This last Friday marked the second committee deadline for the 2019 legislature. This means bills must have been heard in the body that they were not heard in by the first committee deadline. With the first two committee deadlines behind us, all eyes will now turn to the omnibus bills being released this week.
Budget Targets
Both the House and Senate have set their initial committee budget targets. These targets are what the chairs of the respective finance committees will use when putting together their omnibus bills. While the House and Senate both set their own individual targets, joint budget targets between the House, Senate and Governor’s office are required to be set by Monday, May 6th.
Omnibus Bills
We anticipate the House Health and Human Service Finance Omnibus bill to be released early this week, the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Omnibus bill will be released on Friday, April 5th.
As a reminder, the Competitive Workforce Factor for the Disability Waiver Rate System was included in the Governor’s initial and supplemental budget proposal at 4.7 percent. We are hopeful that a Competitive Workforce Factor will be included in both the House and Senate HHS Omnibus bills.
Next Steps
ARRM will watch the release of the omnibus bills closely to track the progress of our legislative initiatives as well as initiatives we have been supporting or opposing. Members can look to this blog next week with an analysis of where we are in both the House and Senate and member communications to legislators that will be needed.
-- Sara Grafstrom, Director of State and Federal Policy