Work done on HHS, eight bills to go

Posted at 5:03 PM on July 17, 2011 by Tim Pugmire
Filed under: 2011 Shutdown, MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Gov. Mark Dayton and Republicans legislative leaders remain tight-lipped over the ongoing, weekend budget negotiations aimed at ending the state government shutdown.

But work on at least one bill appears to be completed. Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said today that there was a handshake deal with the Dayton administration on an $11 billion bill.

Hann said the measure would spend about $1 billion more than current levels on HHS over the next two years. He said the projected spending growth in the out years was been trimmed to about 5 percent. The HHS budget received about $500 million of the $1.4 billion in new revenue that is part of the final budget agreement.

In addition, Hann said the bill includes a version of the proposal to let some MinnesotaCare recipients buy insurance from the private market. He said there are reforms in health care delivery Medical Assistance recipients that will save about $300 million.

"On balance, we did a pretty good job with the resources we had," Hann said.

Hann provided some of the first details on bills that were being assembled behind closed doors in a locked Capitol. Other committee chairs have said they would not talk until their work is done.

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