Among many advocates who provided public testimony in the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, two individuals spoke specifically about Child Welfare elements of the budget. This testimony took place on Wednesday, February 23, 2011. You can listen to the audio or view the video recordings at this link. The advocates who spoke about [...]
Let's dig a little deeper into the Governor's budget recommendations, specifically the CCSA allocation and adoption assistance. The Children and Community Services Act is the bulk of the state's contribution to Child Protection. Since last year's reduction was passed as a one-time cut, and since the proposal to make last year's cuts to CCSA permanent [...]
This week, Governor Dayton released his budget proposal. Keep in mind that the legislature and the Governor are taking opposing approaches to resolving this budget deficit. So don't get too attached to the details within this budget, as it's very likely to change through the legislative process. That said, this link will take you to [...]
The Senate passed HF 130, the budget proposal cutting $900 million in state spending. This was a fast turnaround following the House passage of the bill late on 2/9. The bill was sent to the Governor, and he vetoed the bill within a couple hours of receiving it. You can read coverage here, here and [...]
Yesterday afternoon was a busy one for Minnesota politics. The Senate passed HF 130, the budget proposal cutting $900 million in state spending. Read Senator Claire Robling's statement - she's the Senate Finance Chair, author of the Senate's companion bill to HF130 and a member of CASCW's Advisory Board. This was a pretty quick turnaround [...]
Yesterday the House passed the first round of budget cuts on a 68-61 floor vote. Today, the Senate will vote on the same conference committee report. Though the timing isn't certain, it appears the floor vote will happen at 11:00 am. You can attend in person, or you can stream the vote online. While the [...]
House and Senate Conference Committee members worked fast to reach agreement on cuts of $1 billion dollars in state spending. As MPR News put it, "Child protection among losers in first round of budget cuts." The reductions to funding for Child and Community Service Assistance grants ($13.7 million a year, or 21%) have remained unchanged [...]
A class of U of M School of Social Work students asked some great follow up questions to the earlier Funding 101 post. Here are the questions and responses. Thanks for your curiosity! Q: How does Minnesota compare, in terms of total Child Welfare expenditures, to other states? A: Minnesota spending is 14th highest out [...]