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House Ways and Means Committee adopts budget resolution setting $66.6 billion general fund target for 2026-27
Summary
The Minnesota House Ways and Means Committee on April 1 adopted the House budget resolution (BUDRES 2), establishing a $66,600,000,000 general fund spending target for fiscal years 2026-27 and setting committee-specific spending targets and non-general fund limits.
The Minnesota House Ways and Means Committee on April 1 adopted the House budget resolution labeled BUDRES 2, setting a $66,600,000,000 general fund spending target for the 2026-27 biennium. The committee adopted the resolution by voice vote.
Nonpartisan staff member Emily Arens walked committee members through the budget resolution and an accompanying tracking document, saying, “the budget resolution has a lot of numbers in it,” and explaining the $66,600,000,000 figure is the total general fund spending slated for 2026 and 2027. Arens said the tracking document lists each finance committee’s February forecast base, the change from base and the resulting 2026-27 totals that make up the overall spending target.
Arens called attention to several non-general fund items listed on page 2 of the resolution, identifying the Healthcare Access Fund, the Workforce Development Fund, the Minnesota Forward Fund and the premium security plan account. She explained that the latter three are limited to planned spending for 2026-27, while the Healthcare Access Fund line allows an increase of $25,000,000 above planned spending for that fund’s related finance bill. “For the health care access fund, the number that's on line 2.13 for the health finance bill, this amount is an increase of $25,000,000 over that plan spending amount,” Arens said.
Arens described how the committee targets sum to less than the top-line number because the resolution sets aside $124,000,000 for a potential pensions bill, about $13,300,000 for other Ways and Means bills, and assumes $87,000,000 in cancellations. She said the tracking document shows an estimated $1,600,000,000 balance remaining at the bottom line after those set-asides.
Co-chair Representative Dan Stevenson, who moved adoption of the resolution, called the process “the first major test of our ability to work together under this power sharing agreement,” and thanked staff for their work. Chair Torkleston thanked committee members and staff and called for the voice vote; the resolution was approved.
Committee members and staff emphasized that the resolution establishes spending targets and that further work will be required this session to turn targets into enacted budget language. The committee record shows the resolution was approved by voice vote; the transcript does not record a roll-call tally.
