Session Update: Senate Holds First Hybrid Hearing with In-Person Testimony

The Minnesota Senate’s first hybrid hearing since the COVID-19 pandemic derailed normal life featured the emotional testimony of men with spinal cord injuries advocating for crucial research dollars. Senator Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, presented a bill to the Human Services Reform Committee that attempts to protect funding from cuts by transferring it to another agency, and also to increase it. The hearing was held Tuesday, February 9.

Although COVID-19’s impact on the state’s fiscal future is not yet clear, Governor Walz’s initial budget proposal for FY2022-23 removed the $3 million annual allocation for traumatic brain injury and spinal cord research grants from the Office of Higher Education Budget. Housley’s bill seeks to move the grant program to the Department of Human Services and increase the funding allocation to $5 million annually.

“There are 1.3 million Americans living with paralysis from spinal cord injuries and were all told that their paralysis is permanent. But medical science is changing that, and so much of the medical science and research is being done right here in Minnesota,” Housley said. “Our state is now a world leader in this area, and we’ve made a difference in many people’s lives and we need to continue this research,” she added.