Facing a bleak fiscal forecast in 1995, Governor Carlson asked John Brandl, University of Minnesota professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and Vin Weber, an independent consultant and former member of Congress, to identify ways to restructure services and avoid an $8 billion budget crisis.
In response, Brandl and Weber developed the "Agenda for Reform," urging that all services for people with developmental disabilities be "means tested" (or tested for income), and that funds should go directly to citizens, not bureaucracies.
The "Agenda for Reform" recommended that funds be appropriated directly to the citizens.