LIGHTLY EDITED FILE MNCCD Virtual Tuesdays at the Capitol January 5th, 2021 Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Remote 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (CST) * * * * * DISCLAIMER This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format and is the work product of the CART captioner. Any reproduction, publication, or other use of this CART file without the express written consent of the captioner is strictly prohibited. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility, and this lightly edited CART file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings, nor should it be considered in any way as a certified document. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled. This text may also contain phonetic attempts at sounds and words that were spoken, and environmental sounds that occurred during the event. * * * * * CART PROVIDED BY Kristi L. Arntzen, RPR, CRC PARADIGM REPORTING & CAPTIONING, a Veritext Company 612.339.0545Captioning-paradigm@veritext.com CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Bridget Carter: Well, I think we're going to go ahead and get started. Good morning, everyone. My name is Bridget. I am the project coordinator with MNCCD. So welcome to our session startup. Obviously this looks a little different than years past. But we're starting off virtually this year instead of in the middle of March. So this is a little different. But I was just going to go over a few things before we get started. We have captioning available, so at the bottom of your screen, if you click the closed caption button, you can have those on your screen. And then we do ask that everyone mutes their microphone just so we can hear everyone who's speaking. And then in a second, I'm going to start recording this, just so we have -- we can post this later and use this as the reference. So just to let everyone know. So I'm going to pass it on to our policy co-chairs Melissa and Maren, to go over our policy and CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT priorities for this year. >> Jeff: Can I just say something for introduction, Bridget? As people know, the Brain Injury Alliance does their own Tuesdays at the Capitol every week and so we're going to be joining with CCD once a month doing everything jointly, so I just wanted to -- in case there's a lot of active brain injury folks here, you guys and all my brain injury folks, we'll be having our Tuesday, every Tuesday, and we won't invade CCD's every week. But we do plan to be part of it and join you, because I just wanted to say that because I know sometimes it helps that I work with, with brain injury, to just kind of remind them what we're doing and where we are and what's going on. So thanks for giving me a second to say that. >> Jon: Thank you for the clarification, Jeff. >> Bridget Carter: All right, Melissa, and Maren, if you guys are ready. >> Hi, everybody, this is Melissa Haley. I don't think Maren has joined yet, but I'm guessing she will be here shortly. And we are very excited to present the agenda that we have for you today for the legislative session CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT 2021. Finally 2021 is here. Bridget do you have -- are you able to present the "Better Together" document for us while I'm talking? That is "Better Together" is our theme for this year. It kind of speaks for itself. All of us come from our own places, but when we're together, we're stronger, we tell a better story and we get better results hopefully over the legislature. And the headings, Creating Equitable, Accessible, Safe, and Just Society. Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion -- or no, diversity, inclusion, and equity. Improving, protecting essential supports and services and supporting individual empowerment or choice, those are the principles that are going to drive all of our policy decisions at Minnesota CCD. And our antidiscrimination group and many of our members were instrumental in helping us hone those principles. And so those are what we used as we put together CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT our policy agenda. And you'll notice as we are talking that several of the proposals under each heading overlap, right? But we put them in a spot where they thought that they spoke to the values the best. I think -- I just got a text from Maren that she's on. So, Maren, I think what I'll do is -- I think maybe what we should do is let people -- the lead organizations kind of jump in as we talk. And we'd start maybe with the package of accessibility. Proposals. And so, Jillian, not to put you on the spot, but if you're able to talk briefly about that proposal, and then, Maren, I'll probably hand it over to you, to continue with presenting as I've got -- Emmett's around here today, and I don't have a PCA this morning. >> Jillian Nelson: I can definitely hop in here, Maren, and give an overview of what the Autism association society is working October The Autism Society of Minnesota is going to be working on a set of bills that addressed expanding the set CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT of accessibility in eight different areas. Traditionally, we have looked very much at visible disabilities and at physical access. We have a lot of guidelines and guidance regarding things like ramps and bathrooms, and parking spaces and hand rails, but we don't have a lot of guidance or expectations outlined for helping people with neurological, sensory, or intellectual disabilities. So this set of eight bills is going to look at eight different areas including parental access to special education, public community spaces, right and responsibility communications, large permitted events, courtrooms, emergency and domestic violence shelters, the legislative process, and also equity in how we're accessing social services and if that's an accessible process. These bills are just the groundwork. We're hoping that beyond establishing important policies and work groups, around accessibility that we're also going to be able to create social change in how policy makers are talking about accessibility, and also how these industries that are impacted by these bills are talking about accessibility, and that we can change the CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT conversation, we're considering the full disability community as we work towards creating a more accessible Minnesota. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you so much, Jillian. And thank you again to The Autism Society. Would someone from the Brain Injury Alliance like to speak? >> Jeff: Yeah, sure, thanks, Maren. So in addition to the work that Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance does in coalition and on the budget and medical assistance and all that, we always try to find an advocate-led proposal that we'd like to push forward and we're really honored to partner with CCD on this. And essentially what we're trying to do is intervene in the sort of criminal justice cycle that people with a history of brain injury, either from, you know, traumatic brain injury, from stroke, from fetal alcohol syndrome, you know, I'm calling all of those things brain injuries. We get caught up in the definitions of it. But in any case, it's for folks that get caught up in that whole cycle of criminal justice. And so what we're trying to do is make sure that any time they get caught up in the criminal CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT justice system and they're about to get sentenced senator something, that the judges have access to a neuro psychological evaluation. This is not a "Get out of jail free" Card. What it is it's an attempt to make sure that appropriate sentencing is taking place. So this is being led by an advocate, because that's really important to us, is to try to find bills each year that our advocates can lead. His name is Tim Barry. Cassie is his daughter who's been caught up in this whole cycle and it's also, you know, all mixed up with a lot of other things. I don't need to go into the details, but we know that you can have chemical dependency issues, inhibition control issues, violence, all the stuff that gets people caught up in this system where it's just not a good outcome to just throw people in jail. So we're hoping that this will allow for better sentencing, better rehabilitation, and try to break that sort of criminal justice cycle of expecting people to sit in a cell and get better. So that's the whole point of this, and we're really proud to be working with CCD on this issue. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Maren Hulden: Thank you, Jeff. And thank you for bringing this. It is such an important issue. The next proposal that would help to create an equitable, accessible, safe and just society is a rare disease access bill. I don't know if someone from -- great. >> Yeah, hi, everyone. Marnie Falk with Gillette Specialty Health Care. If you have insurance under a health plan, it makes sure that you have access to the providers that you need access to without having to go through health plan networks. And that you don't have a cost that would be any more expensive if you had -- for going out of network basically. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you, Marnie. Another really important bill. So I'm going to move on to the next, like, priority, which is promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity. And we have four proposals that would advance this. And I will first turn it over, as I often do, to Vicki, if you are up for it, to talk about the PCA CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT rate reform. This is one that we have had on our agenda for a long time and I'm really grateful to folks like Vicki and others who have been long haul fighters for this investment in an under-invested program. >> Well, and we essentially appreciate CCD's support of this bill year over year. So this is a really critical bill for the PCA service. There's 46,000 people in Minnesota who rely on this very important service to be able to remain in their home and in the community. And avoid more expensive services. So it's really something that the state needs to invest in. And so we've been working on developing rate framework that includes data-driven information for both what it cost to provide the service, but most importantly to provide a wage increase to the very valuable workers who provide this service. So we've been working with the Department of Human Services. And legislators. And many other groups to try to person this forward. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And we hope this will be our year. So thank you. >> Maren Hulden: Yeah, thank you, Vicki. It was really great to see so much attention to this at the forum that we hosted with the State Council on Disability on December 19 -- 17th where the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were there. I definitely -- I'm hoping this is the year too. Another proposal that would promote diversity, inclusion, and equity is about the Rare Disease Advisory Council, which is a priority of ours in the past, in the 2019 session, and I'll turn it over to Marnie again to talk about what this update this? >> Marnie Falk: Sure. So this legislation after a lot of hard work by advocates passed in 2019, so very excited that we're one of the states that has a Rare Disease Advisory Council. There were just a few things that we didn't think needed to be in the language of the bill that we realize now should have been, including allowing the council to take advocacy positions. We had always thought that this would be a council that could work hand in hand with legislators CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT forming bills. As we all know advocacy is so important. And the way it's currently written, the council actually hasn't allowed to take any policy positions or advocate. So that's one of the changes we're hoping to take to the council this year. Thanks. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you. The next is -- Thank you. The next is another one that we've had on our agenda before but we still need to fight on and that's about expanding the definition of brain injury. Sara? >> Yes, thank you, Maren. And this is one that we have worked on for quite a few years and have general broad support. Very, very important to our advocates because of all the things that can happen when alcohol is consumed during pregnancy. The permanent brain injury that occurs is by far and away the most challenging part of this issue. And our -- as far as -- it really looking at it as CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT not only just creating potentially more access to services that would be categorized under brain injury, but also just in general, helping people to understand that FASD is in fact a brain injury, and are, you know, grateful for MNCCD's support and the Brain Injury Alliance for their support of this as well. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you, Sara. The next one is about the SEIU United Home Care Workers collective bargaining agreement. I'm not sure if Tyler is here. I will talk slowly for a second for truly hear to speak up. But SEIU is a valued member of MNCCD and they're in the process of renegotiating their bargaining agreement with the state. And if that -- if they reach an agreement, it will need to be ratified by the legislature. So this proposal is to support the ratification of it by the legislature. And, again, I am, part of like the PCA rate reform, you know, ensuring that workers are paid well and that people have access to the PCA services they need is in particular because it's a program that serves a high proportion of people CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT with disabilities who are People of Color and many of the workers are People of Color too, we feel like this is an important equity issue in our state at this moment in time. So I'm going to move on to the next -- the next priority, which is around improving and protecting essential supports and services. And the first bill to advance this priority is about board certified behavior analysts licensing. So I see Abby is here. Abby, would you like to speak to this for -- briefly? >> Sure. So this is a bill that -- that we brought last year during the 2020 session. And it was progressing until the pandemic hit. And a peacetime emergency was called. The state of Minnesota recognizes behavior analysis multiple places in the law. And -- and has board-certified behavior analysts that conduct that work. This bill is intended to establish licensing under the Board of Psychology. So that we can make sure that those behavior analysts are trained and providing quality CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT services. So this bill has support from, again, the Board of Psychology, the Minnesota Psychological Association, the Minnesota Mental Health Legislative Network, and we're really looking forward to working on this, and hopefully providing, you know, quality assurance to -- to people receiving behavior analysis. >> Maren Hulden: Great, thank you, Abby, and thanks to Fraser and others for bringing this bill. The next proposal is about personal care assistant and direct support professional care during hospitalization. I know that many of our members are working on this. I don't know, Erin, would you like to speak to this one -- or? >> Erin: Sure. Hi, everyone, my name is Erin Sutton from Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, and as Maren shared, many members are working collaboratively on this bill. And what this bill does is previously, Medicaid did not allow for -- did not allow reimbursement CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT of PCA or direct support professional support in a hospital setting. But the C.A.R.E.S. Act in March of 2020 included a provision to allow this. So Minnesota will need to create a new billable service. So that we may be reimbursed for such service. So we're working together with DHS, this year, what we're asking is to direct DHS to work with stakeholders to create a plan. For moving the creation of this billable service forward. And the goal would be that we would -- this service would be in place within the next couple years. So this is something we're working along with -- with AARM, the PCA Reform Coalition, The ARC Minnesota, the Minnesota Provider First Alliance. Yeah, thank you, everyone. >> Maren Hulden: Yeah, thanks, Erin, thanks all of the groups working on that. Our fourth policy/principle that drives our work is supporting individual empowerment and choice. And we have two bills to advance this priority this session. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT The first is a package of bills to transform Disability Services and supports and I will -- I think, Alicia, would you -- can you speak to this? >> Absolutely, hi, everyone. My name's Alicia Munson. I'm with The ARC Minnesota. And we have been working with a strong coalition of partners to really take a look at, you know, given all the challenges of this legislative session with the upcoming budget deficit and the totally different landscape, how we can continue to work towards systems reform and systems transformation that will really honor the autonomy and self-direction of people who have disabilities. And put their power and decision-making control they forefront of our service system. One of the ways that we want to do that is by making some changes to a few policies that were adopted in the Human Services reform bill during the first special session of this year. I'm sorry, of 2020. That was an Employment First, and independent living first, and a self-direction first statement. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Really wanting to continue to hone those to make sure that the right to competitive integrated employment, to living in a home of one's own and to self-directing services and supports are really protected for people who have disabilities. We also want to implement a technology first policy statement to make sure that people have access to really robust assistive technology and remote supports that can help them meet their individualizes goals. We also think that it's really important in understanding employment supports, residential supports, independent living supports, et cetera, that people have true informed choice. And that they are offered a really accessible, plain language, individualized, informed decision-making process, so that they really truly do understand the range of options that are available to them and they're choosing the services and supports that are right for them. So that's another important of that package of bills that Maren mentions. Maren, anything else that you or others that are working on this would add? >> Maren Hulden: No, thank you, Alicia. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I just am grateful for all the partners who have participated in the discussions about this. It's been, you know, I think it's one of those -- I think this happens with a lot of legislative process, which is maybe part of the beauty of it, that not only do the discussions lead to better bills, but they also lead to better partnerships. And so I'm grateful for that about this bill. Okay. So the second bill that would support individual empowerment and choice is about reinstating community access for the PCA program. I can certainly speak to this, but I can also turn it over to Vicki again or someone else if you would like to. >> Yeah, I can speak to it. And we were very excited to hear that this is one of the priorities for the Minnesota Council on Disabilities. We heard that at their legislative forum. This is also a bill that we've been working on for a few years. When PCAs started, PCAs were allowed to drive, and then through of the years changes in statute language, at times it was very vague. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT At times, it was or was not allowed. And we just know that people who rely on that service, some of them need their PCA to drive them to work or to volunteering or to community activities. And currently they're told that a PCA needs to clock out because they can't provide ADL skills when they're driving, and yet as an employer of a PCA you still have to pay them for that time. So it's very murky. So we just want to clarify it by adding it to the list of instrumental activities of daily living so it will be an allowable service. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you, Vicki, and thank you so much to all of our members who bring these proposals to the policy committee. MNCCD really, like our strength lies in our members and our policy agenda is a perfect example of that, because we develop our agenda based on the pressing issues that member organizations and now individuals bring to the policy committee. And we in my two years on the -- as a policy committee co-chair, I just feel like, I have both learned so much and also seen us work together really well. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And we've done -- we've made a lot of -- passed a lot of bills. And they've been really important advances for people with disabilities across Minnesota. And that is really a testament to our members, and the good work that you all do. And advocates who tell their stories and even when it's hard. So, yeah, I'm just grateful, and I'm proud of this agenda and look forward to working on in this session with all of you. I'm not sure what's next on the agenda? Bridget, can I turn it back to you? >> Bridget Carter: Yeah, I just wanted to see if anyone had any questions before moving on about any of these bills? So if you have a question, you can unmute yourself and let us know. >> Hi, everyone. I have a question. I'm Lisa Black. I'm an advocate here in our rural Minnesota -- outside of Gibbon, Minnesota. I need transit to get to events and to be able to advocate at the Capitol. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Because I cannot drive in large cities nor in places I do not know. The Renville/Sibley County transit authority has something called Smart Ride which is a volunteer driver system and you pay a rate of I think it's 14 cents mile, or is it 17? Plus -- I don't remember what it is for their lunch or whatever it is. Anyway -- costs me $180 round trip to get transit to and from the Capitol. We need better transit in Greater Minnesota. Help me get there. >> Maren Hulden: Oh, my gosh, yes, Lisa, thank you so much for raising this issue, it's huge. I mean, I -- I'm actually wondering, Jillian, if you are still on, and there are so many things that are running through my head as you speak, because -- and just what the cost would be for -- with the Renville -- that's un-- that's just unfair, I mean, that's just unmanageable. And that makes really, truly, the Capitol not accessible to you to go in person. >> Thankful for the coronavirus because I can do things in Zoom now. >> Maren Hulden: Yeah, and so I'm glad -- CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Jillian, it sounds like you're up for talks to this, because this is one -- a piece that one of the Autism Society's bills aims at addressing. >> Jillian Nelson: So one of the accessibility bills that we're working on is going to be establishing a group to look at creating a more accessible framework for the legislative process. COVID kind of forced us into doing public policy in an entirely different way and we saw that at the Autism Society not just for how it increased accessibility for people with disabilities but also how it increased accessibility for people in Greater Minnesota, how it increased accessibility for people that don't necessarily have the capacity to take off an entire day at work, park at the Capitol, and wait for eight hours to testify at a hearing. So we're hoping to bring as part of this legislation to bring together a work group that will look at the all of the provisions that have been made during COVID for people to be able to participate in our legislative process and look at how we can continue moving that forward so that the Minnesota's legislative process can be truly accessible for people with all types of CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT disabilities in all participates of our state with all living and work situations. Because they tell us over and over. That's our house. But we should have the right to access our house. In a way that best suits our needs. >> Lisa: Yes, that will definitely help, and I appreciate that. I but also know how important to be at a legislator's office and to see his or her face and to look him in the eye and say, help me get there. >> Jillian Nelson: So we do have, like, transportation is definitely something that we have kept on our radar for things with accessibility. I mean, it is my intention that this eight-bill package of accessibility bills is only the beginning. Hopefully we'll pass a handful of them this year and then we will keep going and keep adding to that. At this point, the Autism Society is not carrying something on transportation. It does not mean that it's not on our list. I know this is a year coming out of a crisis, like CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT looking at any kind of a policy, and I say this on behalf of all of the participates here, it was really, really important looking at the policy changes and what we were able to get done, that anything that had a very large price tag to it was very, have I limited this year because we do not know what those implications are going to be because of the pandemic. So I do understand the importance of transportation. I'm actually an autistic adult myself and I didn't drive until I was 34 years old. So I've spent most of my life depending on public transportation and understand very, very much the limits that can put, especially when it comes to geographic things. Unfortunately, like, this year, with the unprecedented nature of the world, a lot of -- like myself and a lot of the partners that you've heard from today, we were limited on what we're able to bring forward because of unknown financial constraints. >> Lisa: Okay, great, thank you, and if I just might add, I mean, I've heard so many complaints about all the services offered in the Twin Cities CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT area, and I just -- cringe, at least you've got service. I mean, yeah, you got to wait for it, but at least you got service. Yeah, I got service, but it's too expensive. Help me get there. >> Maren Hulden: Yeah, I'm so grateful that you have joined us today and that you raised this. And I'm actually wondering if we can -- this is kind of in the weeds, but MNCCD's by-laws recently changes so that now we have individuals bring policy change -- >> I can help with that. I'd -- >> Lisa is a great example of sort of like what COVID did to increase participation. I think she mentioned that briefly in what she was saying because Lisa was a transportation advocate on behalf of people with brain injuries before I started. Proud of Lisa, because she's hammered away at this issue forever. And she's going to continue to hammer at this issue away forever until we all start paying intelligence. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT She's been a leader on the nonmetro transit side. So anything I can do to help, you can count on me, guys, okay? And Lisa knows that to you. So, Lisa, thank you for bringing that up, I'm proud of you. >> Maren Hulden: Thanks, Jeff. And thanks, Lisa, and I just hope we can continue to have more conversations to brainstorm these solutions. I think Jillian's totally right that it's going to be super hard to bring things that have a price tag this year, but it sounds like you have an incredible perseverance, Lisa, and that if we can have more time, you know, as the session progresses, and in the summer to really bring folks together and brainstorm about bigger dreams around solving the absolute transportation crisis for people with disabilities in Greater Minnesota, like, I would love to do that. So thank you for raising this today. >> Lisa: I'm also frustrated that there aren't more people in Greater Minnesota who speak up. I mean, I know what the -- what is it? Truth -- I'm not sure. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT But a greater majority of people live in the Twin Cities area. So the people here in Greater Minnesota have to speak up. And unfortunately, they don't. >> Maren Hulden: Well, thank you for being here. I see Christy, you have your hand raised? >> Christy: Hello. Is there anything we can do to get information in different languages? For people that don't speak English as their first language? Like some people that are not -- that don't know English, doesn't know about these Disability Services. Because all the basic information are not in their languages. So this webpage about the waiver services are PCA are not accessible for people. >> Maren Hulden: Totally. Totally, thank you for -- thank you for raising that, Christy. This is another -- once again, the Autism Society's package comes to mind. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT One of the bills that they have been talking about for accessibility is -- you want to speak to it, Jillian? >> Jillian Nelson: Yeah, because there's actually two here that I think really play into this. One is we do have a bill in there that's looking at providing everything in plain language. And while plain language is not every other language, it at least simplifies the language process to close down some of those communication barriers. The other piece, though, is there's a piece of legislation to put together a work group to look at accessibility. For state and County Disability Services. I as a autistic person actually went through the process of getting disability services for myself this year, and even as a very, very strong advocate, obviously I'm a lobbyist for a major disability organization, I still struggled with the accessibility of getting County services and state services. So what we -- one of the bills we are putting together is going to put together a work group CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT that will look at accessibility for people with disabilities and accesses County and state services and part of that is language. That if people with disabilities can't understand the information, and the information isn't being given to them in an accessible format, then how do you navigate services? So we're hoping to close some of those gaps because, like, that is a big part of the that accessibility work group is I want to not just look at our services out there. I want to look at are they accessible and are they equitable? Do people with disabilities, are they able to access them independently? And are people with different support needs, whether it's a language, whether it's plain language, whether it's executive function, how are they able to access these support services? Because things like waivers and PCA services should not only be accessed to people that have the privilege of speaking the dominant language or people that have the privilege of having an advocate to navigate those systems. We need to close the accessibility gaps for all CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Minnesotans and being able to access Disability Services. >> Christy: Is a barrier to get a proper diagnosis for some People of Color and Hispanics. So white people, white kids, are getting more diagnosis of autism. Versus Latinos and Black. That are getting more behavioral diagnoses. And then when we try to get waiver services, we might not qualify to the DV waiver versus the CADI or other waivers, just because we don't have the right diagnosis -- the kid doesn't have the right diagnosis. And it can be the same behavior, but because of their race, they get different diagnosis. Or maybe they don't get a diagnosis at all because they are some differences in culture. >> Jillian Nelson: That's such an important issue. I will tell you from a standpoint, that the Autism Society of Minnesota, that is something that we see, we're very, very aware, and a lot of what we do outside of our public policy work is a lot of education with a lot of different groups and a lot of different areas around the state and that is CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT one thing we are very cognizant of is the disparity in getting accurate diagnoses for People of Color, especially in the autism community, and we're working on education, we're working on figuring out where those problems lie and how do we change that narrative. And then I listen to how they're talking about changing the narrative, and then I figure out how we can legislate changing the narrative. Please know that the Autism Society hears exactly what you're saying and I one thousand bazillion agree with you and that is a disparity that I am committed to continuing to work to end and that I am continuing to raise points on and that I hope we can continue to make changes October and I think I'll be talking about something a little bit later that might shed some more light on that. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you so much. Both Christy and Lisa. And Rebecca, I see -- >> Mark: Can I interject something to Lisa? >> Maren Hulden: Sure, we do -- yes, can you make it a little quick, though? >> Mark: Maybe something she said about a lot of people don't seem to be interested in the CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT transportation issue. Maybe they just -- maybe it's not a big deal to them as it is to Lisa and they really don't care that much about it and maybe they need to see someone like Lisa in action to maybe get revved up about that. >> Maren Hulden: That's a really good point. And that's why I'm really grateful, Lisa, that you spoke up at this meeting and I'm really excited to see -- about more inclusive ways for people to share their stories at the Capitol. And I would love to -- yeah. Continue to talking about that, because you're -- I think you're absolutely right that sometimes don't know about an issue until they hear someone's story. >> Mark: Right, right. >> Maren Hulden: Yeah. Well, let's do one more question, and then I think we've got a few other things to talk about this morning. So, Rebecca, do you have your hand raised? I think, there you go. >> Rebecca: Thank you. Yes, I would -- I just want to backpack on Lisa's CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT thing that, yes, transportation is a big issue. I think it should be moved from the bottom of the page up to the top. That's all. And so I really like what you're doing on accessibility. And this is a good information piece. Thank you so much for all of it. All the work you've done. That's all. >> Maren Hulden: Thank you, Rebecca. That's really good to hear. And it's a great point about the order. And, you know, maybe I'll comment on that a little bit is that we used to organize our agenda by tiers. Like tier one, tier two, tier three. And a couple years ago, we stopped doing that. We still kind of make decisions about what our lobby -- the lobbyists that MNCCD pays are spending their time on. But we decided that we really wanted to present a unified front based on our priorities. And so our hope is that we -- when we organize them by the priorities that it's not showing any CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT sort of preference to how important they are to us. It's just that we're organizing them around these themes so that we can use the themes as talking points to educate legislators in particular that, yes, legislators, diversity, equity, and inclusion is important for people with disabilities across Minnesota, and yes, legislators, they're not any more important than each other but we want to organize them under those themes so that we can use those talking points with legislators. But we're always open to feedback. And like we want this -- we want -- this is a collective project with all of you. So, yeah, I appreciate the comment. I'm going to turn it back to Bridget now. Thank you so much for the great questions. And I also am just -- we as member organizations and MNCCD push this agenda, it's hearing, like, those of you that have interest in these proposals, I hope you will find ways to stay involved. >> Mark: And, Maren, can you make sure we get a copy of that thing that was on your screen? >> Maren Hulden: Yes, I think Bridget and I CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT can make that happen. >> Mark: Thank you. >> Bridget Carter: Well, thanks again, everyone, for sharing those questions and comments. I've taken note of them so I can bring them to the rest of MNCCD as well. I'm going to go ahead and pass it along to one of the lobbyists. I see that Mitch is on. So if you want to speak briefly on the legislative session this year. >> Mitch: Sure, happy first day of session, everybody. If we were around the Capitol, especially on an election year where new members were being sworn in, it would really feel more like the first day of school. They're all happy. They're all laughing. They're all joking. And then they hate each other tomorrow. So that's kind of how it works. There was an election in November. And everybody but one person in America seems to CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT have decided how it's turned out. And we'll see what happens in Georgia today. That's very important as well. That's enough about the federal stuff for now. Minnesota is once again the only split legislature in the nation. So we -- the republicans held the Senate. The democrats held the House. Not much change at all in the House makeup. The leadership was all the same. A little bit different scenario in the Senate now. After the election, when the democrats did not take control, two of the long-standing Northern Minnesota, Iron Range Senators left the D.F.L. caucus and created their own independent caucus. Doesn't really matter much as to how things will play out because the republicans still had 35 seats, but it creates a different dynamic within the D.F.L. caucus now. And it was interesting because the two members are Senator Bakk and Senator Tomassoni, and they both ended up getting gavels as well. Senator Tomassoni is the chair of higher ed. So the University of Minnesota proposal will be run through this committee. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And Senator Bakk got the bonding committee which is one of the plums. They're both shrewd negotiables, so they knew how to cut the best deal for themselves. So getting into how session is going to go. Right now the Senate has said everything will be remote. If you see hearing notices that say "Hybrid," they are not hybrid. I literally talked to the sergeant at arms yesterday to see how they were going to allow access into the building. If they were doing hybrid. And he told me under no certain circumstances that they will be remote only for the first three weeks. The House has said they're going to be remote all session long. And I have not heard of a person other than a house staff member or a house member that can get into the state office building. They have literally put it on lockdown. Don't know if that will change and what dynamics will take place in that. I mean, in my line of work, you get a bill CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT introduced, you have to have somebody sign it. We might literally be standing outside of the door of the S.O.B. having a member come out and sign the bill and then take it to the hopper for us. The first month of session in a budget year when they start in January, probably just do a lot of overviews, especially after an election for both bodies because there's new members in both bodies, so don't expect a lot of bills to be heard. But a lot of agencies will come before the committees and give their presentations. Right now, it looks like they haven't figured out how people are going to be able to testify on the fly. I guess is how we would call it. Normal circumstances, an advocate or lobbyist would be sitting in a hearing room and something comes up, they'd be able to stand up, raise their hand, go to the table and speak. They don't know how they're going to be able to do that for the public under the current format. So that is going to be something that everybody needs to watch for both transparency and accessibility. We have a February forecast coming out. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT The deficit was very, very bleak last May. It got less bleak in November. And if things continue on the trend they are, it will be a little less bleak come February. Governor has to put his budget out by, I believe, January 24th. Don't quote me on that date, please. He will -- then they'll get into the negotiations. They'll have to figure out deadlines. Traditionally deadlines for policy bills before of the Easter/Passover break, and then after they come back from that, they will have the third deadline which is the budget deadline. So somewhere around the Easter/Passover break is when they'll put all their bills together and get them to the floor. And then it'll be the long slow slog of conference committees via Zoom up to the end of session. And already hearing that they're going to brinksmanship themselves all the way to end, not get anything done, say we need to take two, three days off, and we got a final deal, call a quick special session, and be done before Memorial Day. I am not going to hold my breath that they'll be done by May 17th. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And hopefully at that point in time the virus will be under control and the governor won't have to have any more emergency powers so we aren't all held hostage every month like we were last year. I guess into some nuts and bolts. I don't want to get too deep into it, but the committee structure for the House and Senate are now out. They're on the webpages. Bridget, I think I shout you an email that has the links. If you could put those into the chat, that would be great. Those are the links to the committee structures now that everything's official. And committees of note for us this year. HHS in the Senate and house. Not much of a change there. It's Benson and Liebling. For Human Services reform, Abeler still is chair of that. The House created a committee for Representative Schultz to chair. And while they are both separate budget divisions, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I doubt CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Benson or Liebling will allow Abeler and Schultz to have their own budget and bill, and that they will wrap their bill into the Benson/Liebling committee's bill. Just going to take a shot on the that right now. The other change of note is in education, because I know that with distance learning, that special education services has been a big issue. Since the kids have had to go to distance learning. No change in the House. But there was a huge change in the Senate. When Carla Nelson moved to taxes and Roger Chamberlain became chair of education. And the joke kind of going around the Capitol is that, well, they don't have to pass a tax bill this year. But they do have to pass an education bill. So that's why they moved chair Nelson to taxes, because they're afraid she wouldn't be able to pass an education bill this year. So she's going to move to taxes. Roger Chamberlain will be in education. Definitely not the makeup that I feel would have been best for people living with disabilities. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT But Senator Chamberlain and I go way back to when he sat on my former boss's committee as the minority lead. So hopefully my relationship with him -- I'll be able to at least bend his ear. And educate him into the important things about special education. So that's kind of where I'm at. And I'll open it up for questions if anybody has them. >> Jeff: Hey, Mitch, yeah, Jeff here. I loved your reference to the first day of school, you know, the session after the election. That's what it's kind of like. I miss all you guys. The other thing that they would usually do a day or two later is have a can't we just all get along conference at the U or something. Are they planning anything like that to your knowledge, you know, where they try to get to know each other at least keep the happiness going for a couple days? >> The first day of school was Tuesday when they all got sworn in. And then we all got Wednesday off as staffers CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT because they went to the "One Minnesota" conference. And while it was moderately well attended, I'd say half the members would go, half the members would go for part of the time. I doubt it's going to happen this time because unless there's a free lunch, not a lot of them go to things like that. So I don't think they're going to do a virtual "One Minnesota" conference this year. At least I haven't heard it from any of my staffing friends. But, yes, they always traditionally took the next day. >> Nice background, Mitch. >> Thank you. That's Prairie Lake up near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. >> Ah, very nice. >> Mitch Berggren: Anything else? >> Jeff: Have you heard anything more about meetings with advocates with their legislators? Anything you can share with people about that? >> Mitch Berggren: Yep, great question. Haven't heard a thing. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT They don't even know how you can get access into the building. They really are flying by the seat of their pants. And there are a lot of people that are already frustrated with them about their lack of planning and preparedness for this. Because they knew it was coming. But everything hinged on who was going to be in control. So the election really got in the way of any sort of preparedness for how this session is going to work. I've heard that speaker Hortman has asked her members to respond -- or members and/or staff to respond within 24 hours to any constituent request. So in the House, if you have a constituent, that might be your best way to get a response from a member. As far as lobbyists and staff, I've had a good response rate from the members and staff that I've reached out to so far. As the session heats up, I have no idea what they're going to do. I'm in conversations with the -- some of the CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT leadership staff -- staff leadership on how I thought it could run and I gave them some advise. And I was a little shocked that their response was, hey, that's a great idea, hadn't thought of that. So this is going to be a assessor work in progress. And I don't think they know what they're doing, and they start in an hour. So kind of just strap your seat belt in, and we'll see what happens. And I'll make sure that if I hear of a good way to get to a person, or a system that seems to be working to make sure to pass it on to folks. >> Bridget Carter: Thank you so much, Mitch. That's very helpful. >> Jon: Thank you, Mitch. >> Bridget Carter: I'm going to pass it on to Jillian. We have a few things left that we want to talk about on our agenda. So Jillian? >> Jillian Nelson: I mean, if everyone isn't already tired of hearing from me today. [ Laughter ] CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I am here today, you guys, to kind of talk about something new that we've undertaken this year. In the beginning of the pandemic, the CCD policy committee came together and realized that there was a lot of concerns nationwide about discrimination in health care for people with disabilities. So we brought together a committee to kind of really pay attention to the policy on that. And what was happening across the country and what was happening in Minnesota. To make sure that people with disabilities here in Minnesota weren't being denied hospital access or health care. Or so many other things. That was a great development to that group. In May with the death of George Floyd, it became very, very clear that anti-discrimination doesn't start and end with -- with medical stuff. Here in Minnesota. And the anti-discrimination committee transformed into something incredibly amazing and we became the anti-discrimination and intersectionality committee and really shifted our focus to not just looking at discrimination from a medical CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT standpoint but also looking at the intersectionality and discrimination that various groups including people with disabilities are facing, and really kind of reshaping how CCD looks at our policy work to make sure -- I'm so sorry, you guys. I had emergency surgery over the weekend. And my throat is still really, really rough from intubation, so bear with me here. So we worked as a establishing to kind of create a new set of policy priorities that really focused on keeping in mind discrimination and intersectionality and really coming to the table from an anti-racism and an anti-ableism frame work. With that philosophy of most importantly first do no harm. So making sure that no policy proposals that we're putting forward are perpetuating systemic racism or systemic ableism that exists in our system that continues to allow people with disabilities to be a marginalized community. And also how do we create a wider level of accessibility so that our communities of people with disabilities is fully embracing People of CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Color and immigrants and different other diverse groups such as the LGBT community and making sure that as an organization we are truly fighting for the entirety of the disability community, not just the people that have the privilege and the means to show up and be to heard. So I am one of the co-chairs of this anti-discrimination intersectionality community. I am very, very proud to say that the CCD leadership made all the right choices in allowing this committee to be led by a person with a disability and also a person of color. So those concerns and those voices are being accurately reflects as we do that work, that it's not people speaking for these groups that have experienced marginalization, but it's those groups that are being able to lead that. And the support that this committee has received from the policy committee and the board has just been exceptional. And we really look forward to engaging with all of you in the coming year. One of the things that this committee has committed to that's a lot of committed -- and committee words -- is that we are going to be CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT looking at doing some ongoing training throughout the course of this year. We recognize that when we know better, we do better. So as important as it is for us as policy advocates in a professional sense to learn how to be anti-racist and to learn how to be anti-ableist, and to learn about the history of People of Color within the disability community, we want to also offer that to all of the other people that participate in events with CCD, so that as a community, we are better together, and that we can go in as a united front to end ableism and end racism, and end inequity for people with disabilities and accessing services and supports and acceptance in our community. >> Bridget Carter: Thanks, Jillian, and thanks for being one of our co-chairs for that committee. We really appreciate it. So our last agenda item is something that was mentioned earlier about individual memberships. So I'm going to have our board chair, Marnie, give us a little more information about that. >> Marnie Falk: Thanks, Bridget. Hi, everyone, Marnie Falk with Gillette Specialty CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Health Care. And as Maren already mentioned, hi, we are really excited because we changed our by-laws to now allow for individual membership. So Tuesdays have been open to everyone, but membership in be MNCCD has been limited to organizations. So we are now opening up membership to individuals. So what does this mean? It means that you as an individual have the opportunity to help run MNCCD and to be are involved in all of our work and all of our committees. So right now we have our policy committee, so you would have the opportunity to join that committee, to not only vote on the patrols priorities that were presented to you today and next year's policy priorities, but also to bring forward individual policy proposals so like Lisa's, you know, great idea. You know, work on transportation, other issues that are important to you. You would also have the opportunity to join the antidiscrimination and intersectionality committee CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT that Jillian just talked about. We have so much exciting work planned for that committee and really need your contributions. And we're also in the process of forming a communications committee, so if you like talking to the media, if you like helping with the social media plans, so really excited, excited to be an organization that's made up of individual advocates really involved in the planning and running of MNCCD, the cost for individual memberships is $25, and we absolutely realize that that is not in everyone's budget, so we are working on obtaining scholarship funds, but bottom line, if you want to be a member, we will make sure that you are a member. The application form is almost ready. We're going to have that done this week. It will be available on our website. We are also going to be sharing the opportunity over social media. Bridget, I don't know if you want to put your email in the chat, have her send that to you. But also make sure that application is accessible and in the form you need, so let us know how we can do that. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So just really excited and open to any questions on that. [ No response ] >> Marnie Falk: Okay. >> Jon: Thank you very much. >> I have one question. So I'm calling over the phone. Is there a way that I can access it? Because I don't see the chat? >> Marnie Falk: Sure. So bcarter@mnccd.org. And do you have access to email? >> I do, yes. >> Marnie Falk: Perfect. And if anyone doesn't, we can certainly mail out a copy to you. Just let us know. >> Perfect, thank you so much. >> Marnie Falk: Yeah, thank you. >> Bridget Carter: Well, thanks, Marnie. We're really excited about individual membership for this coming year. So if you have any questions, reach out to me. And I can help in any way. Well, that's all we have. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I think just two announcements. One is that we'll be Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. until the end of session. So if you have any ideas of topics that you want discussed further, also let me know. And we can hopefully make that work. And then next Tuesday at 11:00, after our "Tuesdays at the Capitol," is our program with M.D.H., which is our "Let's Talk" series and it's going to be focused on vaccines next week, and so if you -- you have to preregister for that, but if you want more information, you can look on our social media, but also reach out to me as well. So I think that's it. So thanks for joining us for our session -- session startup this week. >> Jon: Thank you for your help. >> Thank you. >> Hi, Sue. >> Thanks, everyone. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hey, Bridget. >> Good job. >> Sue, there's a button on the top of your screen CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT that -- >> I think I'm unmuted now, right? >> Jon: Yep, you're unmuted now. >> Sue: Thank you. >> Jeff: I had your wrong email address, Sue. That's why you weren't getting my emails. I corrected it. >> Sue: Sounds good. These work really good for me because driving to the Capitol is scary. >> Jeff: Yeah, you guys will get an email from me in a day or two with the Zoom link for our next one and we're going to be doing this with CCD once a month. >> Jon: Jeff, I have a question for you. >> Jeff: Yeah. >> Jon: CCD is doing weekly. But we are also doing weekly? >> Jeff: It's just like before. Like we were in the back little room, they're in the big room. And once a month we're going to be in the Zoom together. So it will be a little confusing, that once a month we're going to have to use a different Zoom CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT link. So I will send that out every week and every Monday so you guys have the right numbers. >> Jon: And another piece of qualification. Clarification. Will the same code -- it's the same meeting, but it's a different code every week; is that correct? >> Bridget Carter: Our meetings will have the same each week. >> Two different codes, one for CCD, one for brain injury. Those codes will stay the same during the whole session. Keep track of two different meetings. Am I going to the brain injury meetings or the CCD meetings. Just like when you walked into the Department of Transportation cafeteria. You either had to go right or left. >> Are they at the same time? >> Yes. I did decide to do everything at the same time. 10:00 Tuesdays. I'm going to start -- I'm going to open it up at 9:30 if people want to come early and chat, it'll CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT be open. And I'll send this all out in a email this week. The other thing I was telling Bridget. We're going to do. And it's certainly -- we'll see how it goes is we're going to do once a week, we're going to watch a committee hearing. So I'll do the first one of that on Thursday I think and -- I don't know if I'm showing my age here, but does remember mystery science theater 3,000? They'd watch B rated movies and talk about it. Number five on my list is we're going to have fun. Thanks for the extra time here, everybody. >> Are all the hearings more or less going to be televised? >> They're all on line. And a number of them will be televised, but it's up to the producers of TPT which hearings this show. So I'm going to try to do a share screen. So we'll see if we run into Internet bandwidth issues. We're going to do our best and we're going to have fun. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> I was asking that, like, I could use I guess our last year. Let's say it was about the Mitch's law. If there was something like that that we wanted to watch. We could go on -- yeah. So we will be able to find out. If we -- we could watch outside of being with you. >> Of course, this is just our fun time together. You can geek out and watch TPT24 hours a day if you want. That's called overwhelming. >> I'm going to try once a week little video updates too. We'll have -- I'm going to try all kinds of different things because I know Bridget's trying to do the same thing, trying to figure out how to keep everybody engaged. So I'm looking forward to trying next things. >> On a side note, Jeff, how's your hair doing? >> My hair? It's pretty long. >> Ooh, yeah. I think it's amazing. >> I like your little skunk line you have. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> A reverse skunk. I think a silver -- >> It's cool. All right, take care. I got to go work. Supposed to start work. I think we're keeping Bridget and the ASL interpreter busy. Overtime. Bye, everyone. DISCLAIMER This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format and is the work product of the CART captioner. Any reproduction, publication, or other use of this CART file without the express written consent of the captioner is strictly prohibited. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility, and this lightly edited CART file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings, nor should it be considered in any way as a certified document. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled. This text may also contain phonetic attempts at sounds and words that were spoken, and environmental sounds that occurred during the event. 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