By — Jeff Tollefson, MnTech President & CEO

We’re now halfway through the 2025 session of the Minnesota Legislature with leaders in both the House and Senate primarily focused on getting a budget bill crafted and passed before the session concludes on May 19th. Last week’s release of the revised state budget forecast definitely puts additional weight on those conversations.

According to the report by the Minnesota Management and Budget office providing an update to its estimates provided in December, the projected surplus for the 2026-27 biennium has been reduced from $616 million to $456 million and the projected budget deficit for fiscal years 2028-29 has been increased from $5.1 billion to $6 billion.

To no one’s surprise, the finger-pointing started immediately with Governor Walz blaming the chaotic governing of President Trump, and Republican leaders saying it’s a result of irresponsible spending spree by the DFL trifecta in past sessions. You can read a good account of the revised budget forecasts in this MinnPost article from last week.

Let’s turn our attention to some of the bills for which MnTech is advocating, defending against, or simply monitoring.

Last week, SF2112 was introduced which would provide $2 million of funding to MnTech in support of the SciTech Internship Program we have managed and operated since 2012. SciTech connects college students pursuing STEM majors with valuable hands-on learning experiences in small Minnesota companies (defined as those with less than 250 employees). Funding provided by the legislature provides a 50% wage match, up to a maximum of $3,000 per internship, helping small companies build and develop their tech talent pipelines.

Since the program’s launch in 2012, more than 3,300 interns have been placed in 672 small companies in more than 150 cities across Minnesota. In 2024, 255 interns were placed in 123 hiring companies in 58 Minnesota towns, with average company size being 43 employees. Notably, 64% of the interns hired were women or people of color, further engaging underrepresented populations into the STEM field.

We’ve seen first-hand the power of contextualized learning that takes place in the SciTech Internship Program as we move learning beyond the classroom and into the workplace. These internships are a true “win-win-win” as students gain access to high-quality, paid internships, employers win as they tap into a large, diverse pool of STEM students for help with high-impact projects, and finally, it’s a win for the State of Minnesota as we develop the skilled STEM workforce needed to drive the continued success of our innovation economy.

Tomorrow, I’ll be testifying in support of SF2112 at a hearing of the Senate Jobs & Workforce Committee along with one of our employer partners. The hearing of the House companion bill (HF1957) is expected to be heard in the House Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Committee next week. Because funding for SciTech comes from the state’s Workforce Development Fund (funded via state payroll tax) rather than the general fund, we hope there will continue to be strong bipartisan support for this investment in Minnesota’s tech future.

Other bills on which we’ve taken positions in recent weeks include the following:

      1. H.F. 1768: A bill for an act relating to employment; providing additional circumstances under which a covenant not to compete is valid and enforceable; (MnTech Supports)
      2. S.F. No. 769: A bill for an act relating to taxation; sales and use; modifying the exemption for certain data centers; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, sections 297A.68, subdivision 42; 297A.75, subdivision 1. (MnTech Supports)
      3. H.F. 1109 A bill for an act relating to local government; prohibiting data centers in certain districts; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 462. (MnTech Monitoring)
      4. H. F. 1150, A bill for an act relating to environment; requiring study of environmental impacts of artificial intelligence; requiring a report; appropriating money. (MnTech Opposes)
      5. S.F. No. 1886: A bill for an act relating to consumer protection; requiring persons to disclose that an individual is communicating with artificial intelligence; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 325M. (MnTech Opposes in Current Form)
      6. S.F. No. 1856: A bill for an act relating to health insurance; prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence in the utilization review process; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 62M.02, by adding a subdivision; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 62M. (MnTech Opposes in Current Form)
      7. S.F. No. 1544: A bill for an act relating to telecommunications; imposing a moratorium to complete a study on the health, environmental, and economic effects of 5G technology; requiring a report. (MnTech Opposes in Current Form)

There have been a number of bills introduced related to social media platforms and child online protection that we continue to monitor but that we’ve seen no reason to take action on as of yet. If there are policy issues or concerns you would like to see MnTech consider, please reach out to me at jeff@mntech.org. Many thanks!