ARRM's Daily Dispatch

ARRM's Policy Bill Moves Forward

As ARRM shared earlier this week, the Office of the Legislative Auditor released their report on Home and Community Based Services this week. A hearing was held in the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee on the findings of this report.

Amongst the findings, the report called attention to the state’s growing workforce shortage in HCBS, citing demographic trends and low wages for direct care workers.

The report also focused on the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ oversight of HCBS spending and providers, recommending the state institute a set of financial reporting requirements and increase regulations over HCBS providing care in people’s own homes. These recommendations were focused on providing more transparency and clarity on providing better services to people with disabilities in Minnesota.

In addition to the hearing of the OLA report, a series of bills focused on disability issues were heard in the Senate on Monday. These bills address CDCS Reform, MSA Reform, establishing three new employment services and creating an Innovation Grant for providers that serve people with disabilities. ARRM submitted a letter of support for these proposals as they aim to target transitional age youth.

ARRM’s Policy bill received its second hearing in the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee on Wednesday. The bill was passed out of the committee and referred to Civil Law and Data Practices Committee.

Looking ahead to next week, ARRM’s ICF Therapeutic Leave Day Bill and Waiver Consolidation Bill will be heard in the Senate on Monday and will receive its second hearing in the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee on Wednesday. Many department bills will also be heard in the Senate on Monday, ARRM Vice President of External Affairs, Barb Turner is scheduled to testify to those bills.

--Sara Grafstrom, Director of Government Relations and Member Advocacy

ARRM Bill Heard in Committee, More Hearings Scheduled for Next Week

Activity this week focused largely on hearings in both the House and Senate.

On Monday, the Senate Committee on Human Services Reform, Finance and Policy heard testimony on both ARRM’s Policy bill and the Best Life Alliance Legislation. On Tuesday, the House Health and Human Service Reform Committee heard testimony on the Best Life Alliance and DWRS legislation as well as ARRM’s ICF Therapeutic Leave Day/ Waiver Consolidation bill and ARRM’s Policy Bill. A full write up of these hearings was sent out to members on Wednesday, you can access that here.

This week also saw hearings on MA Spenddown Reform, Grant funding for ACT and the Home and Community Based Services Incentive Pool Grant proposal.

Next week, the Office of Legislator Auditor Report will be released on Tuesday followed up with a hearing on the Report at 1:00 pm Tuesday (stay tuned to emails from ARRM and the Daily Dispatch for information and updates as it becomes available). On Wednesday, ARRM’s Policy bill will be heard in the House Health and Human Service Finance Committee with other disability focused bills throughout the week.

And finally, ARRM’s Day at the Capitol registration is due today, February 17^th. Please email your registration to me at sgrafstrom@arrm.org.

--Sara Grafstrom, Director of Government Relations and Member Advocacy

Successful Hearings

The legislation ARRM is moving this session cleared its first big hurdles over the past two days. Nearly all of the bills received their first hearings in Senate and House Committees that needed to vote their approval in order for the bills to continue moving forward. And thanks to the great work of our Government Relations team, our chief authors, and hundreds of people who made calls to committee members, each bill is moving to its next phase

When pushing as many bills forward as ARRM is, it’s significant to be able to have several heard at once for several reasons. One, it allows advocates and our team to focus all our efforts on one committee at a time. Two, it helps ensure each of our bills keep up with the deadlines for hearings and passage. And third, it allows us to make a clear and comprehensive case on how each of the bills works together to address workforce shortage issues. Our team worked hard to secure these hearings and it paid off.

Hearing Recap

On Monday, ARRM’s policy reform bill (SF 359 / HF 696) and the Best Life Alliance wage increase bill (SF 669 / HF 873) were heard in the Senate Committee on Human Services Finance and Policy Reform. Senator Utke, chief author for the policy reform bill, and Barb Turner shared with the committee how these common sense reforms will ease some of the workforce pressures for providers while continuing to promote greater independence and inclusion for people with disabilities. The policy bill was also amended to add an extension of the allowance for group homes to expand with a fifth bed. Several testified in support of the Best Life Alliance bill, including Chair and parent Pam Gonnella and member-CEO Ric Nelson of MBW Company.

On Tuesday, both of the above bills were heard in the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee, along with ARRM’s legislation to better support ICF providers (HF 921) and make key adjustments to DWRS (SF 727 / HF 814). Along with Pam Gonnella, Paula Hart, CEO of Volunteers of America provider her testimony on behalf of the Best Life Alliance and Don Priebe, CEO of Homeward Bound, provided testimony in support of the DWRS legislation.

Next Steps

The bills have now been referred to their next committee stops and will be designated for hearings at a future time:

Policy Bill:
SF 359: To be referred to either the Judiciary Committee or the Health and Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee
HF 696: Referred to the Health and Human Services Finance Committee

DWRS Bill:
HF 814: Referred to the Health and Human Services Finance Committee
SF 727: Awaiting first hearing in Health and Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee

ICF Leave Day Bill:
HF 921: Referred to the Health and Human Services Finance Committee

Best Life Alliance Wage Increase Bill:
SF 669: The financial aspects of the bill will next be discussed by the Health and Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee
HF 873: Referred to the Health and Human Services Finance Committee

ARRM will provide updates to members on the upcoming hearing schedules, as well as the next time it will be important to reach out to Senators and Representatives to advocate for the passage of these bills.

Legislative Update: Many Hearings Scheduled for Next Week

Much of the activity at the Capitol this week has focused on preparation for our first round of committee hearings early next week, including meetings with legislators and preparing testimony.

This coming Monday, February 13^th in the Senate Committee on Human Services Reform, Finance and Policy, ARRM’s Policy Bill as well as the Best Life Alliance legislation will be heard.

On Tuesday, February 14^th in the House Health and Human Service Reform Committee, ARRM’s Policy Bill, the DWRS Coalition Bill and the Best Life Alliance legislation will all receive a hearing.

ARRM recently released an Action Alert in advance of these hearings. You can read the full alert and respond here.

Other disability focused bills including MA Reform, CDCS Reform, MSA Reform, a bill proposing an Innovation Grant and a bill proposing three new employment services will all be heard in various committee hearings next week.

Along with preparing for hearings next week, ARRM staff have been monitoring and responding to other pieces of legislation as they are proposed and heard during committee hearings.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

--Sara Grafstrom, Director of Government Relations and Member Advocacy

ARRM Testifies on Governor's Budget, Best Life Alliance bill introduced next week

Highlights from this week’s legislative session include:

Governor’s Budget: As we reported last week, the Governor’s budget was released on Tuesday, January 24^th. This week saw committees in both the House and Senate hearing testimony from the Department of Human Services on specific proposals included in the budget. On Wednesday, February 1^st, Senator Jim Abeler heard public testimony on the Governor’s proposed budget. ARRM CEO, Cheryl Pray provided testimony on specific items within the proposal, as well as painted a broad picture of the workforce crisis our industry is facing. Other ARRM members, including Living Well Disability Services, Fraser and Accessible Spaces provided testimony on specific proposals.

ARRM’s Policy Bill: ARRM’s Policy Bill was officially introduced in the House as HF 696; you can find a link to the bill text here, the bill was introduced in the Senate the week prior as SF 359. Next steps will be securing a hearing in both the House and Senate; we will keep you informed as dates become scheduled.

Best Life Alliance: The Best Life Alliance legislation was “dropped” on Wednesday, February 1^st in both the House and the Senate.  This means that the bill will be introduced in both bodies on Monday, February 6^th and will receive official bill numbers. Following Monday’s official bill introduction, the Best Life Alliance will work with Committee Charis to request hearings on our bill. We will keep you updated as those dates become available.

DWRS Coalition Bill: The DWRS Coalition bill was “dropped in the House on Thursday, February 2^nd and will be introduced in the House on Monday, February 6^th. In the Senate, the DWRS Coalition is working on securing a couple final co-authors to our bill and anticipates having it introduced in the next couple days. As with ARRM’s Policy Bill and the Best Life Alliance bill, our next step will be to request a hearing on the bill.

Stay Tuned: As bills continue to move forward and committee hearing dates begin to be scheduled, we will keep you updated on all progress at the legislature. You can anticipate a call to action in the coming weeks on behalf of the Best Life Alliance as we prepare for hearings and continue to educate legislators about our workforce crisis and the need to pass a wage increase this year! Stay tuned and please contact me with any questions.

--Sara Grafstrom, Director of Government Relations and Member Advocacy