The organizations are the Council on Black Minnesotans, the Chicano Latino Affairs Council, the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.
Minnesota’s ethnic councils, chartered by the state, are virtually invisible at the Legislature and need to be restructured, according to a group of lawmakers.
Several lawmakers are proposing bills to turn the four boards into legislative advisory groups, rather than independent organizations. The legislation emerged after a 2014 report from the Legislative Auditor said the councils — set up to represent minority communities and recommend policy — have been ineffective and should be eliminated or significantly revamped.
The organizations are the Council on Black Minnesotans, the Chicano Latino Affairs Council, the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.
The legislative proposals received a mixed reaction from officials on two of the four councils.
Patwin Lawrence, board chairman with the Council on Black Minnesotans, said the measures were unnecessary and counterproductive. “Because we’re not a part of the system, we’re able to see things with fresh eyes,” Lawrence said.
For the first time since 1980, the Council on Black Minnesotans began submitting its own bills to the Legislature last year. Of its 12 proposals in 2014 and another six this year, all but one bill found a sponsor, he said. The bills cover issues from housing to urban agriculture.
“We’ve already addressed all the issues that they’ve tried to pin on us,” Lawrence said. “We’ve turned a corner. We’ve moved on.
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