Committee advances suicide‑prevention grant, hospital bed exception and public‑health and dental technical bills

ST. PAUL, Minn. — After hearing audit and program‑integrity presentations, the Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee took action on several bills Feb. 26.

Suicide‑prevention for Native youth (SF 42): Senator Kunish introduced Senate File 42, a request for a grant to develop suicide‑prevention and mental‑health wellness curriculum tailored to American Indian youth. Testifiers including Beth Seidel and Jennifer Cortes shared personal accounts of suicide risk among Native youth. The committee adopted an A2 amendment correcting a date and voted to recommend the bill as amended and refer it to the Education Finance Committee; the sponsor later indicated the fiscal ask is approximately $180,000 and that the Education Finance Committee will handle appropriations.

Regions Hospital bed exception (SF 3587): Senator Pappas presented a bill to grant Regions Hospital an exception to the hospital construction moratorium to add 85 inpatient beds. Emily Blomberg, president of Regions Hospital, said the hospital runs about 94% occupancy on days and is routinely using alternate spaces; she asked for statutory permission to increase licensed beds (no state funds requested). The committee laid the bill over pending a Department of Health public interest review expected around March 10.

Public‑health medical consultant definition (SF 3402): Senator Adkins presented SF 3402 to expand who may serve as a medical consultant for community health boards to include DOs, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses. Samantha Lowe (Pine County public health director) testified that the change would help counties fill positions. The committee adopted an oral amendment making the change effective upon enactment and recommended the bill as amended to pass.

Dental practice act technical changes (SF 3559): Senator Bolden introduced SF 3559 with technical and conforming updates to the dental practice act, including adding some felony convictions to grounds for discipline and aligning credentialing language. Bridget Anderson (executive director, Minnesota Board of Dentistry) joined by Zoom to answer questions. The committee recommended SF 3559 be passed and referred to Judiciary and Public Safety.

What happens next: SF 42 was referred to Education Finance for consideration of the fiscal note and appropriation. SF 3587 will return after the Department of Health’s public interest review. SF 3402 and SF 3559 will proceed through their indicated committee referrals.