S.F. No. 2516 Summary

• Creates the Minnesota Coalition for Innovation and Collaboration located within the Department of Administration to facilitate innovation and collaboration among not-for-profit, public, and private sectors addressing high-priority community needs.

• Establishes a steering committee of 10-15 leaders from public, private, and not-for-profit sectors to guide coalition work and award innovation challenge grants.

• Authorizes a competitive grant program called the "innovation challenge" providing seed funding for program or service improvements, prioritizing proposals that improve social outcomes, foster cross-sector collaboration, achieve self-sustainability within five years, and generate cost savings.

• Amends Minnesota Statutes section 6.80 to expand rule and law waiver authority to include not-for-profit organizations alongside local government units, allowing the state auditor to grant waivers from administrative rules or temporary exemptions from state procedural laws.

• Appropriates funds from the general fund for fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, for the innovation challenge grant program, contingent on dollar-for-dollar matching from private sources.