Legislation aims to reform state ethnic councils

Attempts to reform the state's ethnic councils hit a roadblock in the Senate on Wednesday when council leaders pushed back hard against the notion that they needed more oversight.

Edward McDonald, executive director of the Council on Black Minnesotans, told a Senate panel that proposed reform legislation unfairly singles out the minority councils. He said other councils, specifically the Minnesota State Council on Disability, have not received the same scrutiny.

"We're all similarly situated," he said of the councils. The difference, he said, is that the council on disability "is run by a white administrator."

Senate President Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, is pushing for changes in the wake of a scathing legislative audit last year that found the state's four ethnic councils lacked clear goals, had members who rarely showed up for required meetings and who communicated poorly with constituent groups. The councils for Asian Pacific Minnesotans, Black Minnesotans, Chicano/Latino Affairs and Indian Affairs are designed to represent the interests of the state's minority populations and received $3 million in funding in fiscal year 2013. They were formed decades ago to represent minorities, which are far more likely to live in poverty, struggle with educational attainment and suffer from worse health outcomes than the majority population.

Pappas said her legislation is an effort to strengthen the councils' roles, whose advice to legislators is important.

"Change in these councils is imperative," she told the Senate State and Local Government Committee. "If we're not willing to reform, then they won't exist. … With these changes, the councils will continue and carry out their objectives more effectively."

Under the proposed bill, which affects only three of the four councils, executive directors would be selected by the Legislative Coordinating Commission with input from board members. Directors now are chosen by the councils' board members. Board members would be appointed by the governor. The Council on Indian Affairs was not included in the legislation because of sovereignty concerns, Pappas said.

McDonald said that having the executive director appointed by the legislative branch while board members are appointed by the governor would create logistical difficulties and confusion over different reporting structures.

Sia Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, said a majority of the council's board members voted in support of the legislation.

"We believe that the end result will be that our council will be more effective as an adviser and an advocate," Her said.

But Hector Garcia, executive director of the Chicano/Latino Affairs Council, urged lawmakers to create a task force to consider other possible solutions.

Committee members voted to table the bill, which removes it from active consideration. When the bill was tabled, Pappas abruptly left the hearing. She said she may pursue other avenues to advance her legislation, particularly since a House companion bill, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Laine, DFL-Columbia Heights, is progressing in the lower chamber.