Shutdown Ended, Minnesota Charities Scrutinize New Budget

Minnesota nonprofit groups spent Wednesday combing through the state’s new budget, with some saying it could reshape health-care and social-service delivery for years to come, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

The Department of Human Services received a partial reprieve in the $11.4-billion budget signed Wednesday by Gov. Mark Dayton, formally ending the state’s government shutdown. About 40 percent of the $1.4-million in borrowing and delayed payments lawmakers and the governor agreed on to close the state’s deficit will go to the agency, which Republican legislators previously had suggested for deeper cuts.

“We see this budget as protecting the most basic services to people and reshaping delivery so that we can purchase for value,” said Anne Barry, the department’s deputy commissioner.

The budget preserves health-insurance coverage for the poorest Minnesotans but cuts spending for welfare, people with disabilities, and payments to health-care providers.

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