1. The extra cash will turbocharge the 2020 legislative debate between DFL spending priorities and GOP calls for tax cuts.
2. It could fire up Gov. Tim Walz’s push for transportation funding, which was stymied last spring by the failure of his proposed 20-cent hike in the state’s fuel tax.
3. The $1.3 billion is what’s left after $284 million of the surplus was shifted to the state’s budget reserve, which is now full.
4. Watch for Republicans to argue that the surplus is the fruit of President Donald Trump’s federal tax cuts.
5. The $1.3 billion estimate could rise or fall depending on federal policy changes, trade agreements, inflation, health care expenses and other factors outside lawmakers’ control.
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More From Star Tribune
More From Politics
Nation
FEMA declares new strategy to engage Native American tribes
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed a new strategy to better engage with hundreds of Native American tribes as they face climate change-related disasters, the agency announced Thursday.
World
3rd sailboat carrying migrants reaches southern Greek island
Greek authorities say another sailboat carrying dozens of migrants arrived Thursday at Kythera, the third in just under two days to make it to the southern island that is not on the usual route for asylum-seekers trying to reach the European Union.
World
Hong Kong political activists plead guilty amid crackdown
Authorities in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong say 29 out of 47 pro-democracy activists charged with "conspiracy to commit subversion" under a tough National Security Law entered guilty pleas on Thursday, as the Beijing government seeks to further silence opposition voices in the regional financial hub.
Nation
Disqualified for disabilities, railroad workers fight back
After Terrence Hersey had a stroke on the way home from his railroad job in 2015, he underwent months of therapy to learn how to put words together in sentences and learn to walk again. He had to relearn how to get in and out of a car and how to dress himself before his doctors eventually cleared him to return to work with no restrictions.
World
Ethiopia calls WHO chief's comments on Tigray "unethical"
Ethiopia's government is criticizing as "unethical" the statement by the World Health Organization's director-general that the crisis in the country's Tigray region is "the worst disaster on Earth" and his assertion that the lack of attention from global leaders may be due to Tigrayans' skin color.
