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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
MWCA NEWS:
Winter Meeting Wrap Up
FEDERAL ISSUES:
NCEE Report
McCollum Named to Appropriations
Committee
Federal Legislative Update
Congressional Visits
MWCA Sponsors Participation in David
Bradley Webinar
STATE ISSUES:
Committee Chairs Announced
DEED Commissioner Not Yet Appointed
SAVE
THE DATE!
MWCA
Day at the Capitol
Youth
Rally Day at the Capitol
MWCA Winter Meeting Wrap-Up
The MWCA Winter Meeting was
held in St. Cloud
on December 14. Traditionally,
the Winter Meeting has focused on internal business. As such, members approved a new
vision statement for the Association, fine-tuned the Federal and State
Legislative Platforms, and voted on new leadership for the Association.
Chair Trish Taylor gave remarks outlining her
activities during her two-year commitment as Chair of the Association. Trish was honored with recognition
from the MWCA and the GWDC; additionally, Kathy
Sweeney from DEED presented a certificate on behalf of Governor
Pawlenty thanking Trish for her work.
Commissioner Will Branning
from Dakota County was elected to Chair the
Association for the next two years.
Dixie Holen, Chair of the Northwest Private Industry Council, was
elected as Vice Chair. Dan
Wenner, Director of Minnesota CEP, will serve as Treasurer; Don Hoag will
fill the position of Operations Chair.
At-Large Members will be Patricia Brady, Ramsey County Workforce
Solutions (also serves as Vice Chair of the Operations Committee); Juanita
Lauritsen, Director of South West Minnesota Private Industry Council; Kevin Snyder, Chair of the Duluth Workforce
Investment Board; and Cathy Weik, Chair of the Dakota-Scott Workforce
Investment Board.
The Association approved a
new working vision statement, which is:
“To provide Minnesota
with a skilled and competitive workforce through engaged and proactive
local elected officials, workforce investment boards, and staff.”
Our
guest speaker, Brenda Norman, Director of the Governor’s Workforce
Development Council, shared information regarding the 2007 Report to the
Legislature and other current activities of the GWDC.
Updated
platforms, meeting dates for 2007, and other information will be posted on
the website shortly. Thank you
to all who participated in the Annual Meeting!
National Center for Education and the Economy
Releases Workforce Report
The National Center
for Education and the Economy has released “Tough Choices or Tough
Times: The Report of the new
Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce.” Central Minnesota,
Stearns-Benton, and South West Minnesota have been receiving technical
assistance from NCEE in planning for a growing economy. The executive summary can be found
on MWCA’s website: http://www.mncounties3.org/mwca/Reports/reports.htm
Representative McCollum Named to
Appropriations Committee
Representative Betty
McCollum was named to the House Appropriations Committee. In a recent press release, she
stated, “This
assignment provides an important opportunity to serve Minnesota by ensuring federal tax
dollars are invested wisely and responsibly to keep our country and our
families strong.” Representative
McCollum’s appointment to the position, which was made available due
to Representative Martin Sabo’s retirement, ensures that Minnesota will
continue to have a place at the table for important funding decisions made
by Congress.
Federal Update: Year-Long Continuing
Resolution Means
Stable Funding for WIA
(From the National Workforce Association)
The 109th Congress came to a close with a Continuing Resolution
passed to continue funding for the government through February 15. Nine of
eleven FY 07 appropriations bills were not completed, including Labor-HHS,
which funds WIA programs.
The incoming Democratic Chairmen of the House and
Senate Appropriations Committees, David Obey and Robert Byrd, decided that
they will not take up the unresolved FY 07 appropriations bills when the
110th Congress convenes in January. Instead, they passed a year long
Continuing Resolution that will fund the remaining bills at current FY 06
funding levels. The Chairmen also jointly announced a moratorium on
special-interest earmarks until the Democratic Congress passes new ethics
reforms next year.
What does this mean for the workforce system? It is a
good outcome for WIA as FY 06 funding levels are slightly higher than
proposed in the FY 07 House and Senate Labor-HHS bills. It also means that
there will be no WIA rescission and FY 06 restrictions imposed by
appropriators to prevent states from redesignating local areas and blocking
DOL from changing the definition of administrative costs will continue for
another year.
The House and Senate will convene the first week of
January with a very active agenda for the House in the first two weeks
focused on implementing the Democrats “100 hour” campaign
agenda.
While the reauthorization of WIA is not part of this
campaign agenda, House and Senate authorizers would like to take this bill
up in Committee in the first few months of the new Congress. Senate
authorizers have told us they will work on a bipartisan basis using their
last reauthorization bill as the basis to craft a new bill, while House
Democrats have indicated that they would like to craft a new
reauthorization bill.
MWCA Congressional Visits
MWCA will again this year
arrange visits to the Minnesota Congressional Delegation in conjunction
with the National Association of Workforce Boards Conference in Washington, D.C. Visits will be scheduled for
Tuesday, February 27 and Wednesday, February 28. MWCA will also host its 3rd
Annual Congressional Reception at the Capitol on Tuesday evening. Members of the Minnesota Delegation
and staff, representatives from the Department of Labor, and others with
“Minnesota
connections” based in D.C. will be invited to attend. MWCA will also attempt to
provide an opportunity to tour the White House.
Invitation to Join Webinar with David Bradley
MWCA would like to extend
the invitation to participate in a webinar hosted by David Bradley, CEO of
the National Workforce Conference Association. The title of the webinar is “2006 Mid Term Elections: What It Means to Your Local
Workforce System and Your Strategic Planning Efforts.”
Because the cost of
registration includes a DVD of the presentation, MWCA will sponsor one member to participate in the live
broadcast; the DVD will then be made available to all Workforce Service
Areas.
The
webinar will be held: Thursday, January 27, 2007, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
The
MWCA sponsored slot at the webinar will be distributed to the first
responder. If you are interested, please contact
Anne Olson.
About the Host: For nearly three decades, David
Bradley has been the preeminent advocate in Washington,
D.C. working closely with the Congressional leadership and with numerous
Administrations on federal policies related to major human service
programs. In a town full of corporate lobbyists, David Bradley has created
with his government relations firm of Moss, McGee, Bradley and Colbert, a
unique niche in Washington.
David serves as the CEO of both NWA and USA Works! The unique role he has
crafted in Washington
and his nearly unrivaled access to powerbrokers in the Congressional
leadership has made David a popular presence on the speaker circuit and at
universities around the nation. His speaking engagements range the gamut in
the domestic policy arena, providing his audience with an insider’s
perspective of the political climate in Washington.
State Legislative Update
The
2007 Minnesota Legislative Session will commence on January 3, 2007. As of Right now, Chairs for House
and Senate Committees have been announced; however, committee rosters are
not yet available. Following
are items of interest to MWCA.
Minnesota State House of Representatives:
Workforce- Representative
Tom Rukavina will chair the Higher Ed and Workforce Development Policy and
Finance Committee. This, along with K-12 Finance (Representative
Mindy Greiling) and Early Childhood Learning (Representative Nora Slawik) will
roll up into Representative Mary Murphy’s Education Finance and
Economic Competitiveness Committee. Representative Murphy’s
Committee is one of 12 funding committees that all feed into the House
Finance Committee’s overall spending plan.
MFIP- policy
issues will fall under Rep. Paul Thissen’s Heath Care and Human
Services Policy Committee; the financial aspects will fall under
Representative Tom Huntley’s Health Care and Human Services Finance
Committee.
Senate:
Workforce- Senator
Jim Metzen will chair the committee that deals with Business, Industry and
Jobs policy; Senator Tomassoni will chair the committee that deals with
funding, which is the Economic Development Budget Division. Senator Tomassoni’s
committee is one of 10 budget divisions that fall under the Finance
Committee in the Senate.
Senator
Metzen recently sent correspondence to MWCA asking us to participate in
identifying issues for the committee to address; we are working on setting
up a meeting with him in early January to do so.
MFIP- MFIP
policy issues will fall under Senator John Marty, and MFIP financial issues
will fall under Senator Linda Berglin.
DEED Commissioner Not
Yet Appointed
Acting Commissioner of
DEED, Ward Einess, has been re-appointed by Governor Pawlenty to be the
Commissioner of Revenue.
According to Beth Kadoun of the Governor’s policy staff, an
appointment for the Commissioner of DEED can be expected within the next
two to three weeks.
Save the Date!
MWCA’s Day at the
Capitol will be held on February 7, 2007. As in years past, MWCA will
host a hospitality room for participants and will provide a legislative
briefing at 9:00 am; participants are responsible for scheduling their own
meetings with Legislators. More
information will be forthcoming as details are determined.
MWCA Cosponsoring
Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol
MWCA
has joined several other state-wide organizations in cosponsoring the 2007
Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol.
This is a collaborative effort advocating that the State of Minnesota invest in youth-serving organizations, and
that the voice of Minnesota
youth and youth service professionals should be heard when deciding youth
policy.
MWCA encourages Minnesota
Youth Program participants and staff to attend. For more information, postcards, and
agendas, please contact Anne Olson.
Deadline for registration is January 18, 2007.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you wish to be added or removed from this
distribution list, you may request to
do so by
e-mailing aolson@mncounties.org.
Minnesota Workforce Council
Association
Anne
Olson, Director
125 Charles Avenue, St.
Paul, MN 55103-2108
Phone: (651)
224-3344
Fax: (651) 224-6540 www.mncounties.org3/mwca
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