that govern adoption of the resolution. She said the committee’s February forecast base for workforce, labor and economic development was $331,622,000 and that the Ways and Means Committee had set a change-from-base target of negative $50,000,000, producing a total budgeted amount of $281,622,000 for the committee’s jurisdiction.

The committee was also shown that the workforce development fund base is listed in the resolution at $127,885,000. Eng explained that the figures on the committee spreadsheet reflect base spending for DEED, the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), and the dislocated worker program.

At the Department of Employment and Economic Development presentation, Deputy Commissioner Kevin McKinnon and Deputy Commissioner Mark Majors described the…