HF4088

Purpose

• Establishes rules that would make people convicted of a crime of violence ineligible for certain public assistance programs (MFIP, medical assistance, and MinnesotaCare).
• Updates rules around medical assistance for inmates and certain in-prison situations.
• Repeals an older provision that set vendor-payment requirements tied to drug-offense records, removing that prior framework.

Main Provisions

• Disqualification from MFIP

  • Adds a new Subdivision to define that a person convicted of a crime of violence (as defined by state law or equivalent out-of-state/federal statutes) is disqualified from receiving MFIP benefits.

• Medical Assistance (MA) for inmates and in-prison rules

  • Creates conditions under which MA can be paid for an inmate who is conditionally released if they are not in a secured detention facility and live in an approved halfway house or similar setting.
  • If a person is incarcerated for less than 12 months, MA eligibility is suspended during incarceration and automatically reinstated upon release (without reapplication) if otherwise eligible.
  • Inmates who are considered “public institutions” and who meet MA eligibility rules are not eligible for MA except for inpatient services while in a medical institution.
  • A person convicted of a crime of violence is explicitly not eligible for MA.

• MA and MinnesotaCare ineligibility for violence offenses

  • Adds that a person convicted of a crime of violence is ineligible for MA (Section 256B.055 Subd.18).
  • Adds that a person convicted of a crime of violence is ineligible to receive benefits under the related MA-like programs in this chapter (Section 256D.024 Subd.5).
  • Adds that a person convicted of a crime of violence is not eligible for MinnesotaCare (Section 256L.04 Subd.15).

• Repeal of prior drug-offense vendor-payment provisions

  • Repeals the prior section that required certain vendor payments and drug-testing rules for applicants/participants with drug-offense convictions (the “ineligible vendor payments” provision).

How this changes current law

• Expands ineligibility to public assistance programs (MFIP, MA, and MinnesotaCare) for individuals convicted of violence-related crimes.
• Adds new MA-related rules for inmates, including conditional-release eligibility and automatic reinstatement after non-violent incarceration, while still excluding violent offenders from MA eligibility.
• Removes an older, separate set of requirements about vendor payments tied to drug-offense convictions.

Implementation and Definitions

• Defines “crime of violence” to use the criteria in 624.712 subdivision 5 (and includes equivalent statutes from other states or the U.S.).
• Applies across multiple programs (MFIP, MA, MinnesotaCare) and uses cross-references to existing MA eligibility rules and “public institution” definitions.

Potential Impacts (summary)

• Reduces access to key public supports for people with violence-related convictions.
• Alters how inmates may access medical care during incarceration or after release, potentially increasing responsibility on the releasing entity and institutions for certain costs.
• Removes the prior drug-offense vendor-payments framework, shifting those considerations away from the vendor-payment model.

Relevant Terms - crime of violence - MFIP - medical assistance (MA) - MinnesotaCare - ineligible / disqualified - inmate / incarceration - conditional release - reinstatement - public institution (42 CFR 435.1010) - inpatient services - 624.712 subdivision 5 - cross-state/foreign statutes - vendor payments (drug offenses)