Tim Bommel
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Hospitals, higher education and people who owe the state money from mistakenly paid unemployment benefits were the winners Wednesday in state budget negotiations.
There’s also extra money to help defendants in limbo because they are on public defender waiting lists and federal COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan to help homeowners and renters behind on payments due to lost income.
For most of eight hours, conference committee members decided the fate of small and large spending items among the $3.1 billion in differences between the House and Senate. The final figures weren’t immediately available, but the final total will be much closer to the Senate’s $35.1 billion budget than the $32 billion version approved in the House.