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DCYF policy bill: EBT contract term, licensing updates and school-attendance prevention response proposed
Summary
DCYF proposed policy changes to streamline EBT procurement, update licensing information disclosure, and shift school-attendance responses toward prevention rather than automatic child-protection investigations.
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) presented its policy bill to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and described four principal changes: a procurement exception for the state's electronic benefits transfer (EBT) contract, technical updates to the licensing information lookup (LIL) system, a clarification on the administration of an early childhood literacy grant, and child-welfare statute changes focused on prevention and planning.
Nick Dem (DCYF) told the committee that the EBT system is a critical automated system that distributes more than $1 billion in benefits annually to roughly 225,000 households. Because procuring EBT services is complex and can take two to three years, DCYF proposed allowing an initial five-year term with extensions up to 10 years total to avoid near-constant reprocurement cycles.
DCYF Chief Financial Officer (testifying for DCYF) described a $200,000 technical update to LIL — Minnesota’s licensing information lookup — to post pre-licensure inspections and items reviewed at visits, responding to a federal Office of Child Care site visit that found gaps in CCDF compliance. DCYF said the update will allow the state to comply with federal child-care requirements and make inspection information available to the public.
Early childhood literacy funding was clarified: the program’s appropriation remains with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and administration will remain at MDE even though statutory recodification in 2024 had placed a reference in DCYF language. DCYF said the change makes clear the funding and administration of the $7.95 million per fiscal year program stays with MDE and Reading Corps.
On child-welfare policy, DCYF proposed allowing counties and tribes to offer a prevention response to educational neglect reports before launching a child protection response. The current statute requires a child protection response at seven unexcused absences; DCYF said prevention responses can provide supports that address underlying issues such as poverty and may reduce unnecessary investigations and disparities. DCYF also proposed aligning the out-of-home placement plan timeline with federal statute by requiring the plan within 60 days (while retaining a 30-day summary requirement) and adding a court report and review 90 days before a foster youth’s 18th birthday to support transition planning.
Senators raised questions about school-attendance language and possible unintended consequences. Senator Abler expressed concern that the threshold for action remains low and that anonymous reports could push more families into the child-protection system. DCYF said the change is intended to replace an automatic investigative trigger with an opportunity for a prevention-focused response and to reduce unnecessary entries into the child protection system. Senators asked DCYF to work further with stakeholders on clarifying thresholds and protections for families.
The committee recommended the bill be sent to Judiciary for further consideration. Senate File 2778 passed out of committee and was referred to Judiciary for subsequent review.
Ending: DCYF officials said they would follow up with technical clarifications and work with legislators and stakeholders on attendance/prevention language; the bill was recommended to pass and referred to the Judiciary Committee.
