June 2025 Newsletter: Check Out Our New Look & Feel!

Dear readers, with our new look & feel, we're also going to be doing things a little differently, month-by-month. You'll find in this space the main article from our latest newsletter, and like you can see below, you can download the whole thing in PDF format if you so desire.

Here is the main news feature from our June newsletter, or please, if you prefer, you can download the whole newsletter here in pdf.

Even better, you can subscribe and get the newsletter fresh and hot, the day they drop!

The regular session concluded on May 19, with nearly the entire budget remaining unfinished. Workgroups and legislative leaders reached agreements on 14 budget bills, including a bonding bill and more. The legislature finally passed the budget in a one-day special session that began on June 9, drifting into the early hours of June 10. Governor Walz signed all 14 bills into law on June 14.

Below some key takeaways after the image:

The energy omnibus bill passed during the special session including none of the controversial policies discussed during the regular session and no new Renewable Development Account appropriations. This is a win. We were playing defense, and the poison pills didn't get through! The bill did include increased funding for Commerce’s Division of Energy Resources and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). It also included a new securitization tool to help gas utilities spread the cost of extreme events over time to protect ratepayers from skyrocketing bills. Read the bill.

Data centers and particularly Hyperscale data centers were a major focus at the legislature, resulting in a special session bill extending sales tax exemptions for software and equipment for 35 years but removing the exemption for electricity use. In exchange, the bill adds new requirements, including prevailing wage, water use safeguards, clean energy tariff options from utilities, and payments into the weatherization fund in lieu of Energy Conservation and Optimization (ECO) program participation.

Permitting reform passed this session as part of the Environment bill, following broad bipartisan collaboration among business groups, labor, agencies, and lawmakers. The changes aim to streamline environmental permitting at the Pollution Control Agency while maintaining strong environmental standards.

The agriculture omnibus bill included a technical fix to the Bio-incentive Program, restoring the word “advanced” to ensure new biofuel technologies remain eligible. Lawmakers also updated Minnesota’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) incentive by replacing annual credit limits with a flexible $11.6 million total cap, allowing unused credits to roll forward, giving SAF producers more certainty for long-term investment.