Governor’s Supplemental Budget
The Governor’s Supplemental Budget was released today and did not include funding to recapture the 7% rate cut. ARRM has issued a press release in response and will be following up with members with a broad call to action early next week.
Best Life Alliance Legislation/ 7% Cut
The Best Life Alliance legislation was amended in both the Senate and the House to now include a “workforce competitiveness” factor. It is through this mechanism that we hope to recapture the 7% rate cut. The bill was formally heard in the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee during the week of March 5th and was heard in the House Health and Human Service Policy Committee on March 13th. Within the House, the bill was referred to the House Health and Human Service Finance Committee where a formal fiscal note has been requested.
In addition to the legislative hearings, lobby team members from the Best Life Alliance have had many conversations with legislative leaders over the last couple weeks, educating them on the rate cut and the Best Life Alliance Solution and a formal letter was sent to all Health and Human Service Committee members and leadership from the Best Life Alliance.
ARRM has also sent out two separate Action Alerts to members. If you have not responded to the Action Alert please do so immediately.
ARRM’s Policy Bill
ARRM’s Policy Bill was heard in the House Health and Human Service Reform committee on Thursday, March 15th. Similar to the hearing in the Senate, the bill was successfully amended to lengthen the moratorium exception for un-licensed settings, address what happens when providers have an open bed at the time of licensing and make a couple technical changes. The bill was passed out of committee with unanimous support and referred to the General Register, meaning the next stop will be the House floor for final passage.
ARRM’s Unfunded Mandate Bill
Our bill to address provider unfunded mandates was formally introduced in the Senate (SF 3176). You can review the bill here.
Day at the Capitol
Finally, this last week saw over 1,000 people come together for ARRM’s 2018 Day at the Capitol. All together we met with over 170 legislators, some meetings with groups over 50! Thank you to everyone who attended, but remember, your advocacy can not end after you left the Capitol grounds. If you met with your legislator on Tuesday, please follow up with them with the urgent message of “STOP THE CUT!”
--Sara Grafstrom, Director of Member Advocacy and Government Relations