The Minnesota legislature finished its session on May 17. The state had a $3 billion budget deficit this year, but the Minnesota Half in Ten partners and our allies mounted a “Stand Together Minnesota” campaign that helped to defeat proposals from the governor and the House to make serious and deep cuts to the income-assistance provisions in the state’s General Assistance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.

We focused on the message that those assistance programs, often dismissed as “welfare,” are the only alternatives for low-wage workers who do not qualify for unemployment insurance and do not have access to paid sick leave or short- and long-term disability insurance. That was defense.

Our offensive win for the session was a bill authorizing a legislative working group to develop policy recommendations that will help low-income Minnesotans develop and secure assets. We expect the bipartisan group to look at issues on the Half In Ten agenda, including addressing predatory market practices and income tax credits. The three Minnesota partners went into the session with almost identical legislative agendas, allowing us to mobilize our different constituencies for the same objectives.

Half in Ten ally Affirmative Options has also been engaging its members and allies on the federal level in contacting our congressional delegation on the importance of passing a bill to extend unemployment insurance, medical assistance contributions to the states, and emergency TANF funds. We developed sign-on letters that sought the names of individual constituents instead of organizations; provided information about the number and type of jobs created with TANF funds in Minnesota; shared data about the number of low-wage workers who turn to TANF in Minnesota; and worked closely with state workforce agencies, legislators, and allied advocates in prompting calls and emails to the delegation.

Half in Ten allies, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition and A Minnesota Without Poverty, also helped to organize a forum for gubernatorial candidates on Monday, May 24. The forum will ask candidates to speak to their vision and values in addressing the need for jobs, health care, affordable housing, and other economic justice issues. The hope is to fill the 500 seats at the forum and to demonstrate public support for tackling poverty.

“Justice We Pursue” was the theme of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition’s annual day on Capitol Hill. JRLC is one of the Minnesota groups working on the Half in Ten campaign. Its day on the hill has always been focused on state-level policies, but this year it used the Half in Ten logo on its outreach materials and on the jumbo screen at the convening and briefing sessions. Brian Rusche, executive direction of JRLC, spoke to the 750 participants about Half in Ten and our fairly new A Minnesota Without Poverty campaign.

The day’s issues focused on legislation JRLC wants to advance this year and cuts it wants to prevent during yet another big state budget shortfall, including:

• The development of a poverty impact statement to measure whether major legislation would increase or decrease the number of Minnesotans in poverty. This was tabled for this session because even $50,000 is too much in a budget that will be cut by $1 billion.
• Starting Ladders out of Poverty—a legislative workgroup that will take the ideas outlined by JRLC’s Legislative Commission to End Poverty around asset development and turn them into specific legislative proposals. So far so good.

The people of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian faiths who showed up for Day on the Hill met with 75 legislators in person and with another 30 legislative staff members. Those same participants are now being asked to hold in-district meetings, continue lobbying their legislators, and participate in candidate forums. JRLC has developed questions to be asked of gubernatorial candidates and is encouraging members to press candidates on their views both during public forums and one-on-one encounters.

Affirmative Options, another Half in Ten partner in Minnesota, has meanwhile been working on ensuring that Minnesota’s congressional delegation continues to hear about the importance and urgency of approving extensions of the emergency funding for the Temporary Assistance for Need Families program.

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition just last week held a Day on the Hill at the Minnesota state capitol, where more than 1,000 activists learned about the Half in Ten campaign and advocated on state and federal issues to reduce poverty.

Nancy Maeker, the executive director of A Minnesota Without Poverty, keynoted three Bread for the World workshop events in late February, helping to gather more than 200 letters in support of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.

And A Minnesota Without Poverty also hosted a statewide gathering in late February on five sites to report on the progress toward ending poverty and to issue a call to action. Affirmative Options Coalition and Joint Religious Legislative Coalition were two of the co-sponsors for the event which drew more than 400 people in St. Paul, Duluth, Moorhead, Willmar, and Rochester, with additional supporters joining the webcast program online. The call to action highlighted coordinating the Minnesota legislative agenda with the Half in Ten issues and encouraged advocates to support the Half in Ten campaign. After the formal program, all participants gathered around tables for discussion, letter writing, phone calling—and food.

You can view photos and an introductory video from the gathering on Facebook.

The Minnesota coalition will continue its work over the coming months and focus on priorities such as:

• Building more partner relationships, especially with organizations involving low-income people
• Developing a comprehensive communications plan to engage all sectors of society in fighting poverty and build the public will to act
• Organizing a presence at candidate forums to hear from those seeking elected office what they hope to do on poverty
• Collecting stories from diverse populations, including stories from people experiencing poverty and other sectors of society
• Participating in the Minnesota State Fair to educate attendees about specific issues relating to Minnesota and Half in Ten and to focus on the election process

• Last weekend, A Minnesota Without Poverty Executive Director, Nancy Maeker, served as the keynote speaker at three Bread for the World workshops on “Bridging the Gap—Making Work Pay: Addressing the Struggle of Low-Income Workers to Make Ends Meet.” Nancy educated dozens of activists on the Earned Income Tax Credit, strategies to end poverty in Minnesota, and the Half in Ten Campaign’s goals and priorities.
• On February 27th, A Minnesota Without Poverty will hold a statewide Gathering on Five Sites entitled, “If Not We, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When?” This web-linked program will focus on the first recommendation of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty recommendation: Restore work as a means out of poverty. All five sites will share the experience of a keynote speaker, music, conversation, report on the progress toward ending poverty, and a community-wide call to action throughout Minnesota.
• On March 25th, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC) will hold a day at the state capitol where over a thousand activists will gather to celebrate JRLC’s Day on the Hill (March 25). Half in Ten issues and goals will be incorporated into this day’s agenda.

Email Nancy Maeker at nancymaeker@mnwithoutpoverty.org to get involved.

Congress listened to advocates, and included unemployment reform in ARRA, allocating $7 billion for the project. And these reforms have begun to reach unemployed workers across the country.  Earlier this week, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a report (PDF) detailing the “unprecedented wave” of unemployment insurance reforms that has swept across the country since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) became law on February 17th, 2009.  

In just four months, 25 states have enacted reforms to modernize and expand their unemployment insurance programs, either by considering a worker’s most recent work history and earnings to determine their qualification for UI benefits or specifically offering unemployment benefits to historically-disadvantaged employees, such as women, part-time workers, and the long term unemployed. The states that made these reforms were Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, and West Virginia. These states joined the 8 states and the District of Columbia that had already made these reforms.

In addition to permanent UI reform, 21 states with high unemployment rates have also extended unemployment benefits to cover an extra 13-20 weeks.  Of the $7 billion in federal incentive funds, the NELP report estimates that $3.65 billion will be provided to the states in order to help over one million jobless workers collect the benefits they need.

Catherine Rampell, the economics editor of nytimes.com, emphasizes that most of these state unemployment insurance reforms are new changes that indeed expand program eligibility, as opposed to “technical ‘fixes’ to existing laws.” The NELP report further highlights the broad bi-partisan support of these reforms, indicating that legislation has been signed and enacted by nine Republican governors. About a dozen states are still in debate over reforms.

ST. PAUL – With large corporations and small businesses slashing jobs at record rates, the country can’t afford to wait for an economic recovery plan, a coalition of Minnesota organizations said Thursday. The group announced a “Jobs and Economic Recovery Now!” campaign to have a plan on President Barack Obama’s desk soon after he takes office.

“Following eight years of misguided economic policies that gave priority to tax breaks for multimillionaires and big corporations, the Obama plan will get America’s disappearing middle class working again right away and make smart, long-term investments that will keep them working long after,” said Denise Cardinal, executive director of the Allance for a Better Minnesota.

More than 10,000 Minnesotans lost their jobs in November, boosting the state’s umemployment rate to 6.4 percent, according to figures released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

State Economist Tom Stinson has predicted that Minnesota could lose as many as 50,000 jobs over the next year as the recession deepens. This would bring the level of unemployment to the highest level during the entire 30-year period for which data is available, according to policy analyst Jeff Van Wychen of Minnesota 2020.

Obama’s plan, outlined in a radio address Dec. 6, includes the single largest investment in U.S. national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s, as well as massive investments towards making public buildings more energy-efficient, upgrading and modernizing school buildings, and modernizing the U.S. health care system. The plan also is likely to include increased federal aid to states and local communities to fund law enforcement, education, health care for children and low-income families, and other services.

The “Jobs and Economic Recovery Now” campaign will employ all of the tools of a traditional campaign, including a massive grassroots movement and paid advertising, to pass the economic recovery package by strong bipartisan margins in the House and Senate in January – then send it to Obama immediately after his inauguration, the group said.

The campaign’s coalition includes Minnesota ACORN, AFSCME Council 5, Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Americans United for Change, Jewish Community Action, JOBS NOW Coalition, UFCW Local 789 and U.S. Action.

“When workers lose their homes, their jobs and their health care, the need for government help soars,” said Jerry Serfling of AFSCME Council 5. “To help struggling families survive this recession, we need to invest in health care, food stamps and unemployment assistance. President-Elect Obama knows what Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew. Good jobs create an economy that works. To stave off another depression, Minnesota needs public investment to create good jobs.”

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_3884

An editorial from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The recent release of state and U.S. unemployment rates is just the latest indication that the global economic crisis is quickly becoming an employment crisis as well.

Nationally, new claims for unemployment benefits last week spiked to a 16-year high of 542,000, which brings the four-week average to 506,500. Those are the worst numbers in 25 years, and it’s likely November’s unemployment rate will go even higher than October’s 6.5 percent.

Minnesota’s figures also reveal troublesome trends. Another 7,500 jobs were cut in October, which pushed the unemployment rate up to 6 percent statewide. Hit hardest over the last year were jobs in construction, which has contracted along with the mortgage meltdown. Overall, 6,700 construction jobs, or 5.2 percent of total state construction employment, have been lost. Few of these jobs are likely to return until the housing crisis, which is the root cause of the financial crisis, is addressed with more vigorous public policy.

Most economists believe the jobs outlook won’t brighten until the economy begins to turn around, which could be well into next year, or even not until 2010. Headlines like Citigroup’s plan to lay off more than 50,000 workers will only add to the total. And in the process, decreased consumer confidence will only exacerbate the economic downturn.

While there is little that national officeholders can do to immediately get people back to work, our representatives in Washington can take steps to cushion the unemployment blow.

A first key move happened this week when President Bush signed a bill to extend unemployment benefits another seven weeks. This is on top of the standard 26 weeks and 13-week extension that had already been approved this year.

The Senate should take another important step and pass the House’s version of the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act. If enacted, it would give incentives to states to more closely align unemployment insurance eligibility rules. Nationally, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, only 37 percent of workers who are unemployed receive benefits. Many of those falling between the eligibility cracks are low-wage workers who may be on the precipice of poverty.

Wide disparities exist between states that have and those that haven’t adopted the “alternative base period” (ABP) standards that are required to receive the federal funds. In Minnesota, which has enacted a portion of the ABP, an estimated 39 percent of those unemployed receive benefits, while just over the border in Wisconsin, which has full compliance, 53 percent do. In South Dakota, which has not adopted an ABP, there is only an 18 percent recipient rate.

Minnesota officials, aware of the bill’s benefits, are well positioned to move on any further requirements. If Congress passes the act and the state is in full compliance, Minnesota stands to receive up to $141 million in incentive funds, as well as $9.9 million for administrative costs.

Passing the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act would help the unemployed and the economy. It should be among the first bills awaiting President Obama on Jan. 20, 2009, if it doesn’t get to President Bush sooner.

“Indiana: Facing Foreclosure,” May 5, 2008.

“St. Paul, Minn. Passes ACORN-Backed Foreclosure Moratorium,” May 22, 2008.

“Landmark ACORN Foreclosure Bill Becomes Law in California,” July 8, 2008.

“North Carolina Passes Three Bills to Curtail Predatory Lending,” August 21, 2008.

The second panel looked at specific policies enacted by states and cities. Moderated by Half in Ten and the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Mark Greenberg, this panel featured Connecticut State Senator Jonathan Harris, chair of the Human Services Committee; New York City Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs; Gregory Gray, Director of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020; and Amy Rynell, Program Director of the Heartland Alliance of Illinois.

See video from the event: