On March 7, 2012, Representative Liebling introduced H.F. 2713 which would prohibit smoking in a residence that provides licensed foster care for children. Senator Hayden introduced the companion bill S.F. 2376 on March 12, 2012. As you may be aware, additional smoking bans have been implemented over the past 5 years regarding smoking in public [...]
On Monday, March 12th S.F. 1165 was heard in the Health and Human Services Committee. This bill was introduced to amend language in 125A.30 Interagency Early Intervention Committees. This language would prompt a referral for an early intervention screening for children under age 3 who are subject of an accepted report for investigation or family [...]
On Monday, March 5th the Minnesota Senate held a hearing on S.F. 1412 which was introduced by Senator Senjem. The purpose of the bill is to create an exception to the foster care moratorium to allow the licensing of facilities that serve children with severe autism. *A moratorium on new child and adult corporate foster [...]
Minnesota Senate File 1675 was heard on February 15th and February 21st. This bill has a number of amendments that affect child welfare. Click here to see the full bill text. This bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Here are a few of the pieces of the bill that were discussed in [...]
On Friday, January 27, 2012 the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council on Foundations hosted the 2012 Session Line Up, speakers included Governor Mark Dayton, Representative Paul Thissen, Representative Kurt Zellers, Senator John Marty and Senator David Senjem. Although this is a bonding year and not a budget year there are a number [...]
On December 16, 2011, Senator Thomas Harkins (D-IA) introduced Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020). This bill would protect all school children against harmful and life-threatening seclusion and restraint practices. The House has a companion bill H.R. 1381 introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA7). A similar bill was introduced in 2009 called Preventing Harmful [...]
Because the Minnesota legislative session will begin in a couple of weeks, I'd like to focus this blog post on a Minnesota-specific bill related to child welfare. Last April, the Minnesota House (HF 0749) and Senate (SF 1339) introduced a bill called the Family Reunification Act of 2011. The bill would reestablish legal rights between [...]
Today's highlighted bill, H.R. 3766: Jeremy Bell Act of 2011, was introduced on December 23rd by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick. The proposed bill would penalize by fine, imprisonment, or both, public and private school employers who complete interstate transfers of employees who are child sex offenders. The bill also addresses sexual conduct reporting standards for employees [...]