Today marks the three week mark until the legislature must adjourn. With a short time left at the Capitol, the days are certainly getting longer and the amount of bills we are tracking is drastically shorter.
As a reminder, in an effort to avoid last minute negotiations, the House and Senate announced joint deadlines to which they would get their work done. Those deadlines are:
- Wednesday, May 1st: Omnibus bills will be passed off the House and Senate floors and Conference Committee members will be announced
- Monday, May 6th: Joint targets between the House, Senate and Governor’s office will be announced
- Monday, May 13th: Final Conference Committee reports will be available
- Monday, May 20th: The legislature must adjourn
With the first of those deadlines being in just two days, the House and Senate have been spending all of their time on the House or Senate floor, engaging in lengthy debates about various omnibus bills. Last Thursday, the House took up the Health and Human Service (HHS) Omnibus bill and passed the bill on a party line vote. This legislation included the DWRS Competitive Workforce Factor of 4.7 percent to raise wages for DSPs, a projected investment of $133 million over the next four years.
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Also last Thursday, during the Senate Finance Committee, the two HHS Omnibus bills which had been moving separately in the Senate were combined into one. The Senate HHS Omnibus bill is now SF 2452. Similar to the House, the Senate Omnibus bill also contains a 4.7% Competitive Workforce Factor for DWRS. However, the provision does not have some of the automatic updates in the House proposal and would invest about $86 million over the next four years. We anticipate the Senate HHS Omnibus bill to be taken up on the Senate floor this Tuesday.
As we continue to move into the final weeks of session, please continue to watch your emails for any immediate action alerts from the Best Life Alliance or ARRM. Your attention and response to these alerts will play a critical role in any success we have this session.
Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.
--Sara Grafstrom, Director of State and Federal Policy, sgrafstrom@arrm.org