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Welcome to the 2007 legislative session and to In the WORKS Online! This section of In the WORKS Online will feature legislative updates and keep you apprised of what’s happening at the State Capitol relating to child care.

As you probably know, the 2007 legislative session began on January 3. The new legislature has a dramatically different face than legislatures of previous years. Both the House and Senate are now led by the DFL, with all leadership positions changing hands. With over 50 new legislators, there is a sense of excitement and purpose in the halls of the State Capitol.

Child care bills will have a different road to follow this session. In the House, child care issues – both policy and finance - will primarily be heard in the Early Childhood Learning Committee, chaired by Rep. Nora Slawik (DFL-Maplewood). In the Senate, child care policy will be heard in Health, Housing and Family Security, chaired by Senator John Marty (DFL-Roseville), while the child care finance bills will be heard in the Health and Human Services Budget Division, chaired by Senator Linda Berglin (DFL-Minneapolis).

After a bit of a slow start in the first week of the session – including members moving into their offices, staff getting started, and new member/new chair training – the session is off to a strong start. Governor Pawlenty issued his State-of-the-State address (details at http://www.governor.state.mn.us) this past Wednesday, which included indication of an early childhood scholarship proposal – more details to come soon. The committees are now deep into the process of being briefed by the various state departments about the budget accounts over which they have jurisdiction. Over the past two weeks in the House Early Childhood committee, both the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Department of Education presented various programs that the committee will be hearing much more about as the session proceeds. Late in the week, that committee heard presentations by Art Rolnick and Rob Grunewald of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Arthur Reynolds of the University of Minnesota. All presented compelling research and data supporting investment in quality early childhood programs. The committee members – made up of eight freshman and six veteran House members – appeared engaged and interested, posing various questions for the speakers until time ran out.

This week promises to be a busy one as well. Today, Monday, January 22, Senator Berglin’s and Senator Marty’s committees will meet in a joint session to hear an overview from DHS of the child care programs. Also today, the Governor will release the details of his budget for 2008-09, which will subsequently be heard in various committees in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, the House Early Learning committee will hear presentations from the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation. On Wednesday, January 24, Senator Berglin will hear discussion about child care development programs in her committee, and on Thursday, January 25, Representative Slawik will hear the details pertinent to early childhood proposed by the Governor. So – no shortage of hearings to attend if you have a few hours to spare!

If you haven’t yet had a chance, I encourage you to take a look at the Child Care WORKS 2007 Legislative Agenda. By the next edition of In the WORKS Online, we’ll have more to share with you about authors and introductions of child care bills, so start getting familiar with the various proposals. As always, if you have any questions, just let us know. Otherwise, stay tuned! This session promises to be a busy one, and hopefully a productive one as well. We’ll need all of your voices from all over the state to make sure it’s a great year for Minnesota’s children and families.

// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 3:41 PM