The 2020 Legislative Session officially began this last Tuesday, February 11th and things are moving quickly. The legislature is required to adjourn by midnight on Monday, May 18th. With only 14 weeks of session, committee deadlines are right around the corner and legislation must start moving through the committee process as soon as possible in order to have a chance at being adopted.
With that in mind, ARRM has successfully introduced the three main initiatives on our legislative agenda and anticipate that the Best Life Alliance legislation will be introduced next week. Below, please find a brief summary of each of bills as well as some upcoming dates to keep in mind.
ARRM’s Policy Bill (SF 3116/ HF 3206)
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Extends the sunset date for providers to apply for a license to service five individuals
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Allows a Designated Coordinator the ability to deem someone competent to train and determine staff competency
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Allows for 60 calendar days OR 45 days of service before needing to have a 45 Day Planning Meeting
ARRM’s DWRS Bill (SF 3118/ HF 3207)
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Removes Unit Respite from the DWRS framework, making it a market rate service
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Increases the Absence and Utilization factor for Individualized Home Supports with Training to 7.5%
ARRM’s ICF Bill (SF 3116/ HF 3130)
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Removes the barrier for applying for a Variable Rate
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Increases the Services During the Day rate to 100% of the DT&H Rate
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Increases rates by 5% in 2020, 5% in 2022 and ongoing adjustments connected to DWRS rate adjustments beginning in 2024
Important Dates to Remember:
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Tuesday, March 10th: ARRM’s Day at the Capitol
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Friday, March 20th: First Committee Deadline
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Friday, March 27th: Second Committee Deadline
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Friday, April 3rd: Third Committee Deadline
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Saturday, April 4th- Monday, April 13th: Legislative Break
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Monday, May 18th: Last Day of Session
Looking ahead to next week:
Next week, ARRM’s policy bill will be heard in the Senate Human Services Reform and Finance Committee, scheduled for Wednesday, February 19th at 3:00 pm. Additionally, the Best Life Alliance Grassroots team will meet next Friday, February 21st at 10:00 am. If you would like to join this group and keep informed on how you can be supporting the efforts of the Best Life Alliance this session please let me know.
Finally…
Finally, ARRM’s 2020 Legislative Agenda, as well as one-pagers that go into more detail on each of our legislative priorities can be found in the Public Policy section of our website here. Additionally, brand new this year is a new Take Action center. It is in the section of our website where we will be posting current action alerts, as well as highlighting a new bill tracking section that tracks not only ARRM’s legislative priorities but other initiatives important to the disability community. You can access the Action Center here and the Bill Tracking section here.
Please contact me with any questions!
--Sara Grafstrom, Director of State and Federal Policy