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Pa




Dear Neighbor,

The legislature’s deadline to adjourn arrived at midnight last night with work still unfinished on a number of bills that will make up the state’s next two-year budget.

We worked up until the very end, but things didn’t quite come together in time after House Democrats stayed home the first 23 days to start this session. Overall, the House passed seven of this year’s 19 omnibus finance bills and a special session will have to take place to finish the job.

This year’s ag bill is among those that received final approval before Monday’s deadline. It focuses heavily on combating infectious diseases in flocks and herds and helping the state’s agriculture industry in general.

I co-chair the House committee on agriculture and was a part of the joint House-Senate conference committee which prepared the bill (H.F. 2446 [ [link removed] ]) for final approval. Spending in the finished product is $8 million less than what the House originally proposed, settling in at around $164 million for 2026-27.

Most notably, the bill provides $115 million to the Department of Agriculture, $13.5 million to the Board of Animal Health, $8.7 million to the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute and $2 million to the Office of Broadband Development. The appropriations include $400,000 for grants to combat the spread of livestock and poultry diseases.

Minnesota is a powerhouse in agriculture and, overall, this is a good bill that will help the industry and be good for farmers. We had to make a few revisions from what the House had previously proposed because the spending total was reduced during the process. I’m particularly pleased we were able to maintain increased funding for the Board of Animal Health to help address outbreaks in our flocks and herds.

The bill also provides $3 million to help facilitate infrastructure upgrades that are necessary to accommodate dairy production at First District Association in Litchfield. First District processes around 40 percent of our state’s dairy production. They are facing regulatory hurdles and, if they were forced to reduce production, it would have negative impacts for some 600 farmers in our state and have consequences for Minnesota’s dairy production in general.

The House passed the ag bill 130-4 and is on the governor’s desk for his expected enactment.

I also am pleased the House passed a pensions bill (H.F. 2884 [ [link removed] ]) to support the pensions of teachers, firefighters and law enforcement officers. Overall, the bill allocates $40 million for police and fire and $40 million for teacher pensions.

Look for more from the House soon regarding an upcoming special session to finish this year’s budget work. The sooner that happens, the better.

Sincerely,

Paul






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State Rep. Paul Anderson
2nd Floor, Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155
[email protected]
(651) 296-4317







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