ARRM's Daily Dispatch

Special Session Complete, Legislature Adjourned

The 2017 Special Session officially adjourned early this morning, with the legislature approving and sending a full budget package to Governor Dayton for his signature. Many progressive groups are urging the Governor to veto some or all of the bills, but it is also reported the Governor stepped in during the final moments of the session to help ensure passage of key provisions. Therefore, it is expected he will sign off on the budget.

Health and Human Services

A comprehensive direct care staff wage increase did not make it into the final HHS budget bill. However, ARRM members will be pleased to see the final bill reflects many of the policy positions for which ARRM was advocating. This includes several issues ARRM was working to keep out of the final budget.

A highlight of the key provisions supported by ARRM in the HHS budget bill include:

• Full DWRS inflationary adjustment (ARRM successfully argued against a seven percent funding offset)
• No 350 day billable cap
• No licensing fee increase
• Policy changes to the Disability Waiver Rate System
• ICF therapeutic leave day policy reform
• HCBS provider incentive pool
• HCBS waiver consolidation study
• CDCS reform

Over the next few days ARRM will review the final bill and will send a complete, detailed summary to members, following the Governor’s final approval.

Please watch for our detailed analysis, with more information provided on each of the items listed above, as well as other important components of the final HHS bill. If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact me at sgrafstrom@arrm.org.

To receive the full recap of the 2017 Legislative Session in detail, as well as receive training on the impacts of these policy and funding provisions, please register for a 2017 Legislative Road Show training near you. These six training events are an ARRM members-only benefit and begin on June 19. Register for a local event here.

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

Session ends on Monday, no budget deal yet

The official end to the 2017 Legislative Session is Monday, May 22^nd at midnight. After some movement this week on budget negotiations, it seems that communication between the Governor and House and Senate leadership has once again stalled with no final budget compromise in sight.

The House and Senate are both scheduled to meet over the weekend and into Monday and, as history has taught us, things can turn around very quickly at the Capitol.

As negotiations moved forward this last week ARRM was made aware of increasing concerns from legislative leaders and the Governor’s office about the costs of our Disability Waiver Rate System provisions in the coming years. These provisions are essential to help ensure long term stability to providers and must be part of the final budget compromise. ARRM sent out an Action Alert earlier this week about this issue; if you have not had a chance to take action, please do so immediately.

Finally, we reported last week that our policy bill passed the full Senate with unanimous approval. The bill will be heard on the House floor today (Friday) and will then be sent to the Governor for his signature. Following final approval of that bill ARRM will send out a detailed analysis to members on what it contains and what changes you can be looking for.

As things continue to move over the weekend we will continue to keep you updated as necessary. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

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

ARRM’s Policy Bill Clears the Senate, One week and Counting at the Legislature

With a little over one week left of the 2017 legislative session there has not been much of progress between the House, Senate and Governor in coming to a final budget solution.

Early this week budget negotiations came to a halt as the House and Senate acted on their final Conference Committee reports to send to the Governor. The Governor has indicated that he will veto each of the bills when they come to him. There are currently no formal negotiation meetings scheduled between House and Senate Leadership and the Governor until next Monday.

As for the Health and Human Services Omnibus bill, the final bill passed off the House and Senate floor contains the same provisions ARRM informed you about last week with no changes since the Conference Committee last met.

ARRM staff did have an opportunity to meet with Lauren Gilchrist from the Governor’s office this week to further discuss our strong opposition to the Governor’s proposed cap of 350 days for billable services. The meeting was productive with Lauren indicating her desire to follow up with DHS and be in further touch with us. As a reminder, the House and Senate’s final bill does not include the cap on billable days.

This week also saw the final passage on the Senate floor of ARRM’s policy bill. The bill was passed unanimously with a vote of 63-0. The next step will be to have the bill heard on the House floor and then sent to the Governor for his final signature. You can find more information about what is in that policy bill here.

As things continue to move forward in the final week of session ARRM will continue to keep you updated on progress and will look to members for any last minute Action Alerts required. Please continue to watch your emails for anything that may need your immediate response.

You can contact me with any further questions at sgrafstrom@arrm.org.

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

Thank You ARRM Board of Directors!

With last week being National Volunteer Week, I want to recognize the ARRM Board of Directors and Committee Members for their leadership and hard work.

Everyone in our industry works incredibly hard, from providing direct care to running organizations. The individuals who serve as Board and Committee Members for ARRM not only take on their day jobs (and often night and weekend jobs), but also put in several more hours each month working to shape and drive the work ARRM does on behalf of its members. The experienced, passionate leadership of this group of people makes the work of ARRM possible.

In addition to their overall contributions to ARRM, the Board of Directors, the committees and several workgroups produce tangible resources and support for the organization and its members. In this year alone, these volunteers have produced the following:

• A strong legislative agenda to lead public policy advocacy
• Organizing and promoting one of ARRM’s most successful Day at the Capitol advocacy days
• Plans for a new resource center on utilizing technology, coming soon
• An outreach presentation to high school counselors on career opportunities in our field
• A free, members-only webinar on workforce management strategies
• Developing and planning ARRM’s Annual Conference with a forward-looking theme and exciting presenters

All this could not have been accomplished without the dedicated support of ARRM’s Committee and Board Members, and with the year only half over there is more to come.
ARRM wishes to extend a sincere thank you to every volunteer who is giving their time and knowledge, and all those who have served before. Your support and the impact it has on ARRM members, the disability services industry and Minnesotans with disabilities, is priceless and immensely appreciated.

Any ARRM member can submit a staff person to serve on a committee, and the Board of Directors elects new members each year. Not only do these roles provide tremendous value to ARRM, they can also be networking and career development opportunities for rising professionals. When the call for volunteers next goes out, please consider signing on.

Read more about ARRM Committees and their leadership

Read more about the ARRM Board of Directors

-- Cheryl Pray, ARRM CEO

Conference Committee Bill Released, Two Weeks Left of Session

With just over two weeks left of the 2017 Legislative Session there is still a lot of work that needs to be accomplished.

Last week the House and Senate released joint budget targets. The newly released target for Health and Human Services was a cut of just over $500 million. This cut represents an improvement of the House’s original target of just over $600 million in cuts, and worsening from the Senate’s position of around $330 million in cuts to Health and Human Services.

On Monday, the Health and Human Services Conference Committee released its final report and budget spreadsheet. This now represents the House and Senate’s position on Health and Human Services as they begin negotiations with Governor Dayton.

Below is a list of some of the provisions included, and not included in the Conference Committee amendment, this list does not cover every item that ARRM supports or does not support:

Included:

• The Senate’s position on DWRS, including our negotiated cost audit language
• ARRM’s ICF Therapeutic Leave Day legislation
• CDCS Reform
• Increased rate for Complex PCA Services

Not Included:

• The Best Life Alliance Wage Increase
• The proposed 350 Day Billing Cap
• 7% Inflationary Offset

The next step will be for leaders of the House and Senate to enter into negotiations with the Governor to reach a global agreement. It is important to remember that the Governor’s original budget proposal does include the 350 Day Cap on billable days for residential services as well as offsets seven percent of the scheduled inflationary increase.

Please be sure to watch for Action Alerts in the next couple weeks as legislators continue to move through the negotiation process. It is critical that we maintain a strong presence at the Capitol through the end of session and continue to push legislators and the Governor to prioritize individuals with disabilities.

Please contact me at sgrafstrom@arrm.org with any questions.

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