Early Childhood @ the Capitol

Eric Haugee here, Ready 4 K's "government affairs specialist" or more commonly known as "lobbyist." I spend most of my time during the legislative session in the State Capitol complex, talking to legislators about our agenda, helping set up hearings on the legislation we're working on, coordinating with other early childhood lobbyists, and generally trying to keep my ear to the marble floors of the Capitol.

This week I did all of that. The 2008 legislative session began with a flurry of activity unlike I can remember in the decade that I've worked in public policy. The bulk of my work this week was arranging the first hearings on our bonding proposal to fund early childhood facilities grants.


I found out late last week that not only did the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division want to have a hearing on the bonding proposal on Thursday, but so did the House Early Childhood Learning Finance Committee. Thankfully the Senate committee meets first thing in the morning, and the House committee meets late in the day.

The Senate hearing was great. Steve Nagle of West Central MN Community Action, who has used the bonding dollars in the past, and Jerry Cutts of First Children's Finance, who helps early childhood programs run their businesses, joined Senator Tarryl Clark, the author of the bill, in making a case for the proposal. The members of the committee had a really positive response, and even wondered why we weren't seeking a larger dollar amount! The committee members will now rank all the bonding proposals they've heard, and will forward their recommendations to the Senate Capital Investments Committee. Hopefully we'll make the cut in the final Senate bonding proposal, to be released in early March.

For the House hearing, Steve Nagle joined some folks from Houston, MN at the witness table along side our House author, Representative Nora Slawik, in support of the bill. Richard Bartz and Kelly Paino of the Houston School District and Beth Stanford of SEMCAC Head Start provided a great example of how the bonding dollars could be used to renovate the upstairs of their Early Childhood Center to accomodate the growing needs of their community. Again, a wonderful hearing. The bill passed the committee, where it will go to the House Capital Investment Finance Division for possible inclusion in their proposal, to be released at about the same time as the Senate bill.

Yikes! Lots to follow, eh? I couldn't have done it without our amazing witnesses and their stories, and of course the great legislators we're working with on this proposal.