The Arc of Minnesota
Public Policy Update
April 6, 2009
From Steve Larson, Public Policy Director
Ø Easter/Passover Recess:
The Minnesota Legislature will adjourn for the Easter/Passover recess this Wednesday, April 8, through Monday, April 13. Some legislators will be holding town meetings during that time to get constituent input on the rest of the legislative session. We know this will be a busy time for families with the religious holidays, but we urge you to check if your legislators are holding any meetings over the next week. If they are, attend those meetings, and urge them to preserve disability supports and increase revenues fairly in any state budget proposal that they consider. To contact your legislator, or if you don’t know who your legislator is, go to http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/Districtfinder.asp
Congress is also on recess until Monday, April 20. This is a also a good time to visit with your Members of Congress. A recent survey of congressional staffers by the Congressional Management Foundation concluded that personal visits from constituents are the most effective form of communication with members of Congress and their staff. Our website has links to the websites of all members of our congressional delegation, so you can contact your member and see he/she is scheduling any town hall meetings over the recess. Check out http://www.thearcofminnesota.org/links.htm#fedgovt for the listing of those links.
Ø State Legislature’s Deadlines:
· The second deadline for bills at the State Legislature is April 7, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. This deadline is for committees to act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, that met the first deadline - March 27 - in the other house of the Minnesota Legislature.
· The third deadline, April 16, 2009, is for divisions of the House and Senate Committees on Finance to act favorably on omnibus appropriation bills.
The House will release its budget with details on Tuesday April 14th, allow for public testimony on April 15th, and pass their omnibus appropriations bill on April 16th. We will distribute this bill as soon as we get an electronic copy on April 14th, and we’ll ask those individuals who are tracking a variety of items in the bill to review the bill ASAP and then contact us with highlights and concerns. The Senate might follow a similar process, but that has not been confirmed.
Ø Bills of Priority Interest for The Arc:
1. SF 710/HF 295: Consumer Directed Community Supports (CDCS) – this bill attempts to make modifications in the CDCS budget allocations so adults can receive an increase when needing employment of day programming supports. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) maintains this change requires a fiscal note, and as a result this bill is currently stalled. We have asked DHS to suggest changes in the amended language to eliminate or reduce the fiscal note.
2. SF 1229/HF 1329: Personal Care Assistance (PCA) – The bill promotes changes that were recommended by the Legislative Auditor in administering the PCA program so that fraud is minimized and training is expanded. This is a separate bill from the Governor’s bill, which will make substantial changes to PCA services, including eligibility and funding. This bill has a hearing scheduled in Senator Berglin’s Health and Human Services Finance Committee on Tuesday, April 7 at 8:30 a.m.
3. SF 711/ HF 266: Parental Fees – In order for these bills to move forward, the authors are dropping the language calling for reductions in fees. The bill language that remains would clarify that parental fees can be part of your flexible spending accounts for health care expenses. SF 711 was approved by the Senate Health and Human Services (HHS) Finance Committee on Friday, April 4.
4. SF 1630/HF 1621: Restrictive Procedures for Children with Disabilities – HF 1621 would limit the use of seclusion and restraint to emergency situations in schools. It was passed in the House Education Finance committee on Wednesday, April 1. SF 1630 did not receive a hearing in the Senate, and we hope to include the House language in conference committee.
5. SF 971/HF 1198: Safe Schools for All – This bill would require school boards to adopt policies that prohibit harassment and bullying of categories of students, including students with disabilities, that are not included in current state law. The bill passed the Senate Education Committee on March 24th and was heard in the House Education Policy committee on April 1 and April 2. I testified in support of the bill, and it passed in the House committee, 13 to 9.
6. HF 1701: Special Education Mandates – After the report on the work of the Special Education Task Force a month ago, House Education Chair Mindy Greiling asked that a work group be formed to discuss education mandates. Sue Abderholden is representing the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities committee on the work group. Consensus was reached on eliminating several mandates that won’t impact the quality of special education services.
7. SF 1155/HF 1114: Adult Foster Care Licensure (5 beds) – HF 1114 was heard in the House HHS Finance Committee on April 2 and passed. SF 1155 was heard in the Senate HHS Policy Committee on April 1 and passed. This bill would permit the addition of a fifth bed to current waiver group homes in certain situations. This will only be permitted if all residents agree through the informed consent process, and if the addition of a fifth bed does not increase the current number of corporate adult foster care beds in the waiver system.
8. SF 727/HF 1032: Self Advocacy Appropriation – This appropriations bill for the Self Advocates Minnesota project seeks a match in federal funding. It has passed the Senate’s HHS Finance Committee, and will be heard in the House on Monday evening, April 6 at 6:30 pm.
9. SF 854/HF 1110: ARRM Transformation Bill – This bill passed the Senate’s HHS Policy Committee and is now moving on to the Senate’s HHS Finance Committee. Anything that costs new money is being amended out of the bill. The bill would establish a process to look at Minnesota’s regulations, expand the use of technology for persons with disabilities, and have group residential housing support dollars available to individuals to spend in unlicensed settings, including provider-owned housing. The Arc is working with ARRM on language to promote the transition to consumer-controlled housing for individuals with disabilities. This bill passed in the House HHS Policy committee on April 2.
Ø Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Bill Tracking Spreadsheet:
The MN Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (MN-CCD) website is housing a spreadsheet to follow the progression of the bills MN-CCD is monitoring at the State Capitol. To access the spreadsheet, please visit www.mnccd.org, and click on the "MN-CCD 2009 Legislative Session Advocacy Toolbox" tab. Please scroll all the way to the bottom of this page to find the spreadsheet. The last column on the right notes whether there is a hearing scheduled in the near future on that particular bill. We will try to keep this spreadsheet as updated as possible, given how fast things are moving at the Legislature. Please email Anni at asimons@arcmn.org if there are any bills or updates you would like added to this spreadsheet.
Ø Last Day for Comment Period on Waiting Lists:
The Minnesota Department of Human Services established 30-day public comment period on the Developmental Disability Waiver Waiting List. The deadline for submitting comments is today, April 6. More information, including how to make a comment, is available on our website (www.TheArcOfMinnesota.org).
Ø Grassroots
The Minnesota Budget Project has published a background paper on how revenues can be raised in a fair manner to help balance our budget and invest in supports for Minnesotans. A link to that report is on our website (www.TheArcMinnesota.org). The Invest in Minnesota campaign has published a handout that gives talking points on how to talk with your legislators about the need to raise revenues fairly. That handout is available at http://www.investinmn.org/docs/MessageCard.pdf
Ø Invest in Minnesota
The Arc of Minnesota has participating in Invest in Minnesota’s coalition efforts to advocate for human services programs and an increase in revenues to help our state budget shortfall. In an effort to have as strong a voice as possible, we will be coordinating some of our advocacy efforts with them and tailoring our messages around some of their common themes. They are planning e-mail and call-in campaigns to state legislators after the Easter/Passover recess. Keep your eyes open for any alerts and actions in the coming days and weeks.
Ø Action Networks:
Here are the next meetings of The Arc’s action networks and the topics for discussion at those meetings:
Ø Check Out Photos From the March 7th Rally:
If you didn’t attend the March 7th Rally on Disability and Aging at the State Capitol, we can help you experience it via the internet. A collection of photos taken that day have been posted on Flickr.com. Go to our website and find the link “Photos of the Rally.” If you have photos you would like posted there, contact Barb Brynstad at bbrynstad@arrm.org
Ø Spread the Word to End the “R” Word!
The Arc is supporting a nationwide campaign spearheaded by Special Olympics to end the use of the “R” word. Called “Spread the Word to End the Word,” the campaign’s goal is to get 100,000 people to pledge to refrain from using the “R” word and encourage others to do the same. As of today, 41,000 people have signed the pledge. Go to www.r-word.org to sign the pledge, and encourage others to sign, too!