With the call for child protection system reform in Minnesota has come a maelstrom of opinions about what works and what doesn't for keeping children safe and protecting their overall well-being. Recent legislation has focused on improving aspects of the system's ability to prioritize high-risk maltreatment cases and ensure child safety. Amid the discussion on [...]
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 [...]
Slide from Governor Dayton's Budget Presentation. Source: Minnesota Management & Budget On Tuesday, January 27, 2015, Governor Dayton released his 2016-2017 biennial budget. It has been the topic of several House and Senate committee hearings over the past week. The proposed $42 billion budget, which includes a $1 billion dollar budget surplus, prioritizes services for [...]
While SF 4 and HF 191 are companion bills that implement several recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children, the bill text in SF 4 (modified after the introduction of a delete-all amendment at the Senate committee hearing on Jan. 26) differs slightly from the bill text in HF 191. You [...]
Note: This is a two-part blog post. This first post covers the Senate hearing broadly. The second post, found here, goes into detail about the differences between the two main Senate and House bills implementing child protection task force recommendations. That post also includes discussion from the Senate committee hearing when relevant. Senate Committee Hearing [...]
On Friday, January 23, 2015, a legislative briefing on children and youth issues was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul. Advocates, legislators, and Governor Mark Dayton presented their legislative agendas related to children and youth. Governor Mark Dayton's opening remarks included highlights from his Governor's Budget (issued this week), with $371 million [...]
There are several legislative events in the upcoming week that are related to child protection. All of these events can be found on our Calendar and are also listed on our Public Policy pages. Be sure to keep checking our Public Policy pages for updates on these hearings and Task Force meetings, bill tracking and [...]
On Wednesday, January 21, House File 191 was heard in the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee. H.F. 191 implements several of the recommendations put forth by Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children. According to the bill's author, Representative Ron Kresha, who talked about H.F. 191 at the last CPS Task Force [...]
