Last Friday marked the 3rd committee deadline at the legislature. This is the deadline for all finance bills to be out of committee and in general marks the completion of committee work for the session. Below is an update on where things stand in the Human Services Committee and how ARRM’s legislative priorities are moving forward.
Governor’s Budget Recommendations:
In late March, the Governor announced his supplemental budget recommendations, including nearly $400 million in additional funding cuts that would impact disability waiver services. ARRM submitted this letter to both the House and Senate Human Services committees, outlining our opposition and concerns with the proposal.
House Human Services Committee
On Thursday of last week, the House Human Services Committee finalized their committee work by passing out of committee the Human Services Program Integrity Finance bill. While ARRM was able to work with committee members to remove a few items of opposition during the committee process, there are still some proposals moving in the bill that we have concerns with. Those include:
- New Community Residential Setting Acuity limits for one-to-one staffing hours
- New documentation requirements for residential services
You can read ARRM’s letter to the House Human Services Committee here.
The House did not include any of the damaging cuts the Governor proposed but also did not fund the proposal that would institute no caps on IHST for individuals with complex needs or the proposal that would move Family Residential Service rates back into the DWRS.
Senate Human Services Committee
On Friday, the Senate Human Services Committee finalized their Human Services Finance package. The Senate is taking a different approach from the House and will be moving a separate program integrity package in the coming weeks that will eventually be combined with the finance package. ARRM is supportive of many of the proposals moving forward in the finance package, including:
- ARRM’s proposal to require the Commissioner to issue guidance within 120 of receiving federal approval of any new policy approved by CMS
- Reducing the Long-Term Services and Supports cut target by $112 million, leaving an approximate $66 million target for the Long-Term Services and Supports Taskforce to address with future cuts.
- Funding ARRM’s proposal for new caps for IHST for individuals who require a 24-Hour plan of care
- Increasing the FRS top rate tiers by 10% for tiers 4 and 5 and 20% for tier 6
- Repealing Waiver ReImagine
We are also grateful that the Senate did not include any of the Governor’s proposed cuts to disability waiver service rates.
You can read ARRM’s letter to the Senate Human Services Committee here.
Next Steps
Four weeks remain of the legislative session and attention will now turn to floor activity. We anticipate the Senate Human Services Policy bill to be heard on the Senate floor this Thursday and are awaiting House activity. Following the passage by each body of their version of the omnibus bill, a conference committee will be formed to work through differences.
Please reach out with any questions and we will keep members updated through the next few weeks.
--Sara Grafstrom, Senior Director of State and Federal Policy