Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and U of M Center for New Americans Help Asylum Seekers

Last week, law students and staff from the U of M's Center for New Americans (CNA), along with attorneys from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, and Faegre Baker Daniels, won stays of removal for asylum seekers caught up in surprise ICE deportation raids in Minnesota. The raids occurred around the country. The CNA team's efforts prevented the deportation of 12 families to countries where they faced immediate harm.

The student arm of the team was supervised by Rebecca Scholtz, staff attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and adjunct professor at the CNA, along with CNA teaching fellow Katherine Evans. Attorneys from Faegre Baker Daniels included Dianne Heins, pro bono counsel, as well as Lariss Maldonado and Sari Long.  Read the full story on the U of M's website.

National media coverage of the ICE raids can be found in the New York Times and the Washington Post. 

State Allows Three More Months of SNAP for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents

MMLA Co-Chairs Help Guide New Policies Benefiting Vulnerable Adults

More than 48,000 lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) benefits beginning in February, 2014, because Minnesota reinstituted time limits and mandatory work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) following expiration of its federal waiver.  Concerned community advocates requested that DHS form a taskforce to review and improve ABAWD policies and practices.  The ABAWD taskforce, formed in February 2015, was co-chaired by Kathleen Davis and Barbara Kuhn of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and Colleen Moriarity of Hunger Solutions and included representatives from the Department of Human Services, Department of Employment and Economic Development, community-based service providers, community advocates and philanthropists.

Following the recommendations of the taskforce, the state has implemented several changes to the "fitness to work" criteria which enables people to prove they are unable to work, and thus exempt from the time limits and work requirements. The state also adopted a policy that allows people who have used up their three months of SNAP to reapply and receive three additional months, if they demonstrate some progress towards addressing their barriers to work.  This policy is in effect now and advocates should spread the word that ABAWD people who lost SNAP since February 2014 should go to their local county office and reapply (see DHS Bulletin #15-01-01). For the complete list of recommendations, see the Taskforce Recommendations report, and for a general legal summary of changes, click here.  

LSAP AND OTHER CONSUMER GROUPS OPPOSE PROPOSED ELECTRIC RATE HIKES ON RANGE

The Legislature enacted a law this year to help iron ore mines, steel mills, paper mills and other large energy users become more globally competitive by giving them a chance to lower or better predict their electricity bills.  The law gave certain utilities the right to petition the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to change the rate structures for these customers if they could show "a net benefit."  Minnesota Power (MP), a Duluth-based utility serving the Iron Range, filed with the PUC to lower the rates for these industrial customers, which would result in a rate hike of 14.5% for residential customers  – including low-income and senior Minnesotans. 

The Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP), AARP, Energy CENTS Coalition, the Attorney General and the Department of Commerce, and other consumer groups, filed briefs claiming that MP has failed to meet its burden to show net benefit, and that the proposed increase was not just and reasonable, and would exacerbate the financial hardship being felt by consumers on the Range. 

"The issue is why does it have to be, "You win, and I lose?" Ron Elwood, supervising attorney for LSAP, said in an interview.  "Why can't we figure out a way to minimize the impact?"  Read the full Star Tribune story.  

MPR News Spotlights Deputy Director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid

Ann Cofell's 35 years working on behalf of disadvantaged Minnesotans is an inspiration and beacon to her colleagues and the thousands she has helped. Cofell, deputy director of the Saint Cloud office of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, and an integral part of the Stearns County Domestic Violence Court, was recently featured in an MPR piece highlighting her work, dedication, and motivation.

"If they're in our office they're almost always in a really tough spot," Cofell said. "It's dealing with people in crisis, people who've been served divorce papers, people who are being served eviction papers or being told they're going to lose their kids."  Read the full story.

Legal Aid Helps Subsidized Housing Residents in Repair Dispute

Doug Clark, staff attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, is helping three Saint Cloud tenants in a legal dispute about who is responsible for the extermination of bed bugs in their subsidized housing units. Clark, and deputy director Ann Cofell, are arguing that the HRA is trying to shift the responsibility for extermination onto its tenants.

According to Clark, because the HRA is leasing subsidized housing, in addition to state law, it must also comply with federal rules saying the lease agreements must be “reasonable and fair.”

“There are two layers of laws that the HRA has to comply with. The way they’ve written their lease breaks both state and federal law,” he said. “The pest control addendum we would say violates state law by passing the cost of the repair on to the tenant, which they are not allowed to do, and federal law, that says rules have to be reasonable and fair." Read the full story.