Wide-ranging $1.19 billion environmental and natural resources bill heads to governor

As implied by its name, the omnibus environment and natural resources budget and policy bill would fund two large state entities, the Pollution Control Agency and the Department of Natural Resources.

But the bill also has a breadth to it that would fund projects touching almost every aspect of daily life, ranging from making improvements to regional parks and trails, funding outdoors schools for K-12 students, and studying ways to reduce toxic algae blooms in lakes.

There are significant policy changes in the bill, also wide-ranging, from restructuring the environmental permitting processes used by the Pollution Control Agency to extending the bass fishing season to all year.

Passed 105-26 by the House and 38-29 by the Senate Monday, SSHF8/SSSF3* now heads to the governor. Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) and Sen. Foung Hawj (DFL-St. Paul) are the sponsors.

“We worked very hard to keep our committee tight and working on the issues that are most important to Minnesotans,” said Heintzeman, co-chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee.

Some of the big-ticket items that would be funded by $1.19 billion in 2026-27 General Fund appropriations include:

• $796.9 million for the Department of Natural Resources;
• $305.3 million for the Pollution Control Agency;
• $32.2 million for the Board of Water and Soil Resources; and
• $28.71 million for the Minnesota Zoo.

[MORE: View the spreadsheet]

The Science Museum of Minnesota is partially funded by the bill; it would get $2.72 million. And the Metropolitan Council would get $25.1 million, including $18.4 million for metropolitan-area regional parks for trails maintenance and operations, and a one-time $900,000 grant in fiscal year 2026 for tree-planting projects.

The bill would also appropriate $103.3 million in fiscal year 2026 from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund for more than 100 projects. Trust Fund money is generated by the Minnesota State Lottery, and each year the Legislature distributes grants from the fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.

Hawj said the projects will protect and preserve the state’s natural resources through a new funding system requiring grants to focus on communities affected by climate change, low-income communities, and other underserved areas.

He was referring to a provision in the bill that would make statutory changes to Trust Fund grant programs by requiring community grants to be expended for benefits across all regions and residents of the state, allowing community grants to be awarded for trail maintenance and improvement and aquatic invasive species management, and prohibiting the awarding of community grants to a state agency, the University of Minnesota, or for scientific research.

Policy changes

Many of the proposed policy changes focus on reforming the permitting processes used by the Pollution Control Agency by making them more efficient and speedier for businesses needing environmental permits to operate in the state.

Heintzeman called the changes long overdue, while also acknowledging the result is a compromise not everyone is happy about.

“It’s not everything anybody wanted. But it is a great step in the right direction to help municipalities, to help businesses, to help those seeking permits, and that’s something that I think we can all be proud of today.”

Pollution Control Agency reforms would:

• require the agency’s annual permitting efficiency report to focus on the more complicated Tier 2 permits, and include additional information about permits that have not met the statutory goal, as well as other modifications;
• require permit applicants five business days to remedy identified deficiencies in permit applications; and
• limit who could file discretionary environmental assessment worksheets to people residing in the county in which a proposed project will be undertaken or in one or more adjoining counties.

[MORE: View summation of policy provisions]

Several changes would relax regulations prohibiting intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer products and other substances.

The bill would:

• exempt from the prohibition on selling items that contain intentionally added PFAS to items that contain intentionally added PFAS only in internal components;
• exclude certain children’s recreational vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles, children’s electric-assisted bicycles, and replacement parts for these items from the prohibition on selling items containing intentionally added PFAS; and
• delay until Jan. 1, 2028, a ban on PFAS-containing firefighting foam used in fixed firefighting systems at airport hangars.

Other notable policy provisions include:

• establishing a sustainable foraging task force to recommend to the Legislature science-based foraging guidelines for state lands that balance public access with conservation needs;
• making the open season for bass fishing continuous; and
• authorizing DNR officers to tag abandoned watercraft and making owners criminally and civilly liable for abandoning watercraft.