2013: Olmstead Subcabinet is Established
Governor Mark Dayton established the Olmstead Subcabinet on January 28, 2013 through Executive Order 13-01.
It is Minnesota's most significant interagency initiative affecting disability services.
Minnesota Olmstead Subcabinet members include commissioners from 8 state agencies:
- Department of Human Services
- Minnesota Housing Finance Agency
- Department of Employment and Economic Development
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Corrections
- Department of Health
- Department of Human Rights
- Department of Education
Lt. Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon
The Subcabinet is chaired by Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon. Representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities are ex officio members of the Subcabinet. The Subcabinet members are charged with developing a comprehensive Olmstead Plan.
Olmstead Plans are named after the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Olmstead v. L. C., an Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II) case in which the Supreme Court ruled that states should eliminate unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities and ensure that persons with disabilities receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.
An Olmstead Plan is a way for a government entity to document its plans and timing to provide services to individuals with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the individual. The state of Minnesota agreed to create its Olmstead Plan as part of a court settlement agreement reached in Jensen et al v. Minnesota Department of Human Services (2011). The Executive Order was updated in 2015.
Minnesota's Olmstead Plan is based on an overall goal: Minnesota will be a place where people with disabilities are living, learning, working, and enjoying life in the most integrated setting.