This past week both the House and Senate released their Health and Human Service Omnibus Bills; below is an update on the status of ARRM’s key policy priorities.
7% Cut Position in the House and Senate
- The House Health and Human Service Finance Omnibus bill fully funds the 7% cut, as well as provides additional money to ensure that providers are held harmless from a cut until CMS approves the legislative change.
- The Senate Human Services Reform and Finance Omnibus bill delays the cut by one year. The 7% is fully funded until July 1st, 2019 at that time, providers would receive a 2.3% cut and beginning July 1st, 2020 providers will receive an additional cut of 3.1% for a total cut of 5.4%.
Eken/Halverson Letter
DFL members Sen. Kent Eken and Rep. Laurie Halverson have authored a letter to Governor Dayton asking him to prioritize funding the 7% cut in his final budget negotiations with the House and Senate. This letter will be circulated within the House and Senate DFL Caucus for additional legislator signatures. Please watch for an Action Alert next Monday, asking you to contact your DFL legislators and ask them to sign on to the Halverson/Eken letter.
ARRM Policy Bill Provisions
Currently, ARRM’s policy bill is on both the House and Senate floor waiting for final passage. In an effort to ensure that the important provisions contained within our legislation do not get held up, our bill has been included in both the House and Senate Omnibus bills.
Next Steps
ARRM, in conjunction with the Best Life Alliance will be sending out an Action Alert early next week with a multi-pronged approach to reach out to your legislators, depending on the political party and the body that they serve in. Please watch for that alert and take immediate action.
Next week we anticipate bills moving through the Finance Committee in the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee in the House. Following passage on the House and Senate floors, Conference Committees will be set up to begin working out the difference between the two bills. ARRM will keep members updated as things continue to move through the process as we work through the final five weeks of session.