Access to Care
The session came to its conclusion minutes before its constitutionally-mandated close of midnight on May 20. One of the key pieces – the HHS budget bill – had passed both the House and Senate floors several days earlier. The $11 billion bill funds much of the state’s health care programming for both children and adults. This year’s package contained a number of very good elements, including robust funding for public health investments, resources for physician training programs, maternal depression awareness, youth suicide prevention efforts, and others.
Bullying Prevention
A key MN-AAP legislative priority was stopped just short of passage in the hours before the session concluded. The “Safe and Supportive Schools” bill to reduce bullying and harassment in Minnesota’s schools had passed the House and all Senate committees, but a threatened filibuster in the full Senate led to it being removed from the agenda for the remainder of the year. The bill’s author promised that the proposal will be revisited in the 2014 session.
Early Childhood Brain Development
A conference committee of House and Senate legislators failed to reach agreement on MN-AAP supported language to prevent the destruction of newborn screening test result data. Under current law, some test results will be destroyed beginning in November 2013. The MN-AAP, with the strong support of a bipartisan group of Senators, had sought to postpone the destruction, though the effort failed in the House. A comprehensive plan for longer-tem storage of test result data by the Minnesota Department of Health is due at the Legislature in 2014.
Other MNAAP Priorities
- Tax Bill Includes Steep Increase in Tobacco Prices It’s been calculated that the increase will lead to 47,700 fewer youth from becoming addicted adults, and will lead 36,000 adults to quit.
- Marriage Equality Bill Signed Into Law
