Bill
HF 4841
Hennepin County can raise and spend sales tax revenue to fund a ballpark, health care facilities, infrastructure, and grants (including up to $24M/year for uncompensated care).
Author/Sponsors: Reps. Agbaje, Nadeau, Huot, Jones, Carroll, Greene, Frazier, Freiberg, and others; Co-sponsors include Nadeau, Jones, Greene, Frazier, Freiberg, Huot, Carroll, Agbaje.
Jurisdiction: Minnesota House of Representatives
Committee Referral: Taxes
Effective Date: Sections 1–12 take effect the day after final enactment.
Purpose and overall aim:
HF 4841 modifies Hennepin County’s local sales tax authority and creates/expands grant programs to support county health care facilities and ballpark-related improvements. The bill calibrates how tax revenues are used, broadens eligible uses, and adjusts governance rules to facilitate financing for ballpark development, health care facilities, infrastructure, and related services.
Key provisions and substantive changes:
1) Qualifying government definition for investment calculations
- Section 1 adds Subdivision 15 to § 473.756 defining a “Qualifying government.”
- When the ballpark authority’s investments are managed by the county, the authority’s long-term equity investment limits (as per § 118A.09) are now calculated using the county’s most recent audited statement of net position, rather than the authority’s own.
2) Ballpark grants authority
- Section 2 expands the county’s authority to authorize and grant funds to the ballpark authority.
- Grants may cover ballpark development and construction, public infrastructure within the development area, capital improvements, reserves for capital improvements, and related purposes, subject to limits in a later subdivision.
3) Health care facilities grants
- Section 3 creates a new Subdivision 2a: Hennepin County health care facilities.
- Using money from local sales tax collections after debt service, the county may distribute up to $24,000,000 annually (with annual percentage increases) to a private, nonprofit Level I trauma hospital in Hennepin County designated by the state Health Commissioner for nationwide EMS and ground ambulance services.
- Eligible uses focus on funding uncompensated care at facilities owned/operated by the hospital, with detailed criteria:
- Definition and treatment of uncompensated care costs (bad debt and charity care, per GAAP).
- A benchmark threshold: payments only when uncompensated care exceeds the county’s benchmark (average countywide UCs as per Minnesota Hospital Association data).
- Hospital payments must reflect MA reimbursement rates and exclude certain Medicare bad debt, while including adjustments like the ACA-related Medicare DSH reductions.
- Residency determinations and other customary debt collection practices must be observed.
- A requirement that ownership changes (sale/transfer to for-profit entity) may trigger withholding payments, with 90 days’ advance notice.
4) Uses of remaining funds for health and infrastructure
- The county may allocate the remaining money (after debt service and statutory payments) to:
- Development, construction, and improvement of county-owned/operated health care facilities.
- Public infrastructure to support such facilities.
- Reserves for health care capital improvements and uncompensated care at county facilities.
- Other health-related services, including housing and social determinants of health.
5) Ballpark expenditure and land/public infrastructure limits
- Subdivision 3 (Sec. 4) caps ballpark-related expenditures:
- Ballpark costs: up to $260,000,000.
- Capital improvement reserves: up to $1,000,000 annually (subject to a county agreement and inflation index).
- Land, site improvements, and public infrastructure: up to $90,000,000 (excluding reserves, bond costs, etc.), with expenditure timing tied to bonds issued under prior statute and limitations on future payments.
6) Capital improvement grants to the ballpark authority
- Section 5 adds Subdivision 3a: Capital improvement grants.
- Allows the county to grant up to $7,000,000 annually for capital improvements to the authority, subject to agreement and inflation indexing, with grant arrangements valid for future years.
7) Property acquisition and related authority
- Section 6 clarifies land rights/acquisition and development authority, including health care facilities, with specified geographic limits and permissible uses.
8) Local government expenditures and bond authority
- Sections 7–9 reaffirm and expand the county’s authority to reimburse or fund related entities, issue revenue bonds, and manage debt related to ballpark, infrastructure, and health care facility projects.
9) Local sales tax authority and uses
- Section 10 authorizes a 0.15% to 1.0% sales and use tax (subject to state law exemptions for administration).
- Revenues are dedicated to specified ballpark, health care, public infrastructure, and youth/amateur activities uses, among others, with a sunset mechanism after bond obligations and reserves are defeased or redeemed.
10) Uses and timing of tax revenues
- Section 11 details permitted uses of tax revenues (bonds, grants, operating costs for the ballpark authority, health care facilities, capital improvements, reserves, and other authorized purposes).
- After project completion, remaining revenues fund defeasance, future obligations, and related reserves, with explicit sunset conditions once obligations are met.
11) Ballpark reserve funding
- Section 12 sets the Reserve for Capital Improvements, with annual funding requirements (initially $2,000,000 to $14,000,000, escalating, with portions attributable to the team).
Impact and who is affected:
Procedural/timeline notes:
- First reading and referral to Taxes occurred April 7, 2026.
- All sections become effective the day after final enactment.
- Certain grant agreements and bond-related provisions are structured to allow future-year payments and investments, with inflation-indexed adjustments and sunset/defeasance provisions after obligations are satisfied.
Overall, HF 4841 reconfigures how Hennepin County can raise and spend sales tax revenues to fund a ballpark, county health care facilities, and related infrastructure, while introducing targeted subsidies for a designated Level I trauma hospital to address uncompensated care.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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