Legislative Notes for the week of March 6 - March 10, 2006

Governor Delivers State-of-the-State

Gov. Pawlenty delivered the State of the State address this week. He focused on the State of Minnesota as a leader in innovation and addressed four areas that he believes will make the biggest difference for Minnesota’s future; education, health care, natural resources and job growth. Pawlenty is recommending $7 million for at least ten pilot school districts to offer Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses for all high school students in all grades. He stated that there is a need to prepare students for college, and spoke of providing funding for up to five pilot high schools to overhaul their structure and curriculum to focus on college preparedness or technical training. He is asking the Department of Education to authorize “Knowledge is Power Program” charter schools in Minnesota that will focus on college preparedness.

Pawlenty also spoke in great length on veterans and the military. He asked the legislature to pass his proposed military package that provides benefits for veterans and their families. You may view Pawlenty’s full speech at http://www.governor.state.mn.us/Tpaw_View_Article.asp?artid=1773.

Governor’s Bonding Recommendation Presented to Higher Ed Committee

Susan Heegaard, director of the Office of Higher Education, presented the Governor’s higher education bonding recommendations to the House Higher Education Finance Committee this week. The governor proposed $142.5 million for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities out of the system’s $280.4 million request. Included in his recommendation is $20 million for HEAPR. Committee discussion focused on HEAPR and the need to take care of what we already have. The committee will hear the full Minnesota State Colleges and Universities bonding request on Monday. They will then make a recommendation of what to fund and submit it to the Capital Investment Committee. Stay tuned as the bonding request moves through the process.

Veterans

A bill that provides benefits to veterans and their families is making its way through committee. The Senate Agriculture, Veterans and Gaming Committee heard SF2654 this week. The bill, introduced by Senator Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, lays out benefits for veterans, including benefits in higher education. Referring to the Vietnam era, Commissioner of Veterans Affairs, Clark Dyrud, testified that he does not want to see a repeat of history and therefore would like to see an easier transition for veterans returning to school. Among other things, the bill states that campuses shall provide adequate space for a veteran’s assistance office to be administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is also to recognize courses and award educational credits for courses that were part of a veteran's military training or service if the courses meet the standards of the American Council on Education or equivalent standards for awarding academic credits. A state college or university is also to treat a veteran as a Minnesota resident in determining a veteran’s undergraduate tuition rate, and institutions may not assess late fees or other late charges for veterans who are eligible to receive federal educational assistance and who have applied for that assistance but not yet received it. The bill is headed to the Senate Jobs, Energy & Community Development committee next week. You can view the bill at http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S2654.0.html&session=ls84.

Federal Update

Action on the FY2007 Budget Begins

Congressional action on the FY2007 budget began this week. Both the House and the Senate Budget Committees started to mark up their respective budget bills. The President's budget request for fiscal year 2007 eliminates funding for several key education and workforce training programs including the Perkins Vocational Technical Education, GEAR UP, Upward Bound and Talent Search. Efforts are underway to restore funds for these critical programs and Congress appears supportive at this time.

HEA Reauthorization Update

Rather than concluding the reauthorization process for the Higher Education Act, it is expected that the House, in a bipartisan effort, will move for another extension.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Reauthorized

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) was reauthorized through 2010 with the recent enactment of the budget reconciliation bill, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Effective October 1, 2006, all states will be required to meet the 50 percent work participation rate for all families (90 percent for two-parent families). The new law for calculating the declines in a state's caseload changes the base year from 1995 to 2005. Thus, it eliminates the caseload reduction credits that have enabled states to meet the targeted rates. This will force states to substantially increase work participation rates or drop families from the program to avoid penalties. The Department of Health and Human Services is drafting regulations specifying which activities will count toward the work participation rate as well as guidance on uniform reporting and verification requirements for participation in TANF.

DREAM Act

The U.S. Senate Judiciary committee is considering comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Supporters of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act (S. 2075), will be pushing for this or similar provisions to be included in this legislation. The DREAM Act removes the federal impediment to states that wish to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students and establishes a path to legal status for certain long-time residents of the U.S. The current version of the comprehensive immigration bill does not include the DREAM Act, but the committee is expected to consider the DREAM Act as an amendment to the larger bill during the mark-up.