(June 27, 2001) Members of the House-Senate working group on health, human services, and corrections agreed late Tuesday to portions of the omnibus health and human services funding measure that would fund correctional operations in the state for the 2002-03 biennium.

The article of the overall bill would provide about $833 million in funding for the biennium, which is up nearly $5 million from the House's original proposals.

Included in that funding are provisions to fund enforcement of a new felony drunken driving penalty, which proposes to make a person's fourth drunken driving conviction within 10 years a felony.

The provisions would also provide full funding for the Ombudsman for Corrections, an office the House originally voted to abolish. It also increases the number of probation officers handling high-risk offenders, including sex offenders, and provides more flexibility in treating sex offenders.

Other significant provisions of the health and human services bill still remain unresolved, though both sides made offers regarding allocating federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families money, sanctions in the Minnesota Family Investment Program, and long-term care provisions.

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