ST. PAUL, Minn. – On Tuesday, legislative leaders and Governor Walz announced an agreement on a supplemental budget deal for the 2026 session.
Senate Health and Human Services Chair Melissa H. Wiklund (DFL – Bloomington) released the following statement:
“One of my top priorities coming into this session was making sure HCMC kept its doors open. The closure of our state’s largest safety net hospital would have had catastrophic impacts on Minnesotans who rely on its emergency and specialized care, while creating ripple effects across our entire health care system and medical workforce.
That’s why funding for HCMC has been a central component of the Senate Health and Human Services budget throughout this legislative session. I am relieved the budget agreement includes the funding that the Senate passed to keep HCMC open.
In addition to stabilizing HCMC, the budget agreement also includes major investments in county and state human services IT modernization to help local governments manage costly new federal mandates while facing cuts to SNAP and Medical Assistance funding.
While the budget agreement does not include every Senate proposal to ease burdens on counties and keep costs off of property taxes, we are able to support emergency food systems, update regulations to ease burdens on childcare providers, and reduce the harm caused by the federal budget bill.”
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