MARRCH Members:

Please find below the minutes from last Friday’s Public Policy Committee meeting.

Thank you for all of your work on this committee.

-Bill

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MARRCH Public Policy Committee Meeting

6th November 2009; 9:30am-11am

Minutes

  1. Introductions, call to orderMark Casagrande chaired the meeting and brought the meeting to order at 9:34am, 6 NOV 2009. In attendance were Dustin Chapman, Charlie Mishek, Jeffrey Hunsberger, Mike Narog, Lois Freiermuth, Brian Teuber, Karen Edens, Nancee Andresen, Mark Casagrande, Ellie Skelton, and Bill Amberg. Participating via conference call were Lance Egley, Mike Shiks, and Jim Monson.
  1. New BBHT legislative proposal; review (Judi Gordon, Dustin)Dustin discussed BBHT licensing changes which if approved would go into effect on 1 AUG 2010. Things that struck Dustin: no longer 6 hrs. of ethics and cultural diversity. Just treatment. Summary sheet will be distributed with the minutes. Oral exam or 2000 hours of supervised practice. Reciprocity change, no longer re-test. Temp. permit will only have to show they have an AA degree up until 30 July 2010. Renewal date changes explained by Dustin. CEUs due at same time as license renewal. Variance change explained. Will take out exemption for non-LADCs…

Pdf document attached of summary of proposed changes to licensing statute. 148C. Jim Monson notes that this would be good, that IRTS facilities have staff who aren’t adequately trained/staffed. MARRCH letter of support and place bill on legislative agenda.

  1. Rule 25 update (Dustin).Dustin explained need for doing a second R25, confidentiality. There was much discussion on this issue (in () below), but was apparently rendered moot by an email from DHS (Julie Reger) which appears here:

As indicated in our reapplication information the rule 25 may be used. Please see the link below.

Julie Reger, Unit Manager

MH/CD Unit

Division of Licensing

651 296-0156

(Issue has come up that when new R25 came up last year, we made part of the assessment, part of comprehensive assessment. Judi called licensing and got ahold of Ray Frank at DHS and said you can use R25. Mark: Could we invite Julie Reeger to the next meeting? Ellie: R25 is not a comprehensive assessment. Jeff: what Julie says is what the interpretation should be. Jeff suggested some tightly formulated questions from MARRCH, a teaching tool for her and licensers. Mark thinks that’s a great idea. Attach to minutes and ask for input questions to be forwarded to DHS. Mike S and Ellie pondered how much clarity we may want… flexibility can be good. Ellie wants to generate questions and establish rationales/interpretations that make sense to us. Mark clarifies resolution to take in questions and formulate rationale.)

  1. 2010 Legislative Agenda – 30 minutes.The 2010 MARRCH legislative agenda was finalized and agreed to.
  2. Already discussed (above) was that the BBHT bill will be tracked and monitored by MARRCH. A MARRCH letter of support for the bill will be generated.
  3. Alcohol tax at dime level. Work for a hearing on the bill in the relevant committee.
  4. 165% of federal poverty for CCDTF qualification. Noted that the fed health care reform bill (House) includes treatment at 165% of FPG. Mark Casagrande forwarded this GREAT data link about the effectiveness of treatment to be included here:
  5. Support a solution to the line-item veto of GAMC.
  6. The next SAVE GAMC grassroots group meeting will be TUESDAY 10th NOVEMBER at the MinnesotaCountiesInsuranceTrustBuilding, 100 Empire Drive, St. Paul, MN, 55103 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Any and all MARRCH members are encouraged to attend.
  7. Monitor any ongoing state budget deficit and any potential cuts to CD treatment.
  1. Report for Wednesday meeting with Asst. Commissioner Dr. Read Sulik (Kevin, Bill A., Bill M.) – GAMC cut was discussed, as was licensing delay problems with DHS and BBHT. Need for more staff? SUlik was aware that CD rates have been cut and frozen for much of the last decade; he did not that other human services had been regularly cut and frozen recently as well. Dr. Sulik is holding a series of field hearings/discussion around the state and MARRCH members were urged to attend.
  1. GAMC Task Force meeting (Kevin, Bob, and Bill A.) – Fix/save GAMC House Task Force Chair, Rep. Erin Murphy, met with Kevin, Bob and Bill A. in October to discuss MARRCH ideas and concerns. Mark C. followed up with Rep. Murphy with more info about CCDTF health care benefits questions that Rep. Murphy had.
  1. County Rate Reductions update (Jim Monson) – A 5% reduction for Jim would have been about $80k bcz PMAP and health plans tie their rate to would have signed county only $2000. Jim met with DouglasCounty, there will not be a cut after all. Jim will put a letter together and then outline to county commissioners what we do – how we save the county money. Charlie notes that in 2011, the state will have sole rate-setting power bcz fed govt. is requiring it.
  1. Adjourn – Mark C. adjourned the meeting at 11:15am. The next MARRCH Public Policy Committee meeting will be Dec. 4th.

William J. Amberg, JD

Government and Public Relations

Ewald Consulting

1000 Westgate Drive, Suite 252

St. Paul, Minnesota55114

651-260-9973