Dayton and Legislators Speak on Homelessness
On January 31, Governor Dayton and three state legislators gave speeches on homelessness at an advocacy event
coordinated by the Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness.
Dayton urged advocacy and collaboration, telling the audience "We need to hear your voices over in St. Paul (at the Capitol), we need to hear the voices of thousands of you...the voices of people who speak for those who can't speak for themselves."
Although Dayton's remarks reflected an understanding of the human cost of homelessness ("all I can do when I see those numbers, is see real people") and the moral issue at stake ("It's not about dollars and cents, it's about values and priorities"), his tone was cautious and at times, disheartened. When asked about maintaining income supports and other programs for vulnerable populations, Dayton responded "There are going to be terrible cuts, I'm not going to pretend otherwise."
Rep. Morrie Lanning, chair of the State Government Finance Committee, also spoke at the event. "I am committed to this goal of ending homelessness in our state. It's a worthy goal, and we've made some good progress." Lanning announced that he is currently "carrying" a bill related to supportive housing.
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Pending State Bills
Throughout the Legislative session we wish to highlight bills that may help frame public debate on policy matters or that directly impact services and housing for people experiencing
long-term homelessness. Here is a quick list of bills that grabbed our attention:
HF 8 authored by Rep. Steve Gottwalt would alter the MinnesotaCare program. The bill proposed altering the program from health insurance coverage for low-income workers who can't access health insurance through their employers to a financial assistance program that would provide funds to eligible individuals and families (those above 133% of the federal poverty guideline) to buy health insurance from the private market. The bill is touted as a way to help reform our current health care system. NAMI and other mental health advocates oppose the bill because there was no guarantee that any mental health services would be covered, including crisis teams and residential services, and because most private insurance have very high deductibles. The bill passed the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee on a party line vote.
HF 199 authored by Rep. Steve Gottwalt seeks to halt adoption in Minnesota of the federal health care reform initiative. The bill states, "The power to require or regulate a person's choice in the mode of securing health care services, or to impose a penalty related to that choice, is not found in the Constitution of the United States of America." The bill was referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services Reform. (See companion bill SF 33, authored by Sen. David Hann.)
HF 130 authored by Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, and SF 60 authored by Sen. Claire Robling, will make specific cuts to the state budget totalling $1 billion over the next couple of years. HF 130 decreases funding to higher education, human services and local county and city aid. One example of the cuts: reductions in funding to the Children and Community Services block grant which funds child protection, vulnerable adult protection, children's mental health services and adult mental health services. HF 130 has already been considered by the full House which passed the bill on nearly party-line votes.
However, there were several Republicans who voted against the bill, including:
Representative King Banian (St. Cloud) - rep.king.banaian@house.mn
Representative Debra Kiel (Crookston) - rep.debra.kiel@house.mn
Representative John Kriesel (Cottage Grove) - rep.john.kriesel@house.mn
Representative Rich Murray (Albert Lea) - rep.rich.murray@house.mn
The Senate Finance Committee has passed SF 60 and it will be heard on the Senate Floor in the near future. SF 60 proposes cuts to reimbursement for basic care services and decreases DHS appropriations.
HF 128, authored by Rep. Jim Abeler and Rep. Holberg (companion to SF 94) has been referred to the Health and Human Services Finance Committee. The bill proposes funding reductions to Children and Community Services Grants, the only source of state funds to help investigate and respond to child protection. The bill also eliminates Emergency General Assistance and Emergency Minnesota Supplemental Aid grants.
No bills have been introduced in either the House or the Senate concerning affordable housing or housing as of January 28, 2011.
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Federal Policy Update
President Remains Committed to Ending Veteran Homelessness
During a White House event for military families on January 24th, President Obama emphasized the priority on ending veteran homelessness. "We are going to remain relentless -- not just at VA, but at HUD and HHS and across the government -- in our fight to end homelessness among our veterans," the President said. "We have to have zero tolerance for homelessness among our veterans."
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GOP Pursues Deep Spending Cuts
House Republicans aim to reduce non-security discretionary spending by approximately $60 billion for the rest of the fiscal year. The plan appears unlikely to be passed in the Senate, however, so Congress is expected to pass another short-term stopgap measure to prevent government shutdown on March 4th (when a current stopgap measure expires). House Resolution 38 was passed on January 25th, which sets non-security discretionary spending at FY 2008 levels.
