Lawmakers hear bipartisan push to repurpose Hennepin County ballpark tax to shore up Hennepin County Medical Center

Bipartisan authors of House File 48 41 told the House Tax Committee on April 29 that repurposing and expanding Hennepin County's existing ballpark sales tax could raise roughly $337 million and create a sustainable revenue stream to stabilize Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), a level-one adult and pediatric trauma and burn center that lawmakers and clinicians described as a statewide safety-net resource.

"Hennepin Healthcare provides care to more than 100,000 patients a year and treats the most vulnerable in our system," an author of the bill told the committee as they introduced the proposal and outlined a draft that would allow the county to increase the ballpark tax (from 0.15% toward a full 1.0%) and dedicate proceeds to hospital operating, capital and related trauma-system needs.

Why it matters: Testimony from clinicians, patients and hospital leaders stressed that HCMC's trauma, burn and hyperbaric services serve Minnesotans well beyond Hennepin County and that losing capacity would strain emergency departments across the state. "If we lose even one or two essential positions ... we risk our ability to maintain a level-one trauma accreditation," Dr. Tom Wyatt, chair of emergency medicine at Hennepin Healthcare, told the committee.

Clinicians and patients gave concrete examples. Dr. Casey Record, a fourth-year general surgery resident, said HCMC's high-volume training prepares physicians to work in rural Minnesota. Patient Kerry Hartman described a family carbon-monoxide mass-exposure that required hyperbaric treatment at Hennepin and credited the hospital with preventing lasting harm.

Hospital leaders and unions emphasized financial urgency. Witnesses and authors cited large uncompensated care costs and operating shortfalls (speakers referenced figures such as an annual operating margin gap in the hundreds of millions and roughly $150 million in annual operating and equipment needs plus about $80 million in capital needs). Supporters argued a dedicated, ongoing revenue source would preserve staffing, training programs and specialized services that a one-time grant would not.

County finance and governance questions: Committee members pressed authors and Hennepin County officials on draft language that they said currently allows a broad set of county public-health and related uses. Hennepin County CFO Joe Matthews confirmed the county currently levies roughly $38 million annually in property tax for HCMC and described capital needs in the county's five-year CIP, including an estimated $100 million parking-ramp project. County officials said the bill is a first draft and that authors intend to tighten language to prioritize HCMC-specific spending. The county administrator said the board has acted as a temporary backstop for hospital payroll and that more detailed conversations about how sales tax revenue would affect existing levies have not been finalized.

Concerns and competing views: Several members questioned whether a local ballpark tax is the right, durable tool for supporting institutions that serve a statewide population, and whether proceeds should be shared with North Memorial and to what degree. North Memorial CEO Travis Wallace supported legislative action but urged clearer revenue predictability and simpler statutory language. Some members said the proposal may need complementary statewide funding mechanisms because safety-net hospitals across Minnesota face similar reimbursement and uncompensated-care pressures.

Next steps: After testimony and member questions, a committee motion laid House File 48 41 over for possible inclusion in the 2026 tax bill; the committee did not vote on substantive language or final allocations.

The committee hearing record shows broad bipartisan concern about HCMC's solvency, a range of concrete operating and capital needs presented by hospital witnesses, and several open policy questions the Legislature will need to resolve if it advances the bill: tightening eligible uses, deciding how county property levies will interact with any new sales tax revenue, and how to allocate proceeds among county and regional trauma resources.

What happens next: The bill has been laid over for possible inclusion in the 2026 tax bill. Committee authors said they will work with stakeholders, the county and trauma-system partners to refine statutory language and revenue allocation before returning to the committee.