Committee walks through HF 2783 omnibus; agency leaders warn cuts could harm services

The State Government Finance and Policy Committee met Tuesday, April 8, for a walkthrough of House File 2783, the state government finance omnibus bill as amended by the DE2, and heard testimony from agency leaders about potential service impacts.

Committee co-chair/acting chair Nash opened the session and the committee adopted the DE2 amendment before the walkthrough. Co-chair Cleburne said the committee would “walk through House file 2,783 as amended by the DE2,” take public testimony and return Thursday to mark up the bill and consider sending it to Ways and Means.

Why it matters: The bill packages funding and policy changes for most statewide central services — from Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) and Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) to the Department of Revenue and the State Board of Investment. Several witnesses told the committee that reductions in the bill could reduce capacity to carry out cybersecurity coordination, tax processing and fraud prevention, pension reporting, and other functions that support state operations.

Minnesota IT Services: Brandon Hirsch, director of government relations for Minnesota IT Services, told the committee that MNIT’s “general fund base is our most agile and flexible funding source” and warned that reductions “may hinder MNIT’s ability to continue some of those strong leadership functions, including reduced capacity to support some of the cybersecurity coordination efforts that we play across local governments.” He also said cuts could limit the Minnesota Geospatial Office’s ability to provide…