Minnesota Legislature Passes $66 Billion Budget in Overtime Session, Avoiding Government Shutdown

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Legislature went into overtime Monday morning to put the finishing touches on funding bills to pass a balanced $66 billion two year state budget before the Tuesday morning special session deadline.

After the regular session ended May 19th without a budget in place, committees were called back to the Capitol to iron out differences covering health and human services, commerce and consumer protection, education, transportation, Capitol investments, the environment, economic development, climate policy, taxes and local aid, and data centers.

The session started at 10:00 a.m., and by 9:00 p.m., the House of Representatives had all but two bills finished. Once those passed, the chamber adjourned sine die until noon, February 17th, 2026.

The Senate adjourned sine die just before 2:00 a.m.

The $66 billion funding package contains cuts that will bring the projected budget deficit for 2028/2029 from $6 billion to $1.9 billion. That includes a piece of legislation stripping MinnesotaCare from undocumented adult immigrants, while still allowing their children to continue receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare. It also lays out a closure in phases of the Minnesota Correctional Facility, Stillwater.

In the bills is $25.73 billion for education, $4 billion for higher education, and $700 million in bonding for roads, bridges, water treatment and other infrastructure.

The budget moves on to the governor for his signature.

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