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Inside Supreme Court Hears Olmstead
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Volume 10, Number 5
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Video Review — Page 3
SOURCES
May 10, 1999
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“Nothing about me without me.” — Disability Rights Slogan
RESOURCES
May 10, 1999
POLICY MAKERS C o n f e re n c e C o m m i t t e e C h a i r s I n t e r v i e w e d by Charlie Smith, Editor
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very legislative session, the conference committee process dictates the final outcome of many of the bills that have passed the House and Senate. Both the Health and Human Service Omnibus bills contain very expensive and important disability initiatives. We interviewed Representative Kevin Goodno (R), Chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee and Senator Don Samuelson (D), Chair of the Senate Health and Family Security Committee. These men are in very powerful positions; they control the conference committees, which determine what gets funded and what doesn’t. The following is a summary of their responses to questions posed to them by ACCESS PRESS. It may shed some light on what the Chairs are thinking going into the negotiations. Could you talk about why you wanted to serve on the Health and Human Services Committee?
Then, it was health, human services, corrections and economic development.
What is the hardest decision you’ve made this year due to limited resources?
Rep. Kevin Goodno (R), Moorhead
Samuelson: There were a lot of hard ones—we had 150 funding bills in our committee. It’s always hard to put together a bill that’s broad based enough to satisfy members. Once we decided that the COLA would be the most important issue, the rest would just have to fill in the blanks. You have to go in and make some reductions in other areas that you didn’t want to make, in the base — in programs funded in the past— and so those are always tough decisions.
Goodno: I have been involved in welfare reform since elected. Two years ago in 1996 when the federal government made the change in the welfare laws, we had the opportunity to change our welfare system. I asked to be moved onto Human Services at that time to work specifically on welfare reform. After making the shift from the Tax Committee to the Health and Human Services Committee, I gained a greater interest in the other areas, too.
Goodno: Just trying to do the whole list of priorities that we had and one of them is the COLA increase. We wish we could have spent more money in that area, but that was balanced off by looking at the waiver programs, which we would have liked to fund at a higher level. We’re looking at 250 new slots per year; and the senior drug program—we made sure we extended that to the disabled population as well. That took a lot of money.
What do you see as the most important bill you have carried this session?
What do you see as the biggest differences between the House and Senate versions of the omnibus bill?
Samuelson: The COLA [cost of living adjustment] bill to enhance health care workers’ decent wage. It’s a cornerstone of the bill this year, calling for $100 million in additional funding.
Sen. Don Samuelson (DFL), Brainerd
Samuelson: I was actually assigned to chair the appropriations committee by thenSpeaker Sabo. At the time, in 1972, I was the most junior Representative and no one else wanted it; HHS was left.
Goodno: The work incentive bill, HF 670, which is the bill to provide health care benefits for people with disabilities. It was just a bill that the more I found out about it the better the bill was. And it really did fall into the philosophy that the governor’s been pushing; when the bill passed on the House floor there were no ‘no’ votes at all.
Samuelson: The House spent more money; that’s the biggest difference. And also the COLA; we’re about $30 million higher in the COLA than they are. They also funded the DD [developmental disabilities] waiver and have the money to do it. Once we get to conference committee a target will be established. Hopefully we’ll get a little more money and we’ll be able to “conference” these things out. It could be the House target, the Senate target or something in between. It’s all based upon
Dr. Carol Gill, keynote speaker at the Disability Culture Conference, April 30 - May 1. See article p.5
what happens with taxes. The more money we give back in the form of tax returns the less we have to spend. As fas as prescription drugs—they [the House] did the disabled, we didn’t have enough.
ployees and pca’s are having a struggle. People are not getting personal care attendants, the whole health care industry is having a struggle, that’s where I think we need to provide the most assistance this year.
Goodno: We have political differences on the abortion language and the [tobacco] endowment. Those will be worked out somehow, some way. But if you take out those two issues, the political issues, and look at the “meat and potatoes” of the bill, I’d say the big difference is the targeting for people with developmental disabilities—the waiting list, consumer support grants and the SILS program. The biggest dollar amount there is the waivered slots.
Goodno: I don’t want to say that yet because I need to negotiate that. If I gave them a road map of where I’m going that wouldn’t help me. I’ll have to say that our priorities will stay the same. We set out and told the leadership our priorities would be COLA, the waivered slots and senior prescription program. We want to stick with those priorities and each one of them is very expensive. It’s not easy.
What will be your highest priority during conference committee negotiations? Samuelson COLA. It was last year and it is again this year. Nursing homes are losing em-
I’ve known a number of people with disabilities over the years and families with children with disabilities, and what people have to go through in those situations is incredible to me. So the influence isn’t coming from me, it’s coming from the
people out there who are dealing with this day to day and overcoming obstacles and moving forward and I just want to make it easier for them to move forward. The work incentives bill is about people having a future. The testimony on this bill was compelling. A woman who had graduated from Concordia College in the early 90’s and then an accident happened. She wanted to go back and teach and she found out she couldn’t afford to teach. That’s pretty devastating. Most people tie themselves to the occupation they choose. If you deny a person that opportunity, you really inhibit their sense of being and their identity. Goodno was also asked: Could you explain for our readers how the conference committee process works?
Interview - cont. on p. 9