Earlier today, Governor Walz and the leadership of the Minnesota Office of Management and Budget formally released the February Economic Forecast.  The forecast will provide the Walz Administration and the Minnesota Legislature with the fiscal roadmap necessary to design a supplemental budget, bonding bill and potentially some form of tax relief.  The good news, since the November Forecast Minnesota’s budget surplus has continued to grow. Over the past few months, Minnesota has added an additional $1.5 billion dollars to the state’s surplus.  This is on top of the billions of dollars the state has put away into budget reserves, stadium reserves and rainy-day funds.  This also does not include the roughly $1.2 billion in unspent federal COVID funds the Legislature and Governor left unspent at the end of the 2021 Legislative Session.  This means, there is roughly $10.4 billion dollars (20% of the state’s biennial budget) available for the Legislature and Walz Administration to divvy up in the coming weeks.