Minnesota State Republican Caucus reports…

On bipartisan votes today, the Minnesota Senate passed comprehensive budget bills related to agriculture, higher education, and commerce and energy.

“The Senate’s budget strengthens our commitment to core priorities in agriculture, higher education, energy, and commerce,” said Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester). “The reason these bills gained bipartisan support is that we made an attempt to strike a broad balance and work across the aisle. These aren’t partisan issues; it’s about doing what is best for Minnesotans.”

Agriculture

The Senate’s agriculture budget helps our agricultural community recover from the pandemic by strengthening our Ag sector supply chains and invests in helping more meat processing facilities expand and grow. It provides historic funding for the Border-to-Border Broadband Grant program at $40 million over the next two fiscal years to develop permanent broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas. Additionally, the budget includes grants for farm safety equipment and allows the creation of a grain storage facility safety curriculum, as well as mental health outreach on farms and additional mental health services, like the state’s 24-hour crisis hotline.

Original bills for broadband recommended $120 million for broadband.