HF 952

1st Engrossment - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health; providing for grants related to 
  1.3             positive abortion alternatives; appropriating money; 
  1.4             proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.5             chapter 145. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [SHORT TITLE.] 
  1.8      This act may be cited as the "Positive Alternatives Act." 
  1.9      Sec. 2.  [145.4231] [POSITIVE ABORTION ALTERNATIVES.] 
  1.10     Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] For purposes of this 
  1.11  section, the following terms have the meanings given: 
  1.12     (1) "abortion" means the use of any means to terminate the 
  1.13  pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with knowledge that 
  1.14  the termination with those means will, with reasonable 
  1.15  likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child.  For purposes 
  1.16  of this section, abortion does not include an abortion necessary 
  1.17  to prevent the death of the mother; and 
  1.18     (2) "unborn child" means an individual organism of the 
  1.19  species Homo sapiens from fertilization until birth. 
  1.20     Subd. 2.  [ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.] (a) The commissioner of 
  1.21  health shall award grants to eligible applicants under paragraph 
  1.22  (c) for the reasonable expenses of programs to support, 
  1.23  encourage, and assist women in carrying their pregnancies to 
  1.24  term by providing information on, referral to, and assistance 
  1.25  with securing necessary services that enable women to carry 
  2.1   their pregnancies to term.  Necessary services include, but are 
  2.2   not limited to: 
  2.3      (1) medical care; 
  2.4      (2) nutritional services; 
  2.5      (3) housing assistance; 
  2.6      (4) adoption services; 
  2.7      (5) education and employment assistance; 
  2.8      (6) parenting education and support services; and 
  2.9      (7) child care assistance. 
  2.10     (b) In addition to providing information and referral under 
  2.11  paragraph (a), an eligible program may provide one or more of 
  2.12  the necessary services under paragraph (a) that assists women in 
  2.13  carrying their pregnancies to term.  To avoid duplication of 
  2.14  efforts, grantees may refer to other public or private programs, 
  2.15  rather than provide the care directly, if a woman meets 
  2.16  eligibility criteria for the other programs. 
  2.17     (c) To be eligible for a grant, an agency or organization 
  2.18  must: 
  2.19     (1) be a private, nonprofit organization; 
  2.20     (2) demonstrate that the program is conducted under 
  2.21  appropriate supervision; 
  2.22     (3) not charge women for services provided under the 
  2.23  program; 
  2.24     (4) provide each pregnant woman counseled with accurate 
  2.25  information on the developmental characteristics of unborn 
  2.26  children, including offering the printed information described 
  2.27  in section 145.4243; 
  2.28     (5) ensure that the alternatives to abortion program's sole 
  2.29  purposes are to assist and encourage women in carrying their 
  2.30  pregnancies to term and to maximize their potentials thereafter; 
  2.31     (6) ensure that none of the funds provided are used to 
  2.32  encourage or counsel a woman to have an abortion not necessary 
  2.33  to prevent her death, to provide her such an abortion, or to 
  2.34  refer her for such an abortion; and 
  2.35     (7) have had the alternatives to abortion program in 
  2.36  existence for at least one year as of July 1, 2005. 
  3.1      (d) The provisions, words, phrases, and clauses of 
  3.2   paragraph (c) are inseverable from this subdivision, and if any 
  3.3   provision, word, phrase, or clause of paragraph (c) or the 
  3.4   application thereof to any person or circumstance is held 
  3.5   invalid, such invalidity shall apply to all of this subdivision. 
  3.6      (e) An organization that provides abortions, promotes 
  3.7   abortions, or directly refers for abortions is ineligible to 
  3.8   receive a grant under this program.  An affiliate of an 
  3.9   organization that provides abortions, promotes abortions, or 
  3.10  directly refers for abortions is ineligible to receive a grant 
  3.11  under this section unless the organizations are separately 
  3.12  incorporated and independent from each other.  To be 
  3.13  independent, the organizations may not share any of the 
  3.14  following: 
  3.15     (1) the same or a similar name; 
  3.16     (2) medical facilities or nonmedical facilities, including, 
  3.17  but not limited to, business offices, treatment rooms, 
  3.18  consultation rooms, examination rooms, and waiting rooms; 
  3.19     (3) expenses; 
  3.20     (4) employee wages or salaries; or 
  3.21     (5) equipment or supplies, including, but not limited to, 
  3.22  computers, telephone systems, telecommunications equipment, and 
  3.23  office supplies. 
  3.24     (f) An organization that receives a grant under this 
  3.25  section and that is affiliated with an organization that 
  3.26  provides abortion services must maintain financial records that 
  3.27  demonstrate strict compliance with this subdivision and that 
  3.28  demonstrate that its independent affiliate that provides 
  3.29  abortion services receives no direct or indirect economic or 
  3.30  marketing benefit from the grant under this section. 
  3.31     Subd. 3.  [DUTIES OF COMMISSIONER.] The commissioner of 
  3.32  health shall make grants under subdivision 2 beginning no later 
  3.33  than July 1, 2006.  The commissioner shall monitor and review 
  3.34  the programs of each grantee to ensure that the grantee 
  3.35  carefully adheres to the purposes and requirements of 
  3.36  subdivision 2 and shall cease funding a grantee that fails to do 
  4.1   so. 
  4.2      Subd. 4.  [SEVERABILITY.] Except as provided in subdivision 
  4.3   2, paragraph (d), if any provision, word, phrase, or clause of 
  4.4   this section or the application thereof to any person or 
  4.5   circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect 
  4.6   the provisions, words, phrases, clauses, or applications of this 
  4.7   section that can be given effect without the invalid provision, 
  4.8   word, phrase, clause, or application and to this end, the 
  4.9   provisions, words, phrases, and clauses of this section are 
  4.10  declared to be severable. 
  4.11     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATIONS; COMMUNITY HEALTH AND FAMILY 
  4.12  PROMOTION.] 
  4.13     Of the general fund appropriation to the commissioner of 
  4.14  health in fiscal year 2007, $2,500,000 is for positive abortion 
  4.15  alternatives under Minnesota Statutes, section 145.4231.  Of 
  4.16  this amount, $100,000 may be used for administrative costs of 
  4.17  implementing the grant program.  An additional $50,000 is 
  4.18  appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of health 
  4.19  in fiscal year 2006 for administrative costs of program 
  4.20  implementation.