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Committee reviews DE1 amendment to HF 2436, highlights $40 million for child-welfare IT and other program changes
Summary
The Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee on April 2 reviewed the DE1 amendment to House File 2,436, the committee's children and families budget bill, in a staff-led walkthrough that outlined changes across child welfare, early learning, child care assistance and food-security programs.
The Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee on April 2 reviewed the DE1 amendment to House File 2,436, the committee's children and families budget bill, in a staff-led walkthrough that outlined changes across child-welfare IT, early learning scholarships, child-care assistance and food-security programs.
Nonpartisan fiscal staff and House research analysts led the session and emphasized the committee’s plan to take no formal action on the DE1 until a markup scheduled the next day. Mr. Berg, the House fiscal analyst, told members the DE1 balances to the committee’s target and highlighted a $40,000,000 House appropriation for the Statewide Social Services Information System (SSIS) modernization, bringing total project funding to approximately $50,000,000 when combined with prior appropriations.
The nut graf: the walkthrough covered dozens of line items that change program funding or policy for the new Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). Several witnesses — including Commissioner Tiki Brown and county leaders — urged the committee to preserve or restore ongoing operating funding and transition dollars the agency says it needs to implement new systems and services.
Most important changes and details
- Child-welfare IT (SSIS): House staff described a $40,000,000 appropriation in 2026–27 for SSIS modernization, combined with $10,000,000 carried from prior appropriations to reach an estimated $50,000,000 for the project.
- Department operating adjustment and transition funds: The DE1 includes DCYF operating adjustments in the first biennium. Commissioner Tiki Brown warned the committee that failure to fund ongoing operating increases and most transition account dollars would leave the agency without the resources to maintain systems and staffing beyond 2026–27. "The failure to include an ongoing appropriation leaves the agency without funding to maintain the system and give ongoing support to providers after the 26, 27 biennium," Brown said.
- Early childhood and workforce programs: The House bill adds $6,000,000 one-time for early childhood scholarships, moves the Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program into a special revenue account to avoid automatic cancellation of unspent money, and establishes a special revenue account for compensation payments.
- Child care assistance program (CCAP) and federal compliance: The DE1 adopts several agency-proposed changes to align CCAP with federal audit requirements, including changes to eligibility redetermination timelines, co‑payment caps and reporting requirements; staff emphasized that the package is intended to avoid federal penalties.
- Food security and prepared-meals grants: The DE1 includes allocations for the American Indian Food Sovereignty Program, food shelves and a prepared meals grant program; food‑security advocates testified during the hearing about rising demand.
- Licensing and regulatory changes: The DE1 includes multiple licensing provisions — from longer posting requirements for conditional licenses to measures addressing background study violations — and proposed changes to capacity and interpretable guidance for licensees.
What lawmakers and stakeholders said
Commissioner Tiki Brown, representing the Department of Children, Youth and Families, thanked the committee for including the DCYF policy bill and SSIS funding but urged the committee to restore ongoing operating and transition funds to avoid disruptions in service and infrastructure. "If we are not able to address the issue of resources in future sessions, our agency will struggle to meet the ongoing needs and will have to reduce operations in a way that could impact the quality of services that we provide," Brown said.
County and local officials, including Dakota County Commissioner Lori Halverson, testified in support of the SSIS appropriation, describing counties’ need for modernized systems and the time county staff spend on manual workarounds. "These investments in improving SSIS systems will go a long way to helping us, fully fund SSIS and get the correct kind of systems in place so that we can really use the data," Halverson said.
Process and next steps
Staff told members the committee intends to use materials from the walkthrough in a markup session scheduled the following day and reminded members to reserve substantive comments until the formal markup. The committee did take one formal action during this meeting: it approved the minutes from the Wednesday, April 2 session.
Ending: The committee adjourned with plans to convene the next day for markup and final votes on amendments and the DE1. Members and staff repeatedly emphasized that several items in the DE1 reflect compromises between the governor’s recommendations and House priorities and that additional modifications were expected during the markup.
