Youth Policy

Minimum wage and gun control at the legislature

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:05:47 +0000

Eric Pusey

and repaying the school ~~robbery~~ shift and bullying

Yesterday, I reviewed Minnesota’s 2013 legislative session from a rosy, more positive perspective. Today I’ll look at what we didn’t achieve and should have.

So as you read this, remember that the marriage equality win was epic. Also remember that we’ve stopped the government in crisis bull**** that the Republicans got us into while investing in moving our state forward.

Minimum Wage

At one point it looked like the Legislature might raise their own pay before dealing with the minimum wage. That would have been a huge mistake. Instead, they passed a constitutional amendment on the 2014 ballot to create a citizen panel to review legislator pay.

In the end, the DFL Senate couldn’t agree with the DFL House on what MN’s minimum wage should be. The House thought $9 per hour, the Senate $7.75. Neither is really all that great. $10 per hour would have been decent.

Why did the Senate fail? Did the fraidy-Dems bring forward fears about reelection? Or repackaged bull**** Republican talking points?

Guns

Simply stated, the NRA and their stooges won. The DFL leadership simply didn’t push hard enough on this.

Did marriage equality take up too much bandwidth? Maybe. But I thought that the DFL was able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

School Shift

The Republicans stole money from schools that the legislature had already promised. School districts had already spent that money. Republicans used that money to cover the structural deficit that a decade of their fiscal negligence caused.

So it’s not really cool that we didn’t pay that back.

I get it that we’ve fully funded our education system, but it’s kind of like telling a kid your sorry the bully stole her/his allowance and that you’ll be increasing his/her allowance but you won’t be returning the money the bully stole.

Bullying

The anti-bullying bill, the Safe and Supportive Schools Act, would have brought Minnesota’s vague standards up to par with the rest of the country. Republicans threatened a filibuster and won because time was on their side. We simply didn’t have enough time left in the session and we had other items to pass before the session ended.

Thankfully, protecting LGBT kids from bullying will be a top priority next spring. We have too many kids suffering from bullying and too many administrators complying with our current standards who are unaware of the suffering.

Minnesota Progressive Project

Gun Talk

Minnesota Progressive Project

Health care appropriations target children's services

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:41:20 +0000

Sue Hegarty

Session Weekly/Session Daily

Besides authorizing Medical Assistance coverage for early intervention treatment of children with autism, a bill re-passed by the House late Friday would require large employers to offer insurance benefits for autism spectrum disorder therapy.

The initiatives are included in HF1233*/ SF1034, the omnibus health and human services finance bill. After adopting the report, the House passed the bill 73-61.

Rep. Thomas Huntley (DFL-Duluth) and Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) sponsor the bill, which must be re-passed by the Senate before going to the governor.

Under a Reform 20/20 proposal, $12.7 million would be appropriated from the General Fund to create a new MA benefit for children under age 18 with autism, who would receive family-centered, culturally appropriate and individualized treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one in 88 children was on the autism spectrum in 2012. In 2010, more than 17,000 residents with autism spectrum disorder received Medical Assistance. Depending upon the intensity of the individual’s treatment plan, therapies can cost between $30,000 and $100,000 per year, yet few insurance plans offer coverage.

The bill would mandate insurance coverage for employers with 50 or more employees, a provision sponsored by Rep. Kim Norton (DFL-Rochester). This provision narrowly passed the conference committee after two of the five senators voted against it. Coverage would also be required for state employee group insurance participants beginning in 2016, or before if a collective bargaining agreement or compensation plan includes coverage as an added benefit.

Representatives from Medica and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce opposed it because it would only apply to a narrow group of insured individuals and would not include children covered under self-insured plans or in Mnsure, the new health insurance marketplace beginning on Jan. 1, 2014.

Norton said her long-term goal would be to include mandated coverage in a list of Minnesota Essential Health Benefits for policies purchased through the health care exchange plans beginning in 2016.

Other care for children

Conferees also adopted the governor’s proposed consolidation of child adoption and foster care rate payment programs, which was not funded in either bill passed earlier by the House and Senate. Current payment rates create disparities and incentivize foster care, rather than adoption. Known as the Northstar Care for Children Act, the bill includes a Senate provision that would grant a 2 percent rate increase to adoptive parents and relatives who have custody of a minor.

The Northstar program would use $3.2 million from the General Fund in the 2014-15 biennium and $16.3 million in the following biennium. Streamlining is expected to result in more children being adopted within two years of entering foster care.

The bill would also allow the Department of Human Services to close some child support cases when payments are overdue three years or more. This would allow staff to work on cases with a higher probability of payment. In the absence of a state law, DHS is required under federal law to continue trying to collect delinquent child support payments, even if there is no reasonable chance of collecting the money.

Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL-Mpls) said the policy would lead to “more fruitful collections” serving more children.

Other child-related provisions in the bill would:

expand MA coverage for children and pregnant women up to 275 percent of the federal poverty guideline;
allocate $360,000 for fetal alcohol syndrome grants;
modify child care provider regulations regarding children under their care;
raise the limit from 10 to 25 days per year that child care providers can be reimbursed when a child enrolled in the Child Care Assistance Program is absent;
increase access to quality child care for children with high needs;
remove the cap on Minnesota Family Investment Program’s cash benefits when a recipient has another child;
provide funding for shelter and treatment of sexually exploited youth and to de-criminalize exploited youth; and
fully fund the governor and House proposal to increase School-Linked Mental Health Grants so that mental health providers can serve children in more schools.

The all-day kindergarten proposal contained in the omnibus K-12 education finance bill would result in $1.7 million in savings to the DHS’s MFIP child care assistance program because of reduced child care needs.

Adults and their caregivers

Recent policy changes are driving Minnesota toward keeping aging adults in their homes and in small group settings within their community as an alternative to nursing homes. As more elderly and disabled residents receive care using the home and community-based service model, new policies are needed to protect the safety and rights of health care waiver recipients. Several provisions in the bill would create policies to ensure client safety, to provide more choices and to prevent maltreatment.

Nursing homes, which were due to take a 1.67 percent cut, would instead receive a 5 percent cost-of-living increase, with three-quarters of the increase dedicated to staff wages.

Rep. Joe Schomaker (R-Luverne) said that was not enough. “The funding in this area is still lacking,” he said.

“Joe, Joe, say it isn’t so. You cannot snub your nose at a 5 percent increase,” responded Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault), who has been a staunch advocate for increases to nursing homes.

Several Republicans said a 1 percent increase for long-term care facilities for people with disabilities fell short and should have matched nursing home increases.

“I’ve been here 25 years and this is the first time I’ve been accused of not spending enough money,” Huntley said.

Efficiencies and cost savings may result from a revised policy in the bill.

When adults on waivered services go to the doctor, the clinic is only eligible to be reimbursed for providing one covered service, per day. However, some clients may require or prefer to receive multiple services, such as mental health therapy or dental services in addition to a doctor's appointment. A Senate provision would enable payment to multiple providers for services at the same clinic on the same day. By combining visits, the state could also see savings for the cost of providing non-emergency medical transportation to the client.

Hospitals feared when the bill left the House and Senate the first time that a proposed increase in surcharges would create financial hardship for many hospitals. However, conferees replaced the higher surcharges with an accelerated payment schedule that would raise about $40 million.

Similarly, Health Maintenance Organization surcharges and caps on HMO reserves were proposed, but were replaced with a plan to collect $40 million in lump sum annual premium payments or accelerated payment schedules, depending upon the type of premium.

“I was happy to see the hospital one go away,” Huntley said.

Omitted by conferees

Several House and Senate provisions that went into the conference committee did not come out.

Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) told conferees that it is too soon to adopt a Senate provision that would base child care assistance payment rates on a quality rating system of providers. The Parent Aware program is too soon to implement in Greater Minnesota, where there are fewer child care choices, she said. Also, recipients needing child care assistance may work nights and weekends, which limits rural choices even further.

Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) defended the Senate position, saying that quality child care is important to a child’s later success in school. “This is the right thing to do morally, it’s the right thing to do educationally and I think it’s the right thing to do by the taxpayer,” she said.

There were not the required three votes by each of the House and Senate conferees and the measure failed.

Two provisions were dead on arrival. The House floor amendment to require drug testing of legislators was Liebling’s “tongue-in-cheek” response to an amendment from Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) to drug test MFIP recipients.

The initiatives are included in HF1233*/ SF1034, the omnibus health and human services finance bill. After adopting the report, the House passed the bill 73-61.

Rep. Thomas Huntley (DFL-Duluth) and Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) sponsor the bill, which must be re-passed by the Senate before going to the governor.

Norton said her long-term goal would be to include mandated coverage in a list of Minnesota Essential Health Benefits for policies purchased through the health care exchange plans beginning in 2016.

Other care for children

Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL-Mpls) said the policy would lead to “more fruitful collections” serving more children.

Other child-related provisions in the bill would:

expand MA coverage for children and pregnant women up to 275 percent of the federal poverty guideline;
allocate $360,000 for fetal alcohol syndrome grants;
modify child care provider regulations regarding children under their care;
raise the limit from 10 to 25 days per year that child care providers can be reimbursed when a child enrolled in the Child Care Assistance Program is absent;
increase access to quality child care for children with high needs;
remove the cap on Minnesota Family Investment Program’s cash benefits when a recipient has another child;
provide funding for shelter and treatment of sexually exploited youth and to de-criminalize exploited youth; and
fully fund the governor and House proposal to increase School-Linked Mental Health Grants so that mental health providers can serve children in more schools.

Adults and their caregivers

Nursing homes, which were due to take a 1.67 percent cut, would instead receive a 5 percent cost-of-living increase, with three-quarters of the increase dedicated to staff wages.

Rep. Joe Schomaker (R-Luverne) said that was not enough. “The funding in this area is still lacking,” he said.

“Joe, Joe, say it isn’t so. You cannot snub your nose at a 5 percent increase,” responded Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault), who has been a staunch advocate for increases to nursing homes.

Several Republicans said a 1 percent increase for long-term care facilities for people with disabilities fell short and should have matched nursing home increases.

“I’ve been here 25 years and this is the first time I’ve been accused of not spending enough money,” Huntley said.

Efficiencies and cost savings may result from a revised policy in the bill.

“I was happy to see the hospital one go away,” Huntley said.

Omitted by conferees

Several House and Senate provisions that went into the conference committee did not come out.

There were not the required three votes by each of the House and Senate conferees and the measure failed.

Helping intoxicated underage drinkers do the right thing

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:07:51 +0000

Mike Cook

Session Weekly/Session Daily

Underage drinkers looking out for their health or that of a friend could avoid a minor consumption ticket.

Sponsored by Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester), HF946 would provide that a person under age 21 who consumes or possesses an alcoholic beverage would not be subject to prosecution “if the person contacts a 911 operator to report that the person or another person is in need of medical assistance for an immediate health or safety concern, provided that the person who initiates contact is the first person to make a report, provides a name and contact information, remains on the scene until assistance arrives and cooperates with the authorities at the scene.”

The person receiving medical attention would also not be charged with underage drinking; nor would one or two persons acting in concert with the caller if they provide contact information and cooperate at the scene. “Sometimes the nature of an emergency is such that somebody needs to call while other people attend to the person with the emergency,” Liebling said.

Passed 124-8 by the House Thursday, the bill now goes to the Senate where it is sponsored by Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-Columbia Heights).

“This is a bill that tells young people that when they or a friend get into trouble, that we care more about their life and their health than we do about any punishment they might incur because of that drinking,” Liebling said.

Four University of Minnesota students spoke March 12 before the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee in favor of the bill. They said students often won’t call for medical help for fear of getting a minor consumption ticket.

"Whether it is a student who is attending a party and drinking for the first time that becomes ill and needs medical attention or a young woman who is sexually assaulted and needs help, current state law discourages that individual from seeking assistance,” said Taylor Williams, student body president on the Twin Cities campus.

“We need to do what we can to avoid a tragedy,” said Elizabeth Huebsch, who told of finding a 19-year-old girl in a dorm bathroom who’d been drinking wine. “Her roommate had never seen Brittany react to alcohol this way and wasn’t sure what to do,” Huebsch said. Brittany ultimately ended up spending more than two days in a hospital as doctors tried to determine what was wrong.

“I want everybody to know it’s OK to ask for help,” said Rep. Dan Schoen (DFL-St. Paul Park). “You might have to deal with mom and dad in the morning, but, by God, it’s better off to do it alive than dead.”

Although he supports the bill’s intent, Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing) voted against it. He wanted to see it restricted to students age 18 and above. “I believe college students understand that this is a life-and-death situation, their reasoning is sound and they understand they should help the individual. I’m afraid the high school students see this as simply a way to get out of something.”

Underage drinkers looking out for their health or that of a friend could avoid a minor consumption ticket.

Passed 124-8 by the House Thursday, the bill now goes to the Senate where it is sponsored by Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-Columbia Heights).

House approves limits on access to electronic juvenile court records

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:05:55 +0000

Sarah Lemagie

Session Weekly/Session Daily

The House on Thursday signed off on a bill that’s intended to give young people a better shot at building decent lives after they end up in court.

HF392 would restrict direct public access to some electronic juvenile court records. The bill passed 120-13.

Many juvenile court records and proceedings are already closed to the public. The bill would affect records stemming from hearings in which the youth is 16 or 17 and has been charged with a felony. Those records are currently public even if an initial felony charge is later reduced or dismissed.

The bill is needed in an era when more employers do background checks and records spread far and fast on the Internet, said its sponsor, Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing). Juvenile records often make it much harder for young people to land jobs, get housing, and even go to college, she said.

The public and press would still have access to hearings and paper records, Melin said. The bill also makes exceptions that would maintain public access to electronic records in some cases, such as those involving certain violent crimes.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) is the sponsor.

The House on Thursday signed off on a bill that’s intended to give young people a better shot at building decent lives after they end up in court.

HF392 would restrict direct public access to some electronic juvenile court records. The bill passed 120-13.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) is the sponsor.

Prepare and Participate: Lao American Parenting to Pursue Knowledge

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:31:03 +0000

KKouanchao

Recently, a student in my program was preparing a speech, and she was moved by the words of the late El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz who said “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” I was impressed she had come across those words and wanted to take them to heart. She was the first in her family to go to college, having escaped the conflict in Iraq with her family. All too often it can become easy for the children of refugees to give up on their sense of the future.

After I returned from the recent Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education conference in San Francisco I was inspired and energized. The conference also reminded me of how much we need to keep getting our stories out there. And as Dr. John Hoffman always taught me as I pursued my doctorate, we need to remember to pay it forward.

How many students today know the story of inspiring Asian American activists like Grace Lee Boggs, an award-winning writer who founded Detroit Summer, a ground-breaking multicultural intergenerational youth program. She blazed a trail as a regular columnist in papers like the Michigan Citizen in a time when Asian American women were rarely heard. Then there's the tireless work of Yuri Kochiyama on behalf of those put into Japanese internment camps and other civil rights issues. Many of her inspiring words in her 1998 book Discover Your Mission still speak to us today.

I bring this up because there are so many stories we could be sharing to encourage people to speak up and get involved. I particularly wonder where we will hear Lao American voices in the years ahead.

I was recently asked by a student in Fresno about what I saw as a significant problem in the Lao American community.

While it is true our issues are complex, I hate it when people suggest complexity justifies apathy, indifference and non-involvement. I hate seeing many won’t even try to examine root causes and take action. Problems may be complex, but that doesn’t mean we can turn away from them.

Education is one issue we constantly discuss. There are many families involved with their kids success, but we have to help them keep involved at the next level. Once our kids try to explain concepts such as internships, scholarships, and the importance of extracurricular activities, something breaks down and many parents start to give up, because it’s something they never experienced. But when we find such areas, we must not think it can’t be learned or understood. We can't be afraid to ask for help. We need to celebrate asking questions.

At both the family level and the cultural level, we need to reinvest in our true traditional values of valuing education. Not just give lip service to it. We need to see education as a treasure and create a community of passionate, curious seekers.

Without that fundamental curiosity as a key part of our cultural character, all of our other efforts to succeed will always be a struggle.

Saying “Lao pride” is not enough. You must embody it through the pursuit of education. Not just for the degrees and validation of others, but for the actual gain of knowledge you can take with you and share with others.

You don’t wait for education to happen. You make it happen, and prepare for it today.

Kouanchao Corner

Starting Line: Establishing a Student Religious Liberties Act

Staff — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:56:54 +0000

Session Weekly/Session Daily

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are collectively called The Bill of Rights. Originally drafted to lessen fears that the Constitution would open the way to tyranny by a central government, this document enshrines citizens' most important basic freedoms.

From time to time, however, there have been calls of alarm that personal freedoms are being compromised. For instance, Rep. Duane Quam (R-Byron) sponsors a bill because he says, in some cases, constitutional rights are being restricted. His bill, HF1771, is the topic of this week’s Starting Line.

Tribal jurisdiction of some children sought

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:23:29 +0000

leeannwahi

Session Weekly/Session Daily

An effort to help Native American children retain ties with their tribal communities if parental rights are terminated awaits action by the governor.

Sponsored by Rep. Susan Allen (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Mpls), HF252/ SF250* would allow a court the ability to transfer a case to tribal court in a proceeding for temporary placement of a Native American child in a foster home or institution or permanent placement through adoption. The transfer could be denied by the tribal court.

Passed 123-5 by the House Friday, the bill was passed 50-5 by the Senate May 1.

“This bill makes it clear that it can transfer jurisdiction at all levels of child custody hearings,” Allen said. She said it clarifies a mistake made by the Minnesota Supreme Court in a 2011 case.

This bill does not create tribal jurisdiction, Allen said. “This bill … provides protections for Indian children.”

An effort to help Native American children retain ties with their tribal communities if parental rights are terminated awaits action by the governor.

Passed 123-5 by the House Friday, the bill was passed 50-5 by the Senate May 1.

This bill does not create tribal jurisdiction, Allen said. “This bill … provides protections for Indian children.”

Volunteer lawyers make personal connection with Minnesota immigrant students

Sun, 05 May 2013 22:46:45 +0000

Erin Collins

TC Daily Planet

“You might not believe this about lawyers, but we do appreciate when we can help individuals,” said Ed Wegerson, a volunteer attorney who has participated in the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota's (ILCM) Pro Bono DREAMer Project. He has helped two young women who had come to the United States as children obtain deferred action status. Both of these clients now plan to continue their college studies in business, one at the graduate school level.

Wegerson reported, “They were just grateful to come out of the shadows — to have a DREAM card, apply for a job and have a correct social security number and eliminate that fear of deportation.” Wegerson was attracted to the project as it offered him “the ability to help an individual directly—frankly, a lot of what I do in law has to do with a lot of abstract concepts — taxes, business ..." He enjoyed the program because it allowed him to “help someone in a way that’s personal and important to them.”

According to the ILCM’s description of the project,

“ILCM trains and mentors attorneys to represent immigrants in their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) cases. DACA is a new immigration remedy being offered to undocumented immigrant youth. On June 15, 2012, the Obama Administration announced that deferred action would be offered to certain immigrant youths, often referred to as DREAMers, who have fulfilled certain educational requirements or served in the military, and met other specified conditions. It is estimated that nationwide, as many as 1.4 million people ages 15-30 could potentially benefit from this remedy. In Minnesota alone, the estimates of potentially eligible individuals are in the thousands.”

Anne Applebaum, Pro Bono Director at ILCM described the initial response to the Pro Bono DREAMer Project as “phenomenal … the response was amazing. Our partners’ support was unconditional with open arms.” She said that, "Since the president’s announcement ILCM has trained over 100 volunteers to represent clients through the DREAMer Project. Currently, over 185 pro bono DACA cases have been placed with volunteer attorneys for full representation and approximately 70 have already been approved.” The clients themselves are reportedly quite enthusiastic in their appraisal of the project. According to Applebaum, “Not only have the clients been extremely dedicated … they’ve expressed that this has changed their lives a lot for the better.”

Attorney Ed Wegerson (Photo courtesy of Lindquist & Vennum)

Wegerson explained that though he is not an immigration attorney, two key factors made it easier for him to participate. The ILCM “did a very good job of explaining the program and the things a non-immigration lawyer wouldn’t know. I did feel pretty confident after the training.” In addition, his clients’ dedication made the experience much easier. He stated, “They came very well prepared. That made our job a little easier.” Wegerson said that the clients themselves gathered approximately 150 documents to support their applications.

Attorney David March, who is also participating in the Pro Bono DREAMer Project, said of his clients, “They’re all very well educated and very smart and they all contribute to their communities. They’re active in their churches almost without exception. They’re volunteering for them.” He is currently working on one DREAMer pro bono case. March said he was drawn to the DREAMer project because most of his clients had had no idea they were undocumented until later in childhood. He described the typical story he has heard from clients, “They’re mostly young kids who had no idea they were in this country illegally and it wasn’t until they were going to apply for a driver’s license or apply for college that their parents sat them down and said, ‘When you were two years old we came here illegally.'”

One of the reasons March has enjoyed his work with the project is “One of the things they’re excited about is that they’re all living in a lot of poverty, but once an applicant is granted deferred status their income potential and their employment opportunities change dramatically … This literally changes the trajectory of their lives. It means that they can go to college, it means that they can have careers — professional careers … that changes so much.”

Daniel Perez (photo courtesy of Daniel Perez)

Graduate student Daniel Perez, who was one of the ILCM clients in the DREAMer Project, received deferred status on January 25. Perez described this process as, “Life changing. It’s just one of those things- we never expected President Obama to do that but once it happened it was like having a ray of hope. And then (after getting deferred status) it was like you could hold that ray of hope in your hand. It’s a sign that change is coming.”

While studying for a dual master’s degree in social work and family social science, Perez had been offered a research assistant position in social work in the past but had been unable to accept the position due to his undocumented status. More recently, he was offered another research assistant position in Family Social Science and was able to accept. He received his work card and social security number just in time to accept his new position in February of 2013. He commented, “Without DACA this wouldn’t have been possible. It was the first step in allowing me to pursue the American Dream — being able to work in the field I chose to go into.”

According to the ILCM’s description of the project,

“ILCM trains and mentors attorneys to represent immigrants in their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) cases. DACA is a new immigration remedy being offered to undocumented immigrant youth. On June 15, 2012, the Obama Administration announced that deferred action would be offered to certain immigrant youths, often referred to as DREAMers, who have fulfilled certain educational requirements or served in the military, and met other specified conditions. It is estimated that nationwide, as many as 1.4 million people ages 15-30 could potentially benefit from this remedy. In Minnesota alone, the estimates of potentially eligible individuals are in the thousands.”

Attorney Ed Wegerson (Photo courtesy of Lindquist & Vennum)

Daniel Perez (photo courtesy of Daniel Perez)

Related stories:

New law creates pathway for parents, children to reunite

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:06:22 +0000

Sarah Lemagie

Session Weekly/Session Daily

A new law that takes effect on Aug. 1, 2013, will create a way for some teenagers to reunite with parents whose rights had been terminated.

The Family Reunification Act lays out a legal process that doesn’t currently exist in Minnesota. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi was among the law’s proponents. So was Gina Evans, a mother who abused drugs, did prison time, lost her parental rights, and then, finally, rebuilt her life – only to learn that there was no legal way for her to get her children back.

Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill on May 1.

Before voting, one lawmaker asked on the House floor whether the new law would hurt some children by giving them false hope of reuniting with their parents.

“That has been my concern for a very long time, and why I have killed this bill for the past six years,” said Rep. Debra Hilstrom (DFL-Brooklyn Center), the bill’s House sponsor. Hilstrom said she took on the legislation to make sure it was done right. After years of work, she and others who crafted the law reached consensus on its language, which applies only to families in narrowly defined circumstances.

The law can be applied only to children who are at least age 15 and have not been adopted, among other conditions. Before families can reunite under the new process, the relevant county attorney and social services agency have to agree that the move is in the child’s best interest. Parents seeking reunification have to show that they’ve fixed the problems that led to their loss of rights and can take care of their children.

Sen. Kathy Sheran (DFL-Mankato) carried the bill in the Senate.

HF704/ SF422*/CH30

A new law that takes effect on Aug. 1, 2013, will create a way for some teenagers to reunite with parents whose rights had been terminated.

Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill on May 1.

Before voting, one lawmaker asked on the House floor whether the new law would hurt some children by giving them false hope of reuniting with their parents.

Sen. Kathy Sheran (DFL-Mankato) carried the bill in the Senate.

HF704/ SF422*/CH30

Prospects of state aid for undocumented immigrant students 'looking really, really good'

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:01:36 +0000

Cynthia Boyd

MinnPost

Wednesday was the third time over the years that the Minnesota Senate has passed a bill that would allow Minnesota’s undocumented college students to pay in-state tuition. Before, similar measures have died for lack of support outside that body.

This time is going to be different, says Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, author of this and similar bills for more than a decade. The prospects of the bill becoming law, she said, is “looking really, really good.’’

The Senate vote was 41-23.

Community Sketchbook focuses on the economic and social challenges facing communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color, and how people are trying to address them.

It is made possible by support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, and some Minneapolis Foundation donor advisors.

Community Sketchbook articles may be republished or distributed, in print or online, with credit to MinnPost and the foundations.

Pappas says the strategy this session is to add the tuition bill – which also includes a provision allowing qualified immigrants students to apply for state money to help pay college tuition -- in conference committee as members of the House and Senate hash out differences in their omnibus higher education bills.

Gov. Mark Dayton also supports the measure.

The chances of its becoming law are helped by the fact Pappas been named to that conference committee. And, Pappas says, there are signs powerful House members of the committee are behind the measure.

If the measure is enacted, Minnesota would become the fourth state in the country to offer undocumented students financial aid and the 16th to offer in-state tuition.

Variously called the Minnesota Dream Act and the Minnesota Prosperity Act, supporters include a broad coalition of organizations, from Education Minnesota to the Citizens League, from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce to the Minnesota Private College Council, as well as immigrant and faith groups and labor.

State higher-education officials have said the cost would be an estimated $539,000 a year, about 0.03 percent of the State Grant, Minnesota’s student aid program. That would be equivalent to adding two students to every college in the state. Fewer than 500 immigrant students are expected to apply each year.

“We’re only halfway there, but I’m pretty confident. This is something we have been working on for a long time. It’s a great day to be a Minnesotan,’’ says Juventino Meza, lead person on the legislation for the Citizens League.

About 40 supporters, including many Latinos, sat in the Senate gallery to observe the Senate vote with many then heading outdoors to join a rally of a few hundred people supporting immigration reform.

Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul, author of a similar bill in the House, says his bill did not have the votes to pass out of committee. The chairman had other issues that had higher priority, according to Mariani.

Related articles:

• Minnesota Senate passes financial aid for undocumented immigrant students
• OPINION | Immigration reform: time is now for Congress, President to act

The Senate vote was 41-23.

Community Sketchbook focuses on the economic and social challenges facing communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color, and how people are trying to address them.

It is made possible by support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, and some Minneapolis Foundation donor advisors.

Community Sketchbook articles may be republished or distributed, in print or online, with credit to MinnPost and the foundations.

Gov. Mark Dayton also supports the measure.

If the measure is enacted, Minnesota would become the fourth state in the country to offer undocumented students financial aid and the 16th to offer in-state tuition.

Related articles:

• Minnesota Senate passes financial aid for undocumented immigrant students
• OPINION | Immigration reform: time is now for Congress, President to act