Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Long Term Care topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Witnesses back bill to set labor share and advisory board for Medicaid personal care services
Summary
Senate Bill 154 would create a Home Care Employment Standards Advisory Board and require consumer-directed agencies to spend at least 70% of Medicaid personal care services funding on pay and benefits for direct care workers; caregivers and advocates urged the committee to advance the bill.
Senator Rob Yundt, sponsor of Senate Bill 154, told the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee the bill would "establish the Home Care Employment Standards Advisory Board relating to the payment for personal care services" and require an agency to spend a significant portion of Medicaid personal care funds on worker pay. The sponsor framed the proposal around Alaska’s fast-growing senior population and an acute shortage of direct care workers.
Judy Jesson, senior political and advocacy organizer at the Caregivers Union (testimony identified the organization as "Caregivers Union at VIU 775" in the record), testified that SB 154 "helps in 2 ways," first by creating a labor rate for personal care services and second by creating "a workforce standard advisory board." Jesson said the bill would require that agencies spend at least "70% of the total annual funding they receive from the department for personal care services on the pay and benefits of personal care assistance providing such services" and would increase transparency through reporting requirements.
Multiple caregivers gave personal testimony describing low pay, lack of benefits and recruitment challenges. One caregiver, who identified herself as Ayesha Tumboj, said, "To me, being a caregiver is just not, is just is not just a job. I do it because I care. I love what I do and the, people I work with." BJ Red Menendez described juggling two full-time jobs to provide family care and asked the committee for "better pay" and health insurance for caregivers.
Sponsor Yundt and witnesses framed the bill as a workforce and fiscal accountability tool: Jesson argued that without clearer reporting and a labor-rate requirement, the department cannot tell how much of recent rate increases actually reached direct care workers. The advisory board proposed in SB 154 would include stakeholders—providers, caregivers, clients and the Department of Health—to "identify and plan for longer term workforce needs and assess whether the rates are adequate to meet those needs," Jesson said.
The committee set SB 154 aside for future consideration; the transcript records no committee vote or roll call at this hearing. Director Tony Newman of Senior and Disability Services was present and available to answer questions, but no additional departmental directives were recorded in the transcript.
