The Special Session, which was called to order on Friday, June 12th, adjourned around 6:00 am on Saturday, June 20th without passing any of their high priorities including: significant criminal justice reform, a bonding bill and a bill that would allocate dollars to the cities and counties for COVID relief from the Federal CARES Act.
While this was a disappointing end to the special session, the legislature did pass two pieces of legislation critical to ARRM members.
The first, the Health and Human Service Omnibus bill was considered unfinished business from the 2020 regular session. The bill failed to pass during regular session due to language in the bill that would give the Commissioner of DHS broad authority to waive certain rules and regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, this language greatly mirrors the authority granted to the Commissioner through an Executive Order put in place by Governor Walz. This language was removed from the special session bill in order to get broad agreement from both parties in the House and Senate. ARRM staff are currently doing a full analysis of the bill and the impact on providers, but I wanted to update you on a few key initiatives that were included that will go into effect on August 1st:
- ARRM’s 2020 Policy Priorities including:
- Extension of the fifth bed licensing exception until December 30th, 2020
- Change in the 45 Day planning meeting timeline to now be within 45 days of service or 60 calendar days, whichever is shorter
- Allowing the Designated Coordinator to determine someone competent to train and determine competency of the person they are training for items specific to a person’s CSSP Addendum
- A new training requirement under 245D stating that staff must be trained on “strategies to minimize the risk of sexual violence, including concepts of healthy relationships, consent and bodily autonomy of people with disabilities.”
- ARRM has already engaged with the Arc of Minnesota and STAR Services and will provide more information to members on the best resources available to meet this new training requirements
- Three new “Disability Policy Statements” stating that Minnesota is an Employment First, Independent Living First and Self-Direction First state.
- ARRM’s Service Innovations Committee has reviewed these statements and has begun discussion on how to draft our 2021 legislative agenda in a way that supports the intent of these statements and also provides providers with the resources to support individuals in the way that works best for them.
Other provisions that impact the disability community were included in the bill and we will provide an in-depth review of the bill after a full analysis has been complete. You can find the full bill text here.
In addition to the Health and Human Service Omnibus bill, the legislature also passed a bill that would extend certain waivers put in place by the Commissioner of Human Services during the COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency for an extended period of time and allows for a sixty day ramp down period for other waivers. While there were multiple waivers extended, of most importance to ARRM members include:
- The ability to provide remote supports for certain Home and Community Based Services, extended to June 30th, 2021
- Extending the temporary absence extension for Housing Supports to December 30, 2020
- All other waivers provided a 60 day extension once the peacetime emergency officially ends
While this special session has officially come to an end, it is anticipated that the legislature may be called back for additional special sessions this summer to compete some of the work that was left undone. Additionally, the Governor extended his peacetime emergency by thirty days, which will now expire on July 12th. If he wants to extend the emergency again, he will need to call the legislature back to session.
Please contact me with any questions about any of the provisions outlined above.
--Sara Grafstrom, Director of State and Federal Policy