Federal Appropriations signed, State advances oral practitioner bill

President Obama signs FY2009 Appropriations Bill
The U.S. Senate passed the Omnibus Appropriations bill Tuesday night that will fund federal programs for fiscal year 2009, and President Obama signed the bill into law yesterday. The bill is a compilation of nine spending bills that the previous Congress was unable to finish before adjourning, including the Labor-HHS-Education bill. Overall, the bill spends $410 billion and provides a $4.4 billion increase in funding for educational programs over the fiscal year 2008 level. Included in the bill is $17.3 billion for Pell grants. In addition to the funds provided in the stimulus package, $17.3 billion would provide a maximum award of $5350 and is an increase of $3.1 billion over FY 2008.

Oral health practitioner bill advances
Two bills offering different approaches to establishing the requirements and practice limitations for an oral health practitioner were the focus of yesterday's Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee. Members heard extensive testimony on both bills before advancing one measure to the Committee on Finance.

SF 1106, sponsored by Sen. Ann Lynch, DFL-Rochester, establishes licensure and practice limitations for an oral health practitioner. SF 641 sponsored by Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, establishes licensure and practice limitations for dental therapists.

Mike Scandrett, Minnesota Safety Net Coalition, said last year's legislation establishing a new mid-level dental professional called an oral health practitioner also established a work group to develop recommendations on the training and practice details. He said the result of the work group's recommendations are contained in SF 1106.

Scandrett said lack of access to dental care is one of the most important health problems for Minnesota children and adults, especially for those who are low-income, have a disability or special needs or live in rural areas. He said, according to the Dept. of Health, less than half of the low-income people who are on state health care programs received any dental care at all in 2006. He said the main barriers are the cost of dental care and a shortage of dentists who are willing to treat patients at reduced costs or practice in rural or communities or treatment settings.

Lynch said SF 1106 sets forth the licensure requirements for an oral health practitioner. Under the bill, the individual must have graduated with a bachelor's or master's degree from an accredited or approved oral health practitioner education program, passed a comprehensive, competency-based clinical exam and an exam on the state's laws and rules relating to dentistry. The bill also allows the oral health practitioner to use the services of dental assistants, dental technicians and licensed dental hygienists. Lynch said the bill requires the practitioner to practice under the supervision of a Minnesota licensed dentist, limits the practice to settings that serve low-income, uninsured, or underserved patients or settings located in a dental health professional area.

Prettner Solon said that SF 641 requires a dental therapist to work under the supervision of a Minnesota licensed dentist and requires the collaborating dentist to accept responsibility for all services authorized and performed by the dental therapist. The bill also provides that a dental therapist may perform preventive, evaluative and educational oral health services.

Marilyn Loen, dean, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Metropolitan State University described the curriculum Metro State has developed for oral health practitioners. She said the scope of practice is widened under the Metro State approach to allow the individual to provide services to the underserved while the collaborative dentist is off-site.

Patrick Lloyd, dean, University of Minnesota described the curriculum developed by the School of Dentistry at the University of Minnesota. He said under the University's model the dental therapist could provide services only when the collaborative dentist is on-site.

The committee agreed to create two versions of dental therapists, with different training requirements: one would require more oversight, the other could operate more independently. Members adopted an amendment attaching the language of SF 641 to the language of SF 1106 and advanced SF 1106 as amended to the Committee on Finance.

At the Capitol:
Legislative schedules are available for the House and Senate.

Bonding bill moves, State grant program review

Yesterday at the Capitol

Senate bonding bill moves forward
The Senate Capital Investment Committee approved a bonding bill yesterday evening appropriating $362.4 million for capital improvements to state and local facilities. SF 781, authored by committee chair Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, provides $90.28 million to projects for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, $50 million for HEAPR and the remaining funds for the 2008 vetoed projects. $59 million is appropriated to the University of Minnesota for HEAPR and the Bell Museum of Natural History construction.

Langseth indicated other appropriations in the bill, which include: $4 million to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, $10 million to the Dept. of Corrections, $29 million to the Dept. of Natural Resources, $25 million to the Pollution Control Agency, $5 million to amateur sports and $3.6 million to the Dept. of Military Affairs.

The bill was approved and heads next to the Finance Committee.

Office of Higher Education presents state grant program report
The Senate Higher Education Budget and Policy division heard from the Office of Higher Education yesterday about the Minnesota state grants program. Mark Misukanis, interim director of the Office of Higher Education, said the state grant program is a need-based grant for Minnesota residents attending Minnesota institutions. He said the application process is the same as the process for federal Pell grants and that the grants are available for U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens. He said the program distributes $145 million to 83,000 students each year.

Misukanis said the price of attendance is assigned to three parties; students, their families and the taxpayers. Currently, the recognized price of attendance includes an annual four year maximum of $9,838 for tuition and fees and $6,200 for living and miscellaneous expenses. Misukanis said there are external benchmarks for tuition and fee maximums, which include the rate of inflation, the maximum public tuition and fees charged and the general public subsidy for higher education.

Meredith Fergus, also with the Office of Higher Education, explained the calculations involved in determining assigned student responsibility, the assigned family responsibility and assigned taxpayer responsibility. Fergus said that college affordability is a growing concern for students and parents in Minnesota and nationally. In addition, she said the percent of income required of some families to pay college costs may be unreasonable. However, Fergus said the state grant program design continues to serve the state well, but the effectiveness of the program is limited by the price of attendance is set artificially low.

Committee members also considered a bill aimed at helping low-income students become better prepared for higher education. SF 1293, authored by Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, requires higher education institutions to partner with high schools to promote college attendance, establishes high school-to-college developmental transition programs and revises the achieve scholarship program. Revisions in the achieve scholarship program include requiring students to complete a qualifying program in a high school or home-school program and graduate with an unweighted 2.5 grade point average and having a family adjusted gross income of less than 185 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Pappas said students must also enroll full-time in the fall term immediately following high school graduation and be enrolled in a degree, diploma, or certificate program. The bill also revises the maximum amount of the scholarship and sets the maximum qualifying expenses as the average total qualifying expenses at the four-year institutions of the Minnesota Colleges and Universities System.

Members laid the bill over for possible inclusion in the committee's omnibus bill.

At the Capitol:
Legislative schedules are available for the House and Senate.

State government bills heard, Regents selected

Yesterday at the Capitol

State government bills heard in Senate
The Senate State Government Budget Division listened to three bills at their meeting yesterday morning all authored by Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope. SF 91 requires Minnesota Management and Budget to maintain a Web site with a searchable database of state expenditures, which will be available to the public. The bill was laid on the table to be considered for possible inclusion in the division's omnibus bill.

The next bill, SF 57, adds duties to the Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget, Rest said. The bill requires that the commissioner establish a process to monitor and encourage implementation of recommendations made to state agencies by the legislative auditor, Rest said. She said the bill also requires the commissioner to develop training materials and policies on internal controls and ensure that executive branch employees with financial responsibilities participate in a regular course of training on internal controls and financial management. The bill was amended and laid on the table, also for possible consideration in the omnibus bill.

And finally, SF 107 clarifies and strengthens laws prohibiting misuse of state funds and prescribes criminal penalties for misuse of state funds. Criminal offenses under the bill are classified as a gross misdemeanor and penalties include imprisonment for no more than one year or a fine of no more than $3,000, Rest said. This bill was also laid on the table for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

University of Minnesota Regents elected in joint session
In a special joint session yesterday, House and Senate members elected four individuals to fill open seats on the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota. The elected Regents include;
• 1st Congressional District - Patricia Simmons of Rochester (currently chairwoman of the board)
• 4th Congressional District - Richard Beeson of St. Paul
• 6th Congressional District - current regent John Frobineus of St. Cloud
• 7th Congressional District, current board vice chair Clyde Allen Jr. of Moorhead

All four Regents were recommended last week by the joint House and Senate committee on regent selection. Members of the board, which serves as the university’s governing body, serve staggered six-year terms.

At the Capitol:
Legislative schedules are available for the House and Senate.