HHS Omnibus bill in the Minnesota legislature

There is concern over utilizing funds from the Health Care Access Fund (HCAF) for Medical Assistance expenses currently paid from the general fund, as the HCAF is currently funded by the provider tax, which is currently set to expire in 2019 and will therefore not be able to fund the HCAF.

Comparing House and Senate bill language

Source: MN Legislature

Some child welfare-relevant aspects of the House and Senate HHS omnibus bill texts are highlighted below.

Relative custody assistance and adoption assistance would become forecasted programs in both House and Senate language. Currently relative custody assistance is dependent on availability of funds and can be reduced.

Northstar Care for Children is sort of included in the Senate language. Although the Senate text does not actually implement it, they would have DHS and other stakeholders come together to analyze foster care payments, relative custody assistance, and adoption assistance. The goal would be “to establish a uniform set of benefits available to children in foster care, permanent relative care, and adoption so that the benefits can follow the child rather than being tied to the child’s legal status.” Additionally the Senate would ask the analysis to include the possibility of accessing federal Title IV-E funds through guardianship assistance.

Sexual exploitation of youth is mentioned in both House and Senate. Currently the law provides exemptions for children under age 16 who participate in sexual acts that violate federal, state, and local hiring laws in its delinquent child and juvenile petty offender definitions. The House and Senate would remove the age restriction to include all children. Additionally, the House and Senate would remove “prostitution” from the definition of “child in need of protection or services” and replace it with “sexually exploited youth.” Both the House and Senate would repeal the statute “Juvenile Prostitutes; Diversion or Child Protection Proceedings.”

The Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) also has some big changes. Some that are relevant to child welfare include the following:

• Both the House and Senate would repeal the MFIP family cap to allow increases in cash assistance when additional children enter the household.
• The House would:
  • require require drug testing in order to receive MFIP,
  • Permanently ban certain individuals from receiving MFIP: Those convicted of murder in the first or second degrees and those convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and
  • provide housing assistance grants to families whose housing costs are more than 50% of their monthly cash grant (max assistance: $250/month).
• The Senate would:
  • establish a 16% onetime increase in the cash portion of MFIP effective October 1, 2015,
  • allocate additional funds equal to 5 (rather than 2.5) percent of county’s/tribe’s initial allocation to counties/tribes who perform within or above expected performance, and
  • allow DHS to pursue TANF demonstration projects or waivers of TANF requirements.

More specifically, MFIP Child Care Assistance receives several changes in the Senate:

• Would allow up to 20 hours per week of unconditional child care in child-only cases for children ages five and under if the primary caregiver is receiving SSI for a disability related to a serious mental illness.
• Would make “mental health treatment” an approved social services activity in employment plans.
• Would require caregivers to choose a child care provider participating in the quality rating and improvement system, effective July 1, 2018, unless provided a waiver (conditions for waiver specified).
• Would increase maximum rate paid for child care assistance by 2% of the rate as of July 1, 2012.

Both the House and Senate would increase the number of absent days allowed in a year to 25 full absent days or ten consecutive full days. This is what it was prior to the 2011-2012 legislative session. The House would provide exemptions for children with documented medical conditions or children whose parents or siblings in their same residence who have documented medical conditions.

Changes are also made regarding licensing for child care providers. The changes are pretty similar between the House and Senate. “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” is renamed “Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome” and “shaken baby syndrome” is renamed “abusive head trauma.” There are more specifics related to training on abusive head trauma as well as safe sleep methods.

The House would also address reducing disparities by establishing the Cultural and Ethnic Communities Leadership Council, whose purpose is “to advise the commissioner of human services on reducing disparities that affect racial and ethnic groups.” Learn more about racial disparities in child welfare.

Finally, the Homeless Youth Act: Both the House and Senate would establish the Homeless Youth Act. Both would provide funding for programs, technical assistance, and capacity building in order “to meet the greatest need on a statewide basis.” Additionally, the House would ask the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness to make recommendations to reduce and prevent youth homelessness. They must take into consideration certain issues, including youth aging out of and exiting foster care.

Interested in other omnibus bills?

There are other omnibus bills that will directly or indirectly impact children and families involved in the child welfare system. The omnibus tax bill is important to track as it raises funds for investments in our children and families, while other omnibus bills will directly or indirectly impact children and families involved in child welfare.

For example, the higher education budget bill focuses on making college more affordable and therefore invests in our workers. Since the line between poverty and neglect is often blurred, one could argue that providing more affordable higher education opportunities, which ideally would lead to higher paying jobs, could also reduce a family’s risk of child maltreatment by neglect.

The Minnesota Budget Project’s blog, Minnesota Budget Bites, has some pretty informative articles on these other omnibus bills:

• House omnibus tax bill’s priorities include progressivity and lower property taxes (Nan Madden)
• Senate omnibus tax bill shares goals with Governor and House, but differs in the details (Nan Madden)
• E-12 omnibus bills make significant investments in our children (Caitlin Biegler)