As expected in a budget year, debates about spending continue to dominate this legislative session. So you think you can fix the Minnesota deficit? Give the budget your best shot with this online trial from MinnPost. Can you balance it?
If you’re reading this blog, chances are good that you have some opinions about the Child Welfare elements of the budget. You always have an avenue to express those opinions to your elected officials – find out how to contact them to the right. There’s also an opportunity for you to give public testimony to the committees that decide about Child Welfare funding and policy. Here’s the info:
TUESDAY, March 1, 2011 – 12:30 PM
Health and Human Services Finance
Room: 200 State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Jim Abeler
Agenda: February Forecast Overview from Department of Human Services
Public testimony on Gov. Dayton’s budget
If you have not already signed up or testified and would like to provide public testimony on the governor’s budget recommendations for the areas under the jurisdiction of the HHS Finance committee, contact Christine Kiel at christine.kiel@house.mn
Mary Regan, Executive Director of Minnesota Council of Child Caring Agencies, is expected to testify on Tuesday about the impact of cuts to Child Welfare services. Did you see our last blog post about two advocates who spoke this week? You can watch or listen to their testimony online.
As for new legislation introduced this week, there were just a few new bills closely related to Child Welfare. Here they are:
HF 685: Grandparent visitation governing provisions modified.
SF 372: Full-service school zones establishment. This is a companion bill to HF 563, which was introduced last week.
HF 669: Early childhood education scholarship finance system created, early education worker training and retainment tax credits provided, early childhood education programming quality improved, and money appropriated.
Check back next week for an update on the Child Welfare policy proposals introduced so far this session. We’ll cover the key issues, any action that’s taken place and the outlook for those bills in the coming weeks.