Latest news with #MichelleGriffith
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Auxiliary bishop, Minnesota Catholics urge lawmakers to uphold MinnesotaCare for undocumented people
Kevin Kinney, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, spoke at a Capitol press conference on May 12, 2025, joined by other Minnesota Catholics. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer. Kevin Kinney, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, joined Minnesota Catholics Monday at the Capitol, urging state lawmakers to keep a program that allows undocumented people to receive free or discounted health insurance. 'I'm here because of my love for the immigrant brothers and sisters and (because) we need to continue to reach out and walk with them and help them,' Kinney said at a Capitol press conference. 'We need to be able to offer health care to anyone who is here, no matter how they got here, who let them in. Are we going to let them die on the streets? Are we gonna let them suffer? Or are we going to allow them — all of us — the basic health care that we need?' The bishop's decision to use his moral megaphone — on the heels of the recent election of Pope Leo XIV, who is set to become a leading American advocate for the world's poor and dispossessed — arrives at an auspicious time: Legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz are making final decisions on a state budget that could fray Minnesota's relatively robust safety net. Republicans, who share control of the 67-67 Minnesota House, are against allowing undocumented people to access MinnesotaCare. The leaders have been meeting daily for over a week behind closed doors to come to a deal on a two-year budget expected to exceed $60 billion. The session ends on May 19, after which Walz would have to call a special legislative session so lawmakers can agree on a budget by June 30. Otherwise the government shuts down on July 1. MinnesotaCare was created in 1992 to help close the gap in coverage for low-income working families who make more than the income threshold for Medicaid, which is called Medical Assistance in Minnesota. In 2023, the DFL trifecta expanded the social safety net to include undocumented immigrants, which began on Jan. 1 this year. Enrollment has surpassed estimates, and Republicans argue undocumented people should be taken off the rolls to save money and discourage people from moving here for coverage. The Department of Human Services says that its most recent data show that as of April 24, 20,187 undocumented people had enrolled in MinnesotaCare. The program is fee-for-service, meaning the state only pays claims after services are administered. DHS says it has received 4,306 claims for service, costing Minnesota $3.9 million. This is nearly $1 million over what the state had projected by this date, according to DHS. Some of the undocumented immigrants on MinnesotaCare pay a monthly premium, like other residents who are on the program. The Minnesota Catholic Conference — the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in Minnesota — lobbied for the creation of MinnesotaCare in the 1990s. 'How do you steward the gift of life if you don't have access to basic health care? MinnesotaCare is a really comprehensive set of programs and health care benefits, and it's just really important that low-income people have access to good preventative — not just acute — care,' said Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference. Adkins said the MCC has met with Republican leaders on the issue, but they 'haven't seen a lot of policy movement.' U.S. House Republicans released a proposal this week that would cut Medicaid coverage for millions of low-income Americans. The bill would also target states that allow Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants by reducing federal funding for all childless adults without disabilities to 80% from 90%. It's unclear if this would impact MinnesotaCare, which is not part of Medicaid. Kinney said that the immigration system needs to be fixed at the federal level, but until then, Minnesotans can take steps to ensure all people, regardless of their immigration status, can have access to health care. He encouraged legislative leaders to think of creative solutions to continue to fund MinnesotaCare for undocumented people. 'You know, I don't know what we do, but … we shouldn't let fear take over when we put our priority in the love of (our]) neighbor,' Kinney said.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Minnesota House fraud committee asks legislators to stop giving money directly to nonprofits
Chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, spoke at a Capitol press conference on March 24, 2025. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer. A bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers from the House Ways and Means Committee and a fraud prevention committee asked their fellow legislators to refrain from earmarking funds directly to nonprofits without a competitive grant process this year. Legislators from both parties for years have been giving taxpayer funds directly to nonprofits to complete government work, such as preventing violence or providing food to needy families. State agencies typically award a grant to a nonprofit after performing background checks and analyzing numerous proposals, ultimately giving it to the applicant that best meets their criteria. But Minnesota lawmakers can also go around that competitive process and directly name a nonprofit, granting funds in a budget bill through what are known as legislatively named grants. Those grants have been fraught with problems over the years. The letter to budget-writing lawmakers requests they stop granting money to organizations through legislatively named grants as they draft budget bills for their respective committees in the weeks ahead. The Legislature must pass a two-year budget by June 30, though the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn May 19. 'When you appropriate funds to private entities, we urge you to strongly consider having agencies use a competitive process to select those entities, rather than directly naming them in law,' lawmakers wrote. Legislators are able to propose whatever bills they like, so there's little stopping them from continuing to name nonprofits in bills and granting them funds — other than asking them nicely like in the Wednesday letter. In 2023, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-led Legislature approved over $1.1 billion in legislatively named grants to nonprofits, with some receiving more money from lawmakers than they normally get in other grants and donations in an entire year. According to a 2023 audit, Minnesota struggles to oversee money it sends out the door. The Office of the Legislative Auditor found 'pervasive noncompliance' with grant management policies, 'signaling issues with accountability and oversight' of the $500 million the state sends out in a typical year. Both competitive and legislatively named grants are supposed to go through the same type of oversight by state agencies, but the Office of the Legislative Auditor has found that agencies have failed to provide the same oversight of legislatively named grants that they do for competitive grants. The OLA has recommended lawmakers stop using legislatively named grants since 2007, or the year the first iPhone was released. Proponents of legislatively named grants say the practice allows smaller, less-established nonprofits an opportunity to receive state funding, as they may be disregarded in a competitive process. A competitive process can also be unnecessary if, for example, a nonprofit is the only organization in an area of Minnesota that provides a particular service, proponents say. 'Direct appropriations may be the best fit for some circumstances, such as where there is only one private entity that can meet the identified need,' the lawmakers wrote. 'But this should be the rare exception, rather than a general process. Additionally, the entity should be specified by name rather than using a session-law description for which only one entity could qualify.' Last year, Democratic lawmakers passed a bill requiring companies like Uber and Lyft to contract with a nonprofit advocacy organization to provide driver services. The bill appeared tailored to describe the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association. The organization has been accused of fraud and deceptive trade practices by Uber and Lyft drivers.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill banning transgender athletes from girls sports expected to fail in Minnesota House
Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, spoke at a rally on March 3, 2025, in support of her bill banning trans girls from female sports in Minnesota. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer. Republicans on Monday rallied at the Capitol in support of a bill that bans transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams. House Republicans say they are proposing the bill, HF 12, to ensure sports for elementary, middle and high school female athletes are fair. Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, is chief authoring the bill because she said she wants to revert amateur sports back to how they were when she played as a girl, when her teams included no openly trans athletes. 'It's called common sense. The girls in my school never had to consider the injustice of a male taking our place on the team, or the prospect of serious injury that could come while competing against a stronger, bigger male,' Scott said at the rally. 'My generation benefitted from the common sense that girls and boys should have their own teams, and I'm so thankful for that.' House Republicans currently have a majority, 67-66, but they cannot pass bills on their own — a bill needs 68 votes to pass. Democrats say they will not vote for the proposal, so it won't pass Monday. House Republicans, emboldened by the 2024 election and the anti-trans rhetoric and executive actions coming out of the Trump administration, have moved to pare back the rights of trans Minnesotans. They've also proposed a bill to ban transgender inmates from the state's only women's prison, and another making the 'castration or sterilization of minors' a felony. Democrats, in a Capitol press conference after the Republican rally, said the bill is political theater and an effort to eliminate trans people from public life. 'Transgender students participate in sports for the same reasons as everyone else — to challenge ourselves, to improve our fitness, to be a part of a team and most of all to have fun,' said Chris Mosier, an advocate who was the first openly trans athlete to represent the U.S. in an international competition. 'Excluding trans students from participation deprives us of the opportunities available to our peers, and it sends the message that we are not worthy of full and social lives, and we will not allow that to happen here in Minnesota.' The Republican rally, organized by the America First Policy Institute, featured conservative activist Riley Gaines, who has advocated against trans athletes since she tied for fifth place with a trans swimmer in 2022. Gaines criticized Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic lawmakers for supporting trans athletes. '(They) are willing to send the message and do everything in their power to say, 'Look, we will put all Minnesotans at risk because we believe boys deserve to trample on girls,'' Gains said at the rally. 'Minnesota, for too long, has turned its back on women and girls … You cannot protect the rights of girls to play fair and safe sports and also protect the boy who wants to take their place on the team.' Gaines arrived at the rally with a security entourage of Minnesota sheriff's deputies and former Minneapolis Police Chief Bob Kroll. Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Minnesota a letter last month alerting officials that the state could be sued after Democratic officials said they would not comply with Trump's executive order. Since their election loss, Democrats have been grappling with how to support trans Americans playing sports when the majority of Americans side with Republicans on the issue. A January New York Times poll found that 94% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats believed transgender women should not compete in women's sports. Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul and the state's first openly transgender lawmaker, said Monday that states that have passed trans sports bans have failed to provide examples of trans girls participating in youth sports, and the issue hasn't been a problem in Minnesota. 'This problem simply does not exist. It is manufactured,' Finke said. 'We've had zero problems, but we are doing this for political reasons, and when you lie about a community for long enough, people will believe it.'
