Board on Aging asks for more staff, Senior LinkAge Line funding; committee lays bill over

Representative Momani Hilsley presented House File 1472 to fund expansion of the Senior LinkAge Line and additional Minnesota Board on Aging administrative staff to comply with newly released federal Older Americans Act regulations and to reduce long call wait times. The Human Services Finance and Policy Committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

Maureen Schneider, chair of the Minnesota Board on Aging, said the Senior LinkAge Line is nationally recognized and helped Minnesotans save $4,316,711 on prescription‑drug costs during the 2024 Medicare open enrollment period, but that call abandonment has been a problem: the line received about 122,000 calls in 2024 and answered roughly 70 percent of them, with long wait times and many abandoned calls, Schneider said. The bill requests funding for 21 positions (18 to be placed at area agencies on aging and three at the Minnesota Board on Aging) and carries a fiscal note of about $1.995 million in FY2026 and $2.071 million in FY2027, Representative Momani Hilsley said.

Committee members asked whether current staffing vacancies exist and how the new funding would be sustained after the initial period. Minnesota Board on Aging Executive Director Rena Shetty said the Board is currently staffed at the MBA administrative level but some area agencies report vacancies; the bill’s funding would expand area agency staffing capacity to meet demand and the new federal requirements. Legislators noted the bill would add base funding and the Board said it would monitor federal funding and staff levels and reassess ongoing needs.

The committee laid House File 1472 over for possible omnibus inclusion; no final appropriation was adopted at the hearing.