One of the most talked about policies to be voted on in the Minnesota Legislature this year is HF92/SF3, the bill to raise the state minimum wage. Minnesota's current minimum wage is one of the lowest in the country, set at $6.15/hour. Under the bill's proposed mandates HF92 would raise the minimum wage to $9.50/hour [...]
On February 4th, 2014 the Minnesota Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing met with Dr. Edward Ehlinger, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and other members of the community to discuss the health disparities gap that persists in Minnesota and programs that can help alleviate these disparities. (Watch the hearing [...]
Today at noon the Minnesota legislative session reconvened. Did you know that CASCW has an active public policy focus? CASCW's Child Welfare Policy Resources Since 2011 we have been blogging during each Minnesota legislative session, tracking child welfare-related legislation and decoding bill text in order to understand the impact bills may have on child welfare [...]
As promised from yesterday, I am continuing my "brief bill descriptions" post regarding child welfare-related bills introduced during the interim of Minnesota's 88th legislative session. Early Learning H.F. 1880: Introduced by Rep. Ryan Winkler and others, this bill would ensure that each eligible child receives an early learning scholarship. Beginning in FY2015, funding for this [...]
Although the Minnesota legislative session does not officially begin until February 25, quite a few bills were introduced in the interim on Monday. Because there are several that may impact children, youth, and families involved in child welfare (or at risk of involvement), I have decided to write two posts providing brief descriptions of these [...]
Yesterday I attended the 2014 Children and Youth Issues Briefing at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul, MN. This briefing is held annually prior to the start of the Minnesota legislative session to discuss emerging legislative issues and initiatives that will impact children and youth in Minnesota. The event was well attended (as usual) [...]
As of last Thursday, August 1 2013, the Family Reunification Act went into effect. This law allows foster youth 15 and older who were never adopted to have the option to reunite with their birth parents. The law stipulates that the birth parents must be able to demonstrate that they have resolved or addressed the [...]
The main piece (in my opinion) of Chapter 108 (the session law that was the omnibus Health & Human Services Finance bill) is Article 17, which establishes Chapter 256N in Minnesota Statutes, Northstar Care for Children. As I said in an earlier blog post on Northstar Care for Children, this program will make foster care, [...]
