Committee advances bill on congregate care concentration after testimony from cities and disability advocates

The Minnesota Senate Human Services Committee on March 18 advanced a bill aimed at addressing concentrated clusters of licensed congregate care homes across the Twin Cities metro, voting to pass Senate File 42-79 without recommendation and re-refer the measure to the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

The bill’s author told the committee the measure focuses on four areas: improving the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center (MARC) response and follow-up; establishing a consistent statewide distancing standard to avoid dense clusters of small licensed homes; requiring notification to local governments when new licenses are issued; and creating an optional state-local partnership so local building inspections can supplement state licensing—while preserving state licensing authority. The author framed the…