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Sara Grafstrom

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Final Day of the 2023 Legislative Session

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 05-22-2023 07:13
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Today marks the last day of the 2023 Legislative Session and while there are still a few outstanding items for the legislature to act on today. The Human Service bill, which contains most of the provisions that impact ARRM members, passed off the House and Senate floor last Friday. In the coming days, ...

Final Human Service Conference Committee Budget Spreadsheet Available

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 05-14-2023 20:12
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
Late Sunday evening the final spreadsheet for the Human Service Conference Committee report was made available; bill language has not been made available, so we do not have the details of the proposals that were included. However, below is a high-level analysis of ARRM Legislative Agenda priorities that ...

Legislative Update: Two weeks left of session, Human Service Conference Committee begins meeting

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 05-07-2023 19:20
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
The Human Service Conference Committee began meeting last week with the first hearing on Tuesday featuring a walk through of the House, Senate and Governor’s proposals and public testimony taken during the Wednesday hearing. Along with ARRM’s letter submitted to conferees last week, I also provided ...

Human Service Conference Committee begins meeting this week

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 05-01-2023 08:49
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
Last week the House passed the Human Service Omnibus bill off the House floor. With the passage of this bill, a Conference Committee has now been formed to work out the differences between the House and Senate proposal and develop a final Human Service budget omnibus bill. Conference Committee members ...

Legislative Update: Human Service Omnibus on House floor Tuesday

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 04-24-2023 08:30
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
Last week, the Senate Human Service Omnibus bill was passed off the Senate floor with a vote of 63-4. ARRM released this action alert , thanking Senators for their support of this bill and the important provisions that would increase funding for disability waiver services and services provided in an ...

Human Service Bill heads to the Senate Floor

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 04-16-2023 16:48
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
As we move towards the end of session, legislative action directly impacting ARRM members becomes less frequent as attention turns toward the passage of omnibus bills. You can review here what is and is not included in the House and Senate Human Service Omnibus bills. Last week, the Senate Finance ...

Human Service Omnibus Bills Released in the House and Senate

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 04-02-2023 17:14
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Human Service Omnibus bill were released in both the House and the Senate last week, while each bill contains many funding proposals that would impact people with disabilities or their support providers, below are the proposals most relevant to ARRM members. House What’s Included: · ...

Big Week at the Capitol Coming up: Omnibus Bills Released and Disability Services Day at the Capitol

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 03-26-2023 19:02
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
The second committee deadline came and went last Friday, and the legislature will now turn to the crafting and passage of their committee omnibus bills. In both the House and Senate we anticipate the Human Service Omnibus bill package to be released on Monday, March 27 th . Below are the schedules ...

Committee Targets Released, Second Deadline this Friday

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 03-21-2023 17:29
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
As we move into second committee deadline, this last week and a half has seen a lot of action on ARRM’s legislative priorities and overall budget work at the Capitol. On Wednesday, three of ARRM’s legislative priorities were heard in the Senate Human Service Committee. The following bills were heard ...

Legislature hits first committee deadline, ARRM’s bills continue to move forward

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 03-10-2023 12:27
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Friday, March 10 th marked the first committee deadline. In order for a bill to "meet first deadline", it must be acted favorably on in the house of origin. The second deadline, which is set for Friday, March 24th is for committees to act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, that met the first ...

Updated Budget Forecast shows Minnesota Remains Financially Strong

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 03-05-2023 12:31
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Last Monday, the updated state budget forecast was released. The forecast showed that Minnesota remains in a solid financial situation with the overall budget surplus not changing significantly, compared to the previously released forecast at the beginning of December. The budget surplus is now at $17.5 ...

Short week at the Capitol, ARRM's bill continue to receive hearings

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 02-24-2023 11:01
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
It was a short week at the Capitol, with the legislature closing Wednesday through Friday in preparation for the impending snowstorm. Despite only two working days, ARRM had four bills heard from our legislative agenda and supported an amendment added to the Paid Family Leave bill in the Senate. Paid ...

ARRM's bills begin receiving hearings in the Senate, Busy week Ahead!

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 02-19-2023 14:39
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With only three weeks left until the first committee deadline, ARRM’s legislative priorities continue to receive hearings in both the House and Senate. Last week, two of ARRM’s bills got their first hearing in the Senate Human Services Committee. Our proposals that would increase rates for ICFs (SF ...

ARRM Meets on Paid Family Leave, ARRM Priorities Continue to Advance

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 02-13-2023 08:49
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
Last week, three of ARRM’s legislative priorities received a hearing in the House Human Service Policy committee. Bills heard include: · AOST Licensing Requirement Changes (HF 339) · IHST Service Changes (HF 716) · Workforce Recruitment and Retention Grants ...

Legislative Update: ARRM's Bills Start to Get Hearings

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 02-04-2023 15:22
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Legislative Update: ARRM’s Bills get Introduced and Hearings This last week saw the majority of ARRM’s legislative priorities receive their official bill numbers, this is great news and is a critical step in ensuring that our agenda keeps progressing through the legislative session. Below is the complete ...

Legislative Update: ARRM's priorities get bill numbers and details of Governor's budget released

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 01-27-2023 17:29
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
This last week saw many of ARRM’s legislative priorities get official bill numbers in both the House and Senate. For those agenda items that are still without bill numbers, we anticipate having them formally introduced in the coming week. Below, please find a list of our priorities with corresponding ...

Legislative Update: Governor begins to release budget recommendations

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 01-23-2023 08:01
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
ARRM’s legislative priorities are beginning to be formally introduced in the legislature. This last week, two of our bills were introduced and given bill numbers in the House: Alternative Overnight Supervision with Technology: HF 339 ICF Rate Legislation: HF 568 We anticipate more bills being ...

Legislative Update: Week 2 and Legislators are hearing from YOU!

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 01-16-2023 08:52
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
Legislators heard from you all in a big way this last week. ARRM launched an Action Alert on Wednesday morning and within three days over 1,100 messages had been sent! If you have not had a chance to send your legislators a message, you can access the alert here . Please continue to share with others ...

Week one of the legislative session sees the Caregiver Stabilization Act of 2023 introduced

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 01-08-2023 19:55
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Session officially kicked off this last week with legislators being sworn in on Tuesday, January 3 rd . As anticipated, Rep. Melissa Hortman was re-elected as Speaker of the House and Sen. Kari Dziedzic was elected Majority Leader of the Senate. On Wednesday, Senator Hoffman, Chair of the Human Services ...

Legislative Update: Two Weeks to go until Session!

Posted By Sara Grafstrom 12-16-2022 12:54
Found In Contact: Sara Grafstrom's Blog
With the 2023 Legislative Session just a couple weeks from kicking off, I wanted to take some time to update you on where things stand at the Capitol, developments since the election and helpful resources to be using in the final push before session starts. House and Senate Leadership The Senate ...