Melanie George Smith
- Democratic
Primary
The state is currently funding service providers at 75% of the market rate established in a 2014 study that was done by DHSS. This bill would mandate an increase in the rates paid to service providers according to the recommendations of the market study, so that by fiscal year 2021 the state would fund service providers at 100% of the benchmarked rate. These rate increases are necessary to increase the hourly wages of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), to improve recruitment and retention of these positions, to decrease staff turnover, and to decrease position vacancies. Along with the corresponding costs for program oversight, direct supervision of DSPs, and training, stabilizing the DSP workforce with increased pay is essential to keep people with I/DD safe and integrated to the maximum extent possible in their local communities. The bill also requires that the adequacy of the rate system be evaluated against performance measures that are commonly used to assess program quality.
Signed by Governor
Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES
Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 4 On Its Merits
Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 10 On Its Merits
Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 104, and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
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| Bill Text | HTML PDF |
| Document | Format |
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| Fiscal Note | MSWORD |
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