REGIONAL — Minnesota lawmakers are trying to steady the state’s public broadcasting system after a major federal funding cut, but two House proposals aimed at helping radio and television stations are taking very different paths.
Both efforts come in response to a 2025 federal law that eliminated previously approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, leaving Minnesota stations scrambling to replace millions in lost support.
For public radio, the response has been modest, targeted, and largely bipartisan.
For public television, it’s been more complicated.
Radio support
A bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia, would provide $165,000 in fiscal year 2027 to the Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations, a network of 17 independent stations serving communities across the state, including tribal nations and rural areas often outside the reach of traditional media.
The funding would not go directly to stations.
Instead, it would help AMPERS centralize certain operations, such as scheduling underwriting spots and managing shared software systems, allowing stations to reduce costs and shift staff time toward programming and local coverage.
Stations have already been hit hard. AMPERS members lost a combined $3.5 million in federal funding earlier this year, in some cases more than 40 percent of their operating budgets.
“If they lose their state funding as well, they will most likely go dark. If they go dark, they won’t come back,” AMPERS President and CEO Joel Glaser told lawmakers earlier this session during committee testimony.
The bill also lowers the minimum staffing requirement to qualify for state funding from two full-time employees to 1.5, reflecting the tighter reality many stations now face.
The proposal has drawn support from both parties and cleared committee with little opposition.
TV proposal stalls
A separate bill aimed at public television stations has run into political headwinds, despite broad agreement on the underlying problem.
Sponsored by Rep. Ginny Klevorn, DFL-Plymouth, the measure would provide about $1.93 million in one-time funding in fiscal year 2027 to five Greater Minnesota stations, including PBS North and Lakeland PBS.
The funding would cover roughly 21 percent of the estimated $9 million loss Minnesota public television stations absorbed after the federal cuts. For some stations, that loss represented as much as 30 to 40 percent of their annual budgets.
Supporters say the funding is essential to keep stations operating while they adapt.
“We tell the stories of rural Minnesota that no national network is ever going to tell,” Pioneer PBS President and General Manager Shari Lamke told lawmakers at a late April committee hearing. “We possess the will to innovate, but we lack the immediate capital to complete this transformation without collapsing under the weight of federal withdrawal.”
Lamke also emphasized the role public television plays in areas with limited media access.
“(We are) the only television station broadcasting in much of western Minnesota,” she said, noting that some viewers rely on over-the-air broadcasts for everything from news to emergency alerts.
Rep. Klevorn has described the funding as a community investment, pointing to its role in education, mental health, and keeping residents connected, particularly in rural areas and among older viewers.
“This is the heartbeat of a community,” she said in earlier testimony.
But while few lawmakers have openly opposed the concept, the bill failed along party lines in the House Ways and Means Committee, largely due to concerns about its connection to a broader Senate omnibus bill.
“This bill has a tremendous amount of merit, but I don’t want to encumber it with some of the dross that comes over from the Senate,” Nash said during committee discussion.