MMB says Minnesota has secured about $12.3 billion in federal infrastructure awards; highlights direct pay and state green bank progress

Minnesota Management and Budget officials told the Capital Investment Committee on March 18 the state is tracking about $12.3 billion in federal infrastructure and clean-energy funds related to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS.

Leah Corey, enterprise director for federal funds implementation at MMB, said the $12.3 billion figure includes both announced and obligated awards and estimated formula allocations through fiscal year 2026. "Since then, we have secured an additional $3 billion in funding that's going to support 1,800 discrete projects across the state," she said, describing a total of roughly $12.3 billion that includes obligations and announced awards.

Corey explained that announced awards are not always fully obligated; unobligated or announced grants can be rescinded more easily than obligated funds. She said the state has an interactive dashboard listing projects the enterprise is tracking and that members can use the dashboard to see regional project listings. She added that of the $12.3 billion, approximately $8.5 billion flows through the state enterprise (including announced and obligated amounts), about $3.6 billion has been spent to date, roughly $1.5 billion is estimated future funds and $2.2 billion relates to larger awards tracked outside the enterprise.

Corey and Anna Mangi, assistant commissioner and state budget director, outlined four MMB workstreams: strategy development, coordinated pursuit of opportunities, technical assistance and monitoring. Corey said the state is placing particular emphasis on direct pay provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that allow tax-exempt entities — including state and local governments, nonprofits, school districts and tribal nations — to claim payments for eligible clean-energy projects after those projects are placed in service.

Direct pay, she said, is largely uncapped for eligible projects and can include stacked credits for domestic content and prevailing-wage/apprenticeship compliance. The enterprise has filed paperwork on several projects and is waiting for manual IRS review for at least one state filing. Corey noted the state is coordinating to provide one-to-one tax guidance for entities pursuing direct pay.

Corey also described the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority, the state’s green-bank vehicle hosted at the Department of Commerce, saying the authority received a $45 million one-time state seed appropriation and has issued several loans to community projects and developers working on solar and storage projects.

Committee members asked about operational and maintenance costs for projects unlocked by federal funds. Corey said the $12.3 billion figure is an aggregated total and does not factor long-term operations and maintenance costs; she said agencies must consider those costs in project selection and that MMB will take the question back for further work.

MMB told members it will continue to update the committee and provide detailed lists of projects on request.