It was a busy week at the Capitol! Both the Senate and the House had major dynamic shifts and ARRM had three of our legislative priorities receive their first committee hearing. Below is a brief update on everything that happened and some things we are looking at this coming week.
Senate Power Shift
Sen. Doran Clark (60) was sworn in on Monday, February 3rd. Immediately following the swearing in, a motion was made on the Senate floor to dissolve the power sharing agreement that was put in place at the beginning of session. Following some debate, the motion prevailed and the DFL is now in control of committees and the Senate floor once again.
House Leadership Come to Agreement
On Wednesday, an agreement was announced between leaders of the GOP and DFL in the House that would return DFL members to the Capitol and allow the House to formally organize. In the agreement, GOP leader, Rep. Lisa Demuth will be elected Speaker of the House for the biennium and GOP members will chair all committees until the District 40B Special Election. If following the election, the House returns to a tie there will be GOP and DFL co-chairs of each committee as well as equal DFL and GOP committee membership. The House met on Thursday and formally organized and committees will begin meeting this week.
ARRM bills receive hearings
Three of ARRM’s legislative priorities received a hearing in the Senate Human Services Committee on Wednesday.
- SF 446, ARRM’s Out of Home Respite was presented by me and Tyler Langenfeld of Accra. The bill received positive reactions and support from committee members and was referred to the Health and Human Services Committee for an additional hearing.
- SF 402, the Best Life Alliance DWRS rate adjustment bill was presented by Ken Bence of ARRM and Julie Johnson with MSS. Legislators spoke in support of the bill and it was laid over for possible inclusion in the Human Services omnibus bill.
- SF 401, ARRM’s Policy bill was presented by me. The county association spoke in opposition to our language that would impose penalties on the lead agency if they approved an individual’s service authorization past a 30-business day timeline that we are proposing in the bill. ARRM will be meeting with the counties in the coming weeks to further discuss the issue providers are facing and potential solutions. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the Human Services omnibus bill.
Additionally, on Friday, ARRM’s Technology grant bill was formally introduced in the Senate. The bill number is SF 1177 and can be found here.
Looking Ahead
This coming week, ARRM’s top priority is to gather House member signatures on our bills and have them formally introduced. Once we receive bill numbers in the House we will be updating our legislative agenda for members to use in their advocacy work.
Grassroots Advocacy
In response to our recent action alert about the Governor’s proposed cuts to disability waiver services, 1939 messages have been sent to members of the legislature. This is amazing, thank you for your action! Don’t forget, if you hear back from your legislator, please use this form to let us know their response and don’t hesitate to email directly if you feel more follow up is necessary with your legislator.
Thanks for all you do.
--Sara Grafstrom, Senior Director of State and Federal Policy