Minnesota Legislators Pass Bill to Support Disability Community
A bill passed last week that will benefit the disability community includes changes to background checks, sexual violence training, and delivery of services and supports.
When the state Legislature reconvened for a special session last Friday, the Minnesota House and Senate approved the Human Services Policy Bill (HF 11) strengthening support for people with disabilities in the state of Minnesota. While the bill is filled with other provisions related to childcare and foster care, it did contain three important conditions regarding the disability community.
- Changes to background checks for guardians and conservators, which will hopefully reduce delays in getting guardians approved. It also allows criminal history information from other states to be provided to the court from a national criminal history record check.
- A requirement that sexual violence prevention training must be provided for direct support staff who are providing licensed home and community-based services for people with disabilities.
- Changes to Consumer-Directed Community Supports, which allows individuals to choose services that best fit their assessed needs, decide when they should receive services and supports, and hire the people they want to deliver services and supports.
Representative Kelly Moller (District 42A), who represents our Janet Court and Ludden homes, authored these three important statutes into the bill. Representatives Peter Fischer (District 43A) and John Huot (District 57B), who represent our Lydia and Chaparral homes respectively, are both on the Health and Human Services Policy Committee who first introduced this bill. Thank you to all our legislators who fought for this bill!
Both the Minnesota House and Senate passed the bill, and Governor Tim Walz signed it into law on June 18, 2020.
To learn more about this bill, please visit the Minnesota Legislature’s website.