NO House Early Childhood Bill - Late yesterday, after our last report went out, we found out that because of the deficit, there will be NO funding available for early childhood programs this year.  Chairwoman Nora Slawik cancelled the meeting that is scheduled for today at 2:15 in the basement hearing room.  There will be no intrusive or expensive early childhood policy provisions from the House this year.  That is GOOD NEWS for the hearts and minds of our youngest citizens and for parental autonomy.  The Senate omnibus education bill is still happening at 8:30 AM TODAY.  This bill still contains all of the provisions of concern that we pointed out in our last alert at this point.  We will report on the outcome of that meeting soon.

House K-12 Supplemental Budget bill to be presented today - It was announced late yesterday afternoon that the House K-12 finance committee will hear a new finance bill that may well contain some early childhood and other disturbing policy provisions.  That meeting will happen TODAY (March 19^th ) at 2:15 in room 10 of the state office building.  No votes will be taken today.  No language is yet available.   It will be amended and voted on in committee next week after the Easter break.  We will report on that bill after we have a chance to analyze it.

Body Mass Index/Obesity Monitoring - Representative Dianne Loeffler (D-Minneapolis) had a bill HF 3093 that required the schools and public health agencies to monitor children's body mass index to gather data on obesity levels  in the state, require 30 minutes of exercise per day in schools, and for a commission to develop statewide health, nutrition, and physical education standards.  Dr, Karen Effrem testified against the BMI monitoring on privacy, scope of government, and medical grounds in the Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division.  Rep. Dan Severson (R-Sauk Rapids) offered an amendment to strip the invasive BMI monitoring from the bill.  It passed on a bipartisan basis.  When the rest of the bill was heard in K-12 finance, it was tabled on a nearly unanimous vote after a motion by Rep. Sondra Erickson (R-Princeton).  That is great news.  Unfortunately, the BMI monitoring remains in SF 3099 offered by Senator Linda Berglin (D-Minneapolis) that will become a vehicle for a ruinous universal health care plan.  That bill is to be debated and voted on in the full Senate today.  If you can, please ask you senator to oppose SF 3099.