Coalition Sees Progress As 2006 Session Nears Close

Things could be winding up soon for the 2006 Legislature. Both the Senate and the House have passed their bonding bills–the primary topic of this session. Supplemental omnibus spending and tax bills are being finalized. Both bodies have also passed their versions of eminent domain reform — another hot topic this year at the Capitol. Stadiums are still a wild card in the mix.

Since this is an election year and legislators do not want to drag the discussion into a special session, there will be pressure to conference these bills quickly and to wind up the session very soon. Some have predicted an end by May 1, 2006. The constitutionally mandated end to session is May 23, 2006.

The status of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless legislation follows. We are positioned well for most of our issues, while some did not surface as priorities in this non-budget session:

• Bonding (SF 2486/HF 3098). The Coalition proposed legislation to bond for $10 million for transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness and $33 million for permanent supportive housing for people experiencing long-term homelessness. The Senate bonding bill includes $20 million for the permanent supportive housing for the long-term homeless plan, but does not include funding for transitional housing. The House bill includes $4 million for transitional housing and $4 million for permanent supportive housing for the long-term homeless plan. Our message to conferees will be: Pass $24 million — $4 million for transitional housing (from the House bill), and $20 million for the longterm homeless plan (from the Senate bill).
• Housing Solutions Act (SF 3516/HF 3912). The Housing Solutions Alliance has exceeded our legislative goals for 2006! We had a very good hearing in the House Jobs and Economic Opportunity Committee (the bill was laid on the table by the author for this year). SF 3516 passed the Senate Jobs, Energy, and Economic Opportunity Committee. The bill had an excellent hearing in the Senate Tax Committee and our bill has been included in the Senate’s omnibus tax bill (SF 3131), which passed out of committee on April 11, 2006. There is still a chance it could be removed from the Senate’s bill as it goes to the floor, but progressing the Act this far in an election year session is remarkable. It demonstrates what a strong coalition can achieve on affordable housing issues.
• Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (SF 2741/HF 3204). The Minnesota Youth Service Association (MYSA) launched an initiative this session to secure new funding and set up language for homeless youth services at DHS. While the funding just wasn’t there in the committees’ budgets, MYSA was successful in ensuring the policy language will be included in both the House and Senate omnibus human services bills. This is a great victory because it demonstrates the legislative intent to put a focus on homeless youth next year when the next biennial budget will be set.
• Discharge Planning from Corrections (SF 3643/HF 4124). While introduced pretty late in the game, the Coalition had an excellent hearing in the Senate Public Safety Committee and successfully secured $200,000 in the Senate’s public safety omnibus bill. (Remarkable since we only asked for $100,000!) The money would fund over two full-time employees in the prison system to assist inmates with mental illness plan for their release and help re-enroll them on SSI. Our bill is not included in the House public safety omnibus bill.
• Homeless Management Information Systems and Continuum of Care funding (SF 3160/HF 3513). While there was a very good hearing held on the need for resources to fund HMIS and Continuum of Care planning in greater Minnesota, no funding was allotted to this bill in the House omnibus jobs and economic opportunity bill. No hearing was held in the Senate. Looks like we’ll be coming back to the legislature next year on this one.

Please continue to watch our website for futher updates and timely action alerts!