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The Resident Solution · Directive 10

Fiscal
Transparency:
The War Room

Real-Time Command Center for Every Taxpayer Dollar

Minnesota spends over $60 billion every two-year budget cycle. Right now, you cannot see in real time where a single dollar goes. In Special Operations, that kind of fog gets people killed. In government, it lets fraud survive for years. The War Room ends the fog. Every dollar visible. Every vendor named. Every contract published before it is signed. No exceptions. No cover. No missing money.
Mission briefing begins
What It Is

The Mission

01
The War Room Dashboard
A real-time, public-facing fiscal transparency dashboard built and maintained by Minnesota Management and Budget. Every state expenditure over $10,000 — searchable by agency, vendor, contract number, date, and purpose. Updated daily. No paywall. No login required.
02
Pre-Contract Sunlight
All state contracts over $50,000 are published on the dashboard for a mandatory 10-day public review period before they are executed. No exceptions for urgency without the Governor's written authorization. The money does not move until residents can see the deal.
03
Independent Fiscal Monitor
An independent overseer appointed by retired state Supreme Court justices — not by the Governor, not by the Legislature. Fixed term. Quarterly public assessments. Reports published directly to a public website without editorial review by any state agency.
04
Whistleblower Integrity Hub
State employees who see fraud and report it get real legal protection — not a policy statement, but a legal presumption in their favor in any employment proceeding within 24 months of a disclosure. Plus an Integrity Dividend of up to 10% of recovered funds.
05
Vendor Debarment Registry
A live, public registry of every vendor debarred from state contracts due to fraud, non-performance, or legal violations. Searchable on the War Room dashboard. Any vendor on the registry is automatically ineligible for new contracts. No exceptions.
06
Tips & Overtime Tax Relief
Minnesota workers who earn tips or overtime should not pay state income tax on income the federal government has already determined they should keep. The Department of Revenue is directed to conform Minnesota's administrative guidance within 60 days. No new legislation required. The relief goes to workers — not a political bill, not a party. Workers.
Structure

How The War Room Is Built

Dashboard Architecture
Search & Filter Core
Every expenditure over $10,000 is indexed with seven mandatory data fields: agency name, vendor name and tax ID, contract number, dollar amount, date of expenditure, program purpose, and federal or state funding source. Search returns results within 2 seconds. Data is updated daily by 8:00 AM Central. The model is Texas — the Comptroller's portal has handled the second-largest state budget in the country since 2007 without interruption.
MN Stat. 16A.011 — State Finance
Pre-Contract Mechanism
10-Day Public Window
When a state agency finalizes a contract over $50,000, the full contract — including vendor identity, scope of services, total value, and payment schedule — is published to the War Room dashboard. A 10-day clock begins. The contract cannot be executed until the clock expires. Any resident can submit a documented objection through the dashboard during the review period. The agency must respond in writing within 5 business days of any objection before execution.
MN Stat. 16C — Procurement
Federal Funds Tracking
Pass-Through Visibility
The Feeding Our Future fraud was federal money administered by the state with zero real-time visibility. That specific gap is closed by this directive. All federal pass-through funds administered by Minnesota agencies — Medicaid, housing assistance, nutrition programs, education grants — are included in the War Room dashboard with identical transparency requirements to state-appropriated dollars.
Closes Feeding Our Future Gap
Variance Reporting
Monthly Agency Accountability
Every state agency head publishes a monthly plain-language variance report showing actual spending versus budgeted spending, with a written explanation for any variance over 5%. Reports are published on the War Room dashboard within 15 days of month end. The report is written in plain English — not accounting jargon. No exceptions. No extensions. The agency head signs every report personally.
Agency Head Accountability
Who It's For

Every Resident Who Has Ever Wondered

The Taxpayer
You fund a $60 billion operation every two years. You currently cannot see, in real time, where a single dollar goes. The War Room changes that. Every dollar you send to St. Paul is trackable, searchable, and public.
The State Employee
You are inside the system. You see things. Right now, reporting fraud puts your career at risk. This directive gives you legal presumption of protection — not a policy statement, but a legal shield — and a financial reward when your disclosure leads to recovered funds.
The Small Business
You lost a state contract to a connected vendor and you never understood why. The War Room publishes every contract before it is signed. Pre-contract sunlight is the single most effective anti-corruption tool in state procurement.
The Nonprofit Administrator
Your program runs on state or federal pass-through dollars. You follow every rule. You are competing with vendors who do not. The debarment registry removes fraudulent competitors from the pool permanently and publicly.
The Journalist
You need data to do your job. You currently file records requests that take months and return redacted documents. The War Room is the records request — a live, searchable, public database that does not require you to wait for a bureaucrat to decide what you can see.
The Tipped Worker
The federal government eliminated income tax on your tips. Minnesota has not followed. Every paycheck, the state takes a cut the federal government already said you should keep. Day One, that changes through administrative guidance — no waiting on the Legislature.
Greater Minnesota
Iron Range investment funds, agricultural programs, rural infrastructure projects — these dollars are tracked through the same War Room dashboard as every other state expenditure. The money that is supposed to reach Greater Minnesota is visible from the moment it is committed to the moment it is spent.
Why It Has to Happen

The Indictment

These are not projections. They are not warnings. They already happened — under a system designed to look the other way.

$250M+ Feeding Our Future
Federal prosecutors documented the theft of over $250 million from Minnesota-administered federal nutrition programs. The state was warned. The system had no real-time visibility. The money disappeared anyway.
34,000% EIDBI Program Growth
Minnesota's autism early intervention program (EIDBI) grew from $1 million in 2017 to $343 million by 2024. No population data justifies that growth rate. No accountability mechanism flagged it. The fog made it invisible.
$60B+ Every Two Years
Minnesota's biennial budget. Residents fund the entire operation. Right now, there is no real-time public dashboard showing where any of it goes. That is not governance. That is opacity.
$104M Housing Assistance Explosion
A housing assistance program projected at $2.6 million annually reached $104 million by 2024. A 4,000% increase with no corresponding accountability mechanism and no public visibility into where the money went.
2007 Texas Transparency Portal
Texas has run a fully searchable public portal for every state dollar since 2007 — the second-largest state budget in the country. If Texas can make every dollar searchable, Minnesota has no excuse.
0 Independent Fiscal Monitors
Minnesota currently has zero independent fiscal monitors who do not report to the Governor or the Legislature. You cannot have an auditor who works for the people being audited. That structural gap is closed by this directive.

In Special Operations, you do not debrief after a mission goes wrong and call it done. You redesign the system so the failure cannot repeat. Directive 01 is the reckoning — the forensic audit that finds what was stolen and who took it. Directive 10 is the redesign — the infrastructure that makes real-time accountability the permanent standard. These are the same mission. Different phases. The audit closes the past. The War Room closes the future.

How It Works

Resident Walkthrough

01
Go to the War Room Dashboard
Any resident opens the public-facing War Room dashboard — accessible from warroom.mn.gov, no login, no paywall. The landing page shows a real-time counter of total state spending year-to-date, total contracts pending 10-day public review, and total vendor debarments active. Updated every morning by 8:00 AM.
02
Search Any Agency, Vendor, or Contract
Type any vendor name, agency name, program name, or contract number into the search bar. Results populate in under 2 seconds. Every expenditure over $10,000 is returned with full details: vendor name and tax ID, agency, program purpose, dollar amount, date, and federal or state funding source. No redactions for routine contracts.
03
Review Contracts Before They're Signed
Click the "Pending Contracts" section to see every contract over $50,000 currently in the 10-day public review window. View the full contract document — scope of services, vendor identity, total value, and payment schedule. The execution date countdown is displayed for each contract. If you see something wrong, submit a documented objection directly through the dashboard.
04
Check the Debarment Registry
Search the vendor debarment registry to see which companies and individuals are banned from state contracts due to fraud, non-performance, or legal violations. If you are a procurement officer, any vendor on this list is automatically blocked from your procurement process — the system enforces it. If you are a resident and you recognize a name, submit a tip through the Integrity Hub.
05
Read the Monthly Variance Reports
Every month, every agency head publishes a plain-language report showing actual spending versus budgeted spending. If the Department of Human Services spent 12% over budget on a nutrition program, that report — signed by the commissioner — explains exactly why, in plain English. Published on the dashboard within 15 days of month end. Searchable by agency and program.
06
Access the Independent Monitor's Quarterly Report
Four times a year, the Independent Fiscal Monitor publishes a comprehensive assessment of state spending against budget projections. This report is uploaded directly to a public website — no editorial review by any state agency, no approval process. The Monitor answers to the residents of Minnesota. The report is downloadable, searchable, and archived permanently.
The Front Line

Whistleblower Integrity Hub

The most valuable fraud-prevention resource the state has is the people inside it who see what is happening. Right now, reporting fraud puts a state employee's career at risk. This directive gives them real protection and a real stake in the outcome. Choose how you report. The system protects you at every level.

Secure Intake Portal
Select your disclosure status — your rights are protected at every level
Anonymous
Report only. No identity required. Information is logged and investigated. No dividend eligibility.
Confidential
Investigation use only. Your identity is known to the OIG but not published. Legal protections apply. No dividend eligibility.
Full Disclosure
Name and position provided to OIG. Full legal protections apply. Integrity Dividend eligible upon confirmed fraud and fund recovery.
The Integrity Dividend
Up to $250,000
Full Disclosure whistleblowers are eligible for a reward of up to 10% of confirmed recovered funds, capped at $250,000 per disclosure. To claim the Dividend, the whistleblower must provide their name and position to the Office of Inspector General. This requirement ensures transparency and anti-corruption standards — the state does not pay anonymous dividends.
Dividends are disbursed ONLY after confirmed fraud, successful prosecution, and physical recovery of funds by the state treasury. Filing a report does not guarantee a dividend. The OIG determines dividend eligibility based on the materiality and accuracy of the disclosure.
⊛
24-Month Legal Presumption of Protection Any state employee who reports fraud, waste, or abuse through documented channels is protected from adverse employment action for 24 months following disclosure. In any employment proceeding initiated within that window, the legal presumption is that the adverse action was retaliatory. The burden of proof shifts to the employer. This is not a policy. It is an executive directive with the force of state law behind it, grounded in MN Stat. 181.932.
It's Already Been Done

Precedents

Texas Republican
Comptroller's Transparency Portal — Since 2007
The Texas Comptroller's office runs a fully searchable online portal for every state dollar — the second-largest state budget in the country. It has operated continuously since 2007. Every expenditure is searchable by agency, vendor, amount, and date. No login. No paywall. The War Room is modeled directly on this system.
If the second-biggest budget in America can be made fully searchable, Minnesota has no excuse.
Rhode Island Democratic
OpenRI Real-Time Budget Dashboard
Rhode Island built and launched a real-time state budget dashboard giving residents live visibility into state spending, revenue, and budget performance. A blue state with a fraction of Minnesota's resources proved that real-time transparency is not a partisan position — it is a governance standard.
Transparency is not a red idea or a blue idea. It's what good government looks like.
Colorado Swing State
Independent Fiscal Oversight & PERA Reforms
Colorado established independent fiscal oversight of its public pension system and implemented mandatory transparency reporting that does not run through executive branch review. The independent monitor model — answering to the public rather than to elected officials — was pioneered in Colorado and has operated without legal challenge.
Independent oversight isn't a political attack. It's the structural requirement for genuine accountability.
My critics will call this radical. I call it late. Texas has been doing this for 18 years. Rhode Island built it. Colorado proved independent oversight works. Minnesota is behind.
The Numbers

What The Fog Costs

$250M+ Feeding Our Future Fraud
Federal prosecutors documented theft from Minnesota-administered federal nutrition programs. The state was warned before the fraud grew to this scale. No real-time dashboard existed. Source: DOJ, District of Minnesota indictments, 2022–2024.
$343M EIDBI Program (2024)
Minnesota's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention autism program grew from $1M in 2017 to $343M in 2024 — a 34,000% increase with no population data to justify the growth rate. Source: MN DHS Program Expenditure Reports.
$104M Housing Assistance Overrun
A housing assistance program projected at $2.6 million annually grew to $104 million by 2024 with no corresponding accountability mechanism and no public dashboard flagging the variance. Source: MN Management and Budget program data.
$60B+ Biennial Budget — Zero Dashboard
Minnesota's two-year operating budget. Currently, no real-time public dashboard shows residents where any of this money goes. Every dollar is spent in the dark from a resident's perspective. Source: MN Management and Budget, FY2024–2025 budget.
180 Days to Dashboard Launch
Under this directive, Minnesota Management and Budget is required to build, test, and launch the War Room dashboard within 180 days of the executive order. Texas built a comparable system. Minnesota can meet this timeline.
10% Integrity Dividend Rate
Full Disclosure whistleblowers who report fraud that leads to confirmed recovery of state funds receive up to 10% of recovered funds, capped at $250,000. Disbursed only after confirmed fraud, prosecution, and physical recovery of funds by the state treasury.
Legal Authority

The Governor's Authority

MN Stat. 16A — State Budget & Finance
Governs the entire framework of state financial management and the authority of Minnesota Management and Budget. The Governor's supervisory authority over MMB is the direct legal basis for directing the construction and operation of the War Room dashboard.
MN Stat. 16C — State Procurement
Governs all state procurement processes, including contract execution requirements. The Governor's executive authority over procurement policy is the basis for the mandatory pre-contract 10-day public review period.
MN Stat. 181.932 — Whistleblower Protection
Existing Minnesota whistleblower protection statute. This directive strengthens enforcement of existing protections and establishes the legal presumption of retaliation in any adverse employment proceeding within 24 months of a protected disclosure.
MN Stat. 13 — Data Practices Act
Governs public access to government data. The War Room dashboard operates as an active fulfillment of the state's obligations under the Data Practices Act — proactive public disclosure rather than reactive response to records requests.
MN Stat. 3.971 — Legislative Auditor
Establishes the Legislative Auditor's authority for program evaluation and financial audits. The Independent Fiscal Monitor does not replace the Legislative Auditor — it supplements with real-time oversight that is independent of both branches.
MN Const. Art. V § 3 — Executive Power
The Governor's constitutional authority to supervise the executive branch and direct state agencies is the foundational basis for all components of this directive that do not require legislative action. These are operational directives within existing executive authority.
Revenue Dept. Administrative Guidance Authority
The Department of Revenue has existing administrative authority to issue guidance on state tax conformity with federal law changes. The tips and overtime relief directive relies entirely on this existing authority — no new legislation is required to stop taxing tips and overtime at the state level when the federal government has already determined this income should be exempt.
Texas Model — Operational Precedent
Texas has operated a fully public, searchable state expenditure portal since 2007 under Governor's executive direction. This establishes clear operational and legal precedent for executive branch-directed fiscal transparency without legislative mandate.
Opposition

They Say / My Answer

They Say
"This level of transparency will slow down government and delay critical services."
My Answer
Texas has run this system for 18 years on the second-largest state budget in the country. Services have not been delayed. Rhode Island runs a real-time dashboard. Their government functions. The argument that transparency slows government is the argument of people who benefit from opacity. A 10-day public review window on contracts over $50,000 does not delay critical services. It stops fraud before the money moves. That is not a slowdown — that is accountability working exactly as it should.
They Say
"Some contract data is proprietary and cannot be made public."
My Answer
Genuine trade secrets in government contracts are already protected under MN Stat. 13.37. The War Room does not override existing data classification rules. What it ends is the routine use of "proprietary" as a blanket shield for contracts that have no legitimate secrecy claim. When a vendor signs a contract with the state of Minnesota to provide public services with public money, the residents of Minnesota have a right to know the terms. If a vendor cannot accept that condition, they are not the right vendor for a public contract.
They Say
"We already have budget transparency through the Legislature and the Legislative Auditor."
My Answer
The Feeding Our Future fraud grew for years under the existing system. The EIDBI program grew 34,000% without a single public dashboard flagging the variance. The housing assistance program went from $2.6 million to $104 million with no accountability mechanism. If the current system is sufficient, explain those numbers. The Legislative Auditor does retroactive audits. The War Room is real-time. These are not competing systems — they are different phases of the same mission. Past and future. Reckoning and prevention.
They Say
"This is a political attack on the current administration disguised as a policy proposal."
My Answer
Texas built their transparency portal under a Republican governor. Rhode Island built theirs under a Democratic governor. Colorado's independent oversight reforms were signed by a governor of the opposite party from the one who proposed them. The political affiliation of the person being watched does not change whether the watching is legitimate. Fiscal transparency is not a partisan position. The only people who call it a political attack are the ones who do not want to be seen.
They Say
"Independent oversight undermines democratic accountability to elected officials."
My Answer
You cannot have an auditor who works for the people being audited. That is not democratic accountability — that is institutional self-protection wearing accountability's clothes. The Independent Fiscal Monitor is appointed by retired Supreme Court justices — the most structurally independent appointing authority available. The Monitor's reports go directly to the public — not through any agency, not through any political office. Democratic accountability means the residents of Minnesota can see what their government is doing. That is exactly what this directive delivers.
The Resident Solution Fund

Phase One and Phase Two

Directive 01 established the forensic audit — the mission to find what was stolen, name who took it, and hold them accountable. That is the reckoning for the past. Directive 10 is the infrastructure that closes the future. These are not separate initiatives. They are Phase One and Phase Two of the same mission. The forensic audit cannot finish its work if the system that allowed the fraud continues to operate unchanged. The War Room cannot reach its potential without the accountability record the forensic audit establishes. They reinforce each other. They are funded through the same source: recovered funds and administrative savings flow into the Resident Solution Fund, which capitalized both the audit and the ongoing operations of the War Room and the Independent Fiscal Monitor. The state does not spend new money to achieve accountability. It recovers stolen money and builds the system that prevents the next theft.

Directive 01
The Audit
Forensic review finds what was stolen. Identifies systemic gaps that allowed fraud to survive. The War Room closes those gaps permanently.
Directive 09
Veterans Fund
Real-time tracking of the Veteran Financial Restoration Fund through the War Room dashboard. Every dollar committed to Minnesota's veterans is publicly visible from commitment to disbursement.
Directive 10
Iron Range Ledger
Iron Range Investment Fund accountability flows through the War Room. Greater Minnesota dollars are tracked with the same real-time visibility as every other state expenditure. No exceptions for regional funds.
Executive Order 27-12

Ready for Signature

EO 27-12 — Fiscal Integrity & The War Room Ready for Signature · Day One
State of Minnesota
Executive Department · Office of the Governor
Executive Order 27-12

Establishing Real-Time Fiscal Transparency, Independent Oversight, and Whistleblower Protections for the State of Minnesota

Governor
Tom Berhane
Date
January 4, 2027
Status
Draft — Legal Review Pending
Directive
12 of 13

WHEREAS, the State of Minnesota administers a biennial operating budget exceeding $60 billion in state and federal funds, and Minnesota residents who fund this operation currently have no real-time, public access to information about how, where, and to which vendors those funds are being disbursed;

WHEREAS, the Feeding Our Future fraud — in which federal prosecutors documented the theft of over $250 million from Minnesota-administered federal nutrition programs beginning as early as 2018 — occurred and persisted in part because no real-time visibility mechanism existed to flag anomalous spending patterns as they emerged;

WHEREAS, the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program grew from $1 million in state expenditures in fiscal year 2017 to $343 million by fiscal year 2024, a rate of growth unsupported by any corresponding increase in the eligible population, and no public accountability mechanism flagged this variance in real time;

WHEREAS, a housing assistance program projected at $2.6 million annually reached $104 million in expenditures by 2024 with no public variance reporting mechanism and no mandatory pre-contract review that would have disclosed the scope of commitments before they were executed;

WHEREAS, the State of Texas has operated a fully public, searchable fiscal transparency portal for every state expenditure since 2007 on the second-largest state budget in the country, demonstrating that comprehensive real-time fiscal transparency is operationally achievable at scale;

WHEREAS, the federal government has eliminated federal income tax liability on tips and overtime wages for qualifying workers, and Minnesota residents do not automatically benefit from this relief because the state has not conformed its administrative guidance, resulting in continued state tax liability on income the federal government has determined should be exempt;

WHEREAS, Minnesota's existing whistleblower protection framework under MN Stat. 181.932 provides statutory protection but lacks the structural presumption and intake infrastructure necessary to make reporting fraud a viable and protected act for state employees who witness it;

NOW THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor of the State of Minnesota under Minnesota Statutes 16A, 16C, 181.932, 13, and Article V, Section 3 of the Minnesota Constitution:

Now Therefore, I, Tom Berhane, Governor of the State of Minnesota, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of this State, do hereby order the following:
War Room Dashboard — Launch Within 180 Days
Minnesota Management and Budget is directed to design, build, and publicly launch a real-time fiscal transparency dashboard — designated the War Room — within 180 days of the effective date of this Order. The dashboard shall be accessible at warroom.mn.gov with no paywall and no login requirement. Every state expenditure over $10,000 shall be searchable by agency, vendor name, vendor tax identification number, contract number, dollar amount, date of expenditure, program purpose, and designation of state or federal funding source. All data shall be updated by 8:00 AM Central each business day. The operational model for the War Room is the Texas Comptroller's Transparency Portal, which has operated continuously since 2007. MMB shall publish a public development timeline within 30 days of this Order and provide monthly progress reports on the War Room dashboard itself as it is built.
Pre-Contract Sunlight — 10-Day Public Review
Effective upon launch of the War Room dashboard, all state contracts over $50,000 must be published on the dashboard for a mandatory 10-day public review period before execution. The published contract shall include the vendor's identity, full scope of services, total contract value, payment schedule, and funding source. No contract may be executed before the 10-day window closes. Any resident may submit a documented objection through the dashboard during the review period; the responsible agency must respond in writing within 5 business days. Exceptions to the 10-day requirement require the Governor's written authorization and are limited to documented emergency circumstances. The Office of the Governor shall publish all exception authorizations on the War Room dashboard within 5 business days of issuance. No exceptions are permanent or programmatic — each requires individual review.
Independent Fiscal Monitor — Appointed Outside Political Structures
There is hereby established the Office of the Independent Fiscal Monitor. The Monitor shall be appointed by a panel of three retired Minnesota Supreme Court justices, selected by their respective Chief Justice class year. The Monitor does not report to the Governor, does not report to the Legislature, and is not subject to removal by either branch except for cause as determined by the appointing panel. The Monitor serves a single fixed term of five years. The Monitor shall publish quarterly assessments of state spending against budget projections, with findings published directly to a dedicated public website — independent of editorial review by any state agency or office. Reports are published in full, without redaction, except where specific statutory confidentiality requirements apply to named individuals. The Office of the Independent Fiscal Monitor is funded through the Resident Solution Fund established under Directive 01.
Whistleblower Integrity Hub — Legal Presumption and Intake Protocol
The Office of Inspector General is directed to establish a dedicated Whistleblower Integrity Hub within 90 days of this Order, providing a secure intake portal accessible to all state employees. Any state employee who reports fraud, waste, or abuse through documented channels via the Hub is protected from adverse employment action under the following terms: in any employment proceeding initiated within 24 months of a protected disclosure, there shall be a legal presumption that the adverse action was retaliatory. The burden of proof shall shift to the employing agency to demonstrate the adverse action was unrelated to the disclosure. The OIG shall respond to every intake submission within 10 business days. Full Disclosure reporters who provide their name and position, and whose disclosures lead to confirmed fraud findings and physical recovery of state funds, are eligible for an Integrity Dividend of up to 10% of recovered funds, capped at $250,000 per disclosure. Dividends are disbursed only after confirmed fraud, successful prosecution where applicable, and physical recovery of funds by the state treasury.
Vendor Debarment Registry — Public and Real-Time
Minnesota Management and Budget shall establish and maintain a public Vendor Debarment Registry on the War Room dashboard. Any vendor debarred from state contracts due to fraud, material non-performance, or legal violations shall be listed on the registry within 5 business days of the debarment determination. The registry is searchable by vendor name, tax ID, and basis for debarment. Any state procurement system shall be configured to prevent the execution of contracts with listed vendors — the bar is systemic, not discretionary. MMB shall publish debarment criteria and the appeals process on the War Room dashboard. A vendor on the registry may petition for removal after the debarment period expires; the petition and MMB's determination shall both be published on the dashboard.
Federal Funds Parity — Closing the Feeding Our Future Gap
All federal pass-through funds administered by Minnesota state agencies are subject to identical War Room transparency requirements as state-appropriated funds. This includes but is not limited to Medicaid, nutrition assistance programs, housing assistance, and education grants. The absence of real-time visibility into federal pass-through funds was a documented structural condition that allowed the Feeding Our Future fraud to continue. That condition is closed by this Order effective upon the launch of the War Room dashboard. MMB shall coordinate with relevant agencies within 60 days to map all federal funding streams into the War Room data architecture.
Tips & Overtime Tax Relief — Administrative Conformity Within 60 Days
The Department of Revenue is directed to issue administrative guidance within 60 days of this Order conforming Minnesota's state tax treatment of tips and overtime wages to current federal exemptions eliminating federal income tax liability on qualifying tips and overtime. This conformity shall be implemented through administrative guidance and shall not require new legislative action. The Department shall publish plain-language guidance for employers and workers within 30 days of issuing administrative direction, and shall update withholding tables accordingly. The relief shall be effective for the current tax year to the maximum extent permitted by existing administrative authority. Minnesota workers who receive tips or overtime should not continue to pay state income tax on income the federal government has already determined they should keep. This is a worker benefit. It takes effect in 60 days.
Severability. If any provision of this Executive Order or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of this Order and the application of its provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Tom Berhane
Governor of the State of Minnesota · January 4, 2027
[Secretary of State]
Filed According to Law · Minnesota Executive Department
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This Is
Directive 12

The fog is over. Every dollar visible. No cover. No missing money. That is what this looks like when someone who has actually lived accountability is running the state.

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