Senate committee hears Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board presentation, debates funding for board'set minimum wages

Leah Solo, executive director of the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, told the Senate Human Services Committee the board spent its first year conducting public forums, reviewing state wage data and adopting employment standards aimed at raising pay for a majority of nursing home workers.

Solo said the board'created by the 2023 Legislature'held five public forums, received about 260 public comments on proposed rules, and voted on wage standards on May 9, 2024. She said the board adopted two sets of wage standards that meet the statute's "majority benchmark" (raising or matching existing pay for 50% plus one of workers) and that the earliest the wage standards could take effect is Jan. 1, 2026, because they are contingent on legislative appropriation.

The board also adopted other rules that took effect Jan. 1, 2025, including time-and-a-half holiday pay for work on 11 state holidays, certification rules for worker organizations to provide training about worker rights, posting requirements for employers, and a waiver-and-variance process for facilities that say they risk closure or receivership; Solo said no waiver applications had been filed as of the committee hearing.

Senators and…