Purpose

This bill would require state agencies to reduce their operating budgets if certain job positions remain unfilled. The idea is to save money by counting salary and benefits for unfilled positions as a reduction to an agency’s budget. The changes would apply only to positions posted in fiscal years 2025 through 2027, and the savings would be used to reduce agency budgets in later years. An exclusion applies to positions that require law enforcement training.

Main Provisions

• Subdivision 1 — Reduction required:
  • The general fund and nongeneral fund appropriations to an agency for agency operations for the biennium ending June 30, 2027 are reduced by the amount of salary and benefits savings from any position that has not been filled within 12 months of its posting.
  • This applies only to positions posted in fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027.
  • The reductions must be reflected as reductions in the agency’s base budgets for fiscal years 2028 and 2029.
  • Positions that require law enforcement training are not subject to these reductions.
• Subdivision 2 — Reporting:
  • The commissioner of management and budget must report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee about the amount of reductions in spending by each agency under this section.

Goals and Impact on State Budget

• Purpose: Create automatic savings by not filling certain positions, reducing ongoing operating budgets.
• What changes: Introduces a new budgeting mechanism that ties unfilled positions (after 12 months) to budget reductions in future years, separate from other workload or staffing decisions.
• Scope: Applies to general fund and nongeneral fund operating appropriations; excludes positions requiring law enforcement training.
• Oversight: Adds a requirement for annual reporting on how much each agency’s budget was reduced due to unfilled positions.

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• Establishes a mandatory budget reduction linked to unfilled positions for a defined set of posted positions, impacting agency base budgets in a future biennium (FY 2028-2029).
• Requires centralized reporting to lawmakers about the size of reductions by agency.
• Introduces an exclusion for law enforcement training positions, meaning those roles are not subject to these savings.
• Replaces or supplements typical personnel management decisions with a formalized budget-cutting rule tied to vacancy duration.

Relevant Terms unfilled positions; 12 months; salary and benefits savings; general fund; nongeneral fund; agency operations; biennium ending June 30, 2027; fiscal years 2025; fiscal years 2026; fiscal years 2027; base budgets; fiscal years 2028; fiscal years 2029; positions requiring law enforcement training; commissioner of management and budget; chairs; ranking minority members; Senate Finance Committee; House Ways and Means Committee; reporting.