The Minnesota Council on Disability (MCD) is one of the thirteen member agencies of MCOTA. Their work is focused on advising the Governor, state agencies, state legislature, and the public on disability issues. Public Policy Director Trevor Turner and Executive Director David Dively discussed the Minnesota Council on Disability’s (MCD) 2024 legislative agenda with MCOTA staff. Highlights of the interview follow.
Question: Can you give an overview of the MCD?
Dively: The best way to think about it is if a non-profit existed inside the government. We primarily provide public policy advocacy, technical assistance regarding disability rights and laws, requests for clarifications regarding concerns of obligations and accessibility services (such as those from a citizen, employers, or non-profits). We bring our legislative policies and agendas to our Council board for review and approval, and those become our official positions moving forward.
Turner: We have a policy agenda every year. At the end of each session, we meet with stakeholders, disability advocates, concerned citizens, legislators, and the governor’s office to work on an agenda for the following year.
Q: How does 2024 differ from past sessions?
Turner: Often, we carry over policies from the previous year that didn’t pass. We had 18 items on our agenda last year and all passed. This year is a big ‘rebuilding year’. We released a survey after the last session to collect feedback for new policy issues. We promoted it during the [Minnesota] State Fair, which was a big time to collect feedback and different ideas for policy issues from constituents. After that, we worked on putting together an agenda that reflects the results of the survey and has a good chance of passing in either the immediate session or the next one.
Some of the items on the agenda are what lobbyists might call ‘standing in line’ items; we are trying to keep those issues fresh in legislator’s minds. There’s not a strong appetite for items that may cost a lot of money this session. It’s also a much shorter session this year, as there are only two deadlines for bills to get passed. We are approaching 2024 as an ‘education and coalition-building’ session, which is similar to our approach to the 2022 session.
Dively: Many of our recent ‘long-term items’ were accomplished last year and as a result, there were fewer ‘back-burner items’ for this session. Initially we were thinking of pursuing of more spending items, though we changed course closer to this session.
Q: What are the legislative priorities for the MCD this session?
Turner: The first item on the 2024 agenda is the Bud Rosenfield Act, named after Barnett ‘Bud’ Rosenfield, former Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, who passed away unexpectedly last year. He recently secured significant funding for the office but passed prior to seeing the funding through. This Act would codify the 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. US Supreme Court decision into State statutes.
Next, we are prioritizing the creation of a ‘Task Force on Guardianship Reform’. There have been some big-profile cases recently in the news people have likely heard about – Britney Spears, Michael Oher -regarding guardianship and conservatorship. There isn’t a cohesive set of policies or statutes that need to change yet, this Task Force would convene stakeholders and could make recommendations on statutory changes to improve guardianships and provide a clear path for those who no longer wish to be under guardianship or conservatorship. The Act would build the foundation for reform bills in future sessions. It is very hard for someone to get out of conservatorship or guardianship; many who are currently in one are disabled. There is no easy mechanism to get out of one. Hopefully the creation of this task force will help lead to a process that is more fair, equitable, and just.
We also are pushing for the creation of a ‘Task Force on Special Education’. The last Task Force on Special Education was 2014. With the pandemic setting back special education, new money was appropriated in the 2023 session. There are also issues with licensing and workforce shortages, so the time is appropriate to investigate the state of Special Education.
Another task force we are prioritizing is the creation of a ‘Task Force on Plain Language’, which will look at whether there should be a Plain Language Office to ensure that laws, policies, etc., are communicated to the public in plain language. Plain language goes hand-in-hand with accessibility, ensuring everyone, including those with cognitive or learning disabilities, can participate in civic discourse. This is something that is usually neglected in plain-language discussions. People should be able to understand what their government is doing and the policies they are pushing out.
Dively: There are federal guidelines regarding plain language that have not been followed in the last few years.
Turner: Enforcement has been an issue. How can we better enforce this in [State] government agencies?
Next on the agenda is addressing Medical Assistance (MA) income & asset limits. Many Minnesotans with disabilities rely on government programs like Medicaid (also known as Medical Assistance or MA) for critical health care. Arbitrarily low income and asset limits create ‘income traps’, which often force people to choose between healthcare and financial security. MCD believes increasing or eliminating income and asset limits for Minnesotans with disabilities on MA will help reduce the cycle of poverty and improve their financial security.
We are lobbying for the adoption of the Respond, Innovate, Succeed and Empower Act, or RISE Act. We want to continue MCD’s progress and work with our partners in the education field from 2022. This would be similar to legislation passed in other states and recently introduced in Congress. This bill would improve accessibility and transparency of accommodations for students with disabilities in postsecondary education.
We are also pushing for an amendment to the Minnesota Human Rights Act related to ‘Episodic Disabilities’. This was recommended to us by the Department of Human Rights, based on a ruling from a court case involving the Minnesota State Fair (Josianne Mell v. The Minnesota State Agriculture Society) and other recent court cases. Episodic disabilities are not in the MHRA but are included in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Courts have ruled that episodic disabilities are Federal jurisdiction and not in the State’s jurisdiction. The ADA (passed in 1990) is actually younger than the MHRA (passed in 1973), so there are things included in the ADA that were not ‘in the conversation’ in 1973.
Another item on the agenda is a clarification regarding service animals. State statute language narrowly defines what disabilities and services animals can assist with currently. Non-sensory disabilities, such as epilepsy, are currently not included. This clarification will broaden the definition of disability to ensure that more people have the right to a service animal.
Also, on the agenda is establishing a sunset date for sub-minimum wages. Workers who are disabled are able to be paid sub-minimum wages as a result of 14c Subminimum Wage Certificates.
Dively: This program is ~100 years old and was initially designed for disabled veterans returning from war to working assembly line -type jobs.
Turner: Our economy has moved to a service economy; this program applies to a different group of employees than from when it was implemented.
MCD is also lobbying on premium elimination for Minnesotans on Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities (MA-EPD). In the 2023 legislative session, a bill was introduced to eliminate premiums for MA-EPD. However, due to a fiscal note error, the MA-EPD asset limits were eliminated instead of premiums and the mistake was not caught until the last week of the session. Initially we were told it would not be a challenge to correct in 2024, though with the budget situation this might get pushed to 2025.
Next on the agenda is eliminating solitary confinement for Minnesotans with disabilities. People with disabilities are more likely to experience solitary confinement while in a correctional facility. They are often forced into these conditions because staff lack an understanding of disability. MCD is looking at eliminating solitary confinement for pregnant inmates as well. We believe solitary confinement is a violation of basic human rights and should never be used on anyone, especially a person with a disability.
We are also prioritizing legislation requiring and incentivizing transportation network companies to have accessible vehicles. Companies like Lyft and Uber are not required to have accessible vehicles as a part of their fleet in Minnesota. This means their services are not available to people who use wheelchairs. This bill would require companies such as Lyft and Uber to have a certain percentage of their vehicle fleet be accessible, and look at incentives for drivers to make their vehicles accessible.
Q: Any further agenda items you want to comment on?
Dively: We take on many proposals and bills as they come. Half of our work involves responding to proposals we agree with or want to improve or clarify on. Our statutory requirements and duties result in spending time discussing bills that aren’t even ours. There’s a lot of money in human services, health, public services, employment, and therefore a lot of attention to be spent on these issues.
Turner: There are definitely other issues that could come up. We also have partner organizations ask us to help support them. When we look back at the end of this session, the list above may not ultimately be a comprehensive list of our goals by the time the session ends.
Dively: We also track disability-related bills every year, located on our website. The tracker lets the public find and see what’s being proposed regarding disabilities.
Turner: We are expecting less bills overall than last session. We heard a lot of good feedback regarding the bill tracker last year, and we are hoping to continue to update it.
Q: Are there any closing thoughts or comments you two had?
Dively: These aren’t just ‘cool’ ideas, we want to ensure people have what we believe to be civil and or human rights to have access to their life, services, benefits. Our work is very personal to many of us, many of us are disabled or know those with disabilities, so we see this as very mission-oriented work trying to preserve and advance an individual’s civil rights. I think we bring that seriousness and tone to the work we do; and how bipartisan we are helps us be successful. We typically, 99% of the time, have authors of bills in each chamber be in opposite parties. This also helps protect disability issues from becoming a partisan hot spot.
The 2024 Legislative Agenda for the Minnesota Council on Disability can be found here.
The Bill Tracker for Disability-related legislation can be found here.
