Nort Johnson, President/CEO of the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism told AM Minnesota listeners today state legislators have passed some bad bills.

Johnson specifically stated spending about 160 million dollars to start a new department in state government made no sense.

Johnson believes the current Federal program is sufficient.

The Chamber executive says his office did a local analysis.

Minnesota legislators are off now for the Easter/Passover break.

Johnson voiced more frustration with a lack of educational funding saying, many schools in the Faribault area are being forced to make budget cuts.

Johnson said Governor Walz and many lawmakers said education funding was a top priority.  By law now the economic forecasts and any spending bills are supposed to include additional inflation costs.

With a 17.5-billion-dollar surplus the current legislature is on pace to spend it all.

The majority of the budget surplus — $12.5 billion — is one-time money.

Minnesota’s current biennium budget is about $52 billion, with nearly 40% of funds allocated for K-12 public schools.

Using almost all of Minnesota’s surplus over the next biennium propels spending for fiscal years 2024-25 to $72 billion, with about $2.8 billion set aside for reserves.

You can listen to the show below.

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