ST. PAUL — Senator Jim Abeler (R-Anoka), chair of the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee, today introduced a bill that would allow the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to reinstate waivers and modifications to certain human services programs. These waivers and modifications were originally issued by the governor’s Executive Order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This bill was brought forward in partnership with Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota House to provide flexibility to serve the state’s vulnerable people.

“Working together across the aisle allows us to get a lot of important work done,” Abeler said. “This is the way government should work to solve challenging and pressing issues like this.”

A key provision in this bill would provide DHS authority to manage a temporary staffing pool to help secure workers to provide care for people in group homes, long-term care facilities and other care settings.

This would help address the extreme difficulty Minnesota’s long-term care, group homes and nursing facilities are experiencing in hiring and retaining staff. A statewide survey by the Long-Term Care Imperative shows Minnesota care facilities are estimated at being 23,000 staffers short.

“Minnesota’s care facilities are in a dire, emergency situation and unable to hire enough staff needed to provide care for residents,” Abeler said. “The bill I introduced this session would address this critical need by providing these facilities a pool of temporary staff. We must ensure our state’s most vulnerable people have a place to receive the necessary care.”

Liz Westrom, senior director of services of the Volunteers of America Minnesota and Wisconsin, provided testimony in today’s informational hearing in support of the emergency staffing pool and provided the following statement.

“Every minute of coverage (from the Emergency Staffing Pool) made a big impact on supporting the physical aspects of the job and lifting the morale and spirit of our teams as well,” Westrom noted. “It meant that we were not invisible, and that our work was important, just like the hospitals and nursing homes. It gave our ‘crispy-fried-burned-out’ staff a chance to get a small break as someone else helped to fill open hours. It gave Covid infected staff some much-needed time to rest and recuperate.”

With the 2022 legislative session underway, Abeler along with other members of the Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee will continue to work to address the needs of Minnesota’s most vulnerable people.