Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020
In 2006 Senator John Hottinger and Representative Jim Abeler championed the creation of an eighteen member bi-partisan, bi-cameral commission to develop strategies to end poverty in Minnesota by 2020.
Minnesota last made a comprehensive attempt to tackle poverty in 1986-87 when Governor Perpich established a Governor’s Commission on Poverty. He charged the Commission with developing short-term recommendations and long-term strategies to eliminate poverty in Minnesota by the year 2000.
The Commission’s work and final report, published in April 1987, gave momentum to serveral policy initiatives including wage subsidies, increased minimum wage, sliding fee health insurance, refundable tax credits for earned income, sliding fee child care assistance, and state supplemental funding for Head Start and WIC.
The report also bore the seeds of the Minnesota Family Investment Plan, Minnesota’s early efforts to reform welfare emphasizing personal responsibility and anti-poverty work incentives.
Commission Goals
- Identify public policy strategies to eliminate poverty by 2020.
- Recommend short-term policy changes to end childhood poverty and to eliminate the racial disparities of poverty.
- Increase engagement with non-government entities.
- Build understanding and consensus around the following questions: Who is poor? Why are they poor? What are the human and societal costs of poverty? How can poverty be eliminated? Are current measurements of poverty useful?
Strategies
- Ensure that a broad spectrum of people and perspectives from across the state will be heard and engaged, especially the people affected by poverty.
- Understand that government is neither solely responsible for ending poverty nor removed from that responsiblity.
- Investigate the income needs of people with barriers to work and the adequacy of wage income in the labor market.
- Build a consensus on strategies that achieve clear goals and enjoy bi-partisan support.
- Create a political will in the public to support policy and other intiatives that increase opportunity for everyone.
Desired Outcomes
- Minnesota leads the nation in developing and implementing a statewide initiative to end poverty. The public roles of state government, local government, schools, non-profits, employers and businesses, faith communities, and philanthropic institutions are made clearer and enjoy broad political support.
- Poverty rates in communities of color fall rapidly.
- Poverty rates among children fall rapidly.
- Overall poverty rates decline steadily and are negligible by 2020.