Board of Social Work Budget Proposal

Kate Zacher-Pate, Executive Director of the Minnesota Board of Social Work (BOSW), presented the BOSW budget proposal at the House Health and Human Services (HHS) Finance Committee meeting last Thursday. The proposal included recommendations for enforcing social work licensure for those who are practicing social work without a license and encouraging retired licensed social workers to engage in volunteer and pro-bono work (including licensing supervision of BSWs and MSWs). Ms. Zacher-Pate was also very supportive of the Governor’s recently released budget.

During the committee hearing, the Board made no comment about licensing for county social workers, a topic the Board has encouraged the Governor’s Task Force to consider in its discussion on training and education for child protection workers. Current statute does not include county social workers among those practicing social work who are required to be licensed (M.S. 148E.055, Subd. 1). The BOSW argument for requiring licensure for county social workers is that it will ensure that county social workers meet a minimum set of standards for safe and ethical professional practice (see the BOSW website). However, an argument against requiring licensure is that rural counties may not be able to fill their staffing needs if they can only employ licensed social workers.

Out of Home Placement Costs of Children under ICWA

Last Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing heard SF 207, a bill that would require state reimbursement to counties of the non-federal share of costs associated with out-of-home placements for ICWA-eligible children (ICWA stands for Indian Child Welfare Act). Pine County Commissioner Steve Hallan testified that of the $1 million spent on out-of-home placements in Pine County, 35% went toward ICWA placements. Per the testimony given at the committee hearing, the goal of the bill is to support counties in their provision of culturally appropriate out-of-home placements for American Indian children.

Key Points

  • Counties would report on amount of money they spend on out-of-home placement of children under ICWA as well as the number of case days involved.
  • The Minnesota Department of Human Services would reimburse counties for 100% of the non-federal share of the cost, given that accurate data is provided (verified by DHS).

The bill was passed as amended and re-referred to the Taxes committee.

Repeal of the 2014 Screening Law on Use of Screened-Out Reports

Yesterday the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing heard SF 505, which would repeal the 2014 law that barred the use of screened-out reports in the screening decision-making process. This change does not give statutory guidance for whether screened-out reports may be used in the screening decision-making process. Perhaps this will be a topic of discussion during tomorrow’s Screening and Transparency Workgroup.

Key Point

  • Repeal of the following sentence on the use of screened-out reports: “A screened out report must not be used for any purpose other than making an offer of social services to the subjects of the screened out report.”

The bill was passed as amended.

This Week’s Legislative Events

View our calendar for more information.

  • February 11, 2015, 12:45 pm–2:30 pm: House HHS Finance Committee will hear public testimony on the Governor’s proposals for the HHS budget.
  • February 11, 2015, 8:30 am–11:00 am: The Screening and Transparency Workgroup (CPS Task Force) will meet.
  • February 12, 2015, 12:45 pm–2:30 pm: House HHS Finance Committee will discuss the Governor’s HHS budget recommendations.
  • February 13, 2015, 12:00 pm–2:30 pm: The Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children will meet. Workgroups will meet before and after the full Task Force (see Calendar).