Juneau, Alaska — The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on May 16 advanced Senate Bill 154, which would establish a Home Care Employment Standards Advisory Board and require that at least 70% of personal care services funding be spent on direct-care worker pay and benefits.

Ryan McKee, staff to Senator Yundt, told the committee Alaska faces an acute shortage of direct care workers, particularly outside population centers, driven by declining workforce demographics and low pay. "We need to create a strong and long lasting home care infrastructure in Alaska which will expand access to quality affordable home and community based care for seniors and people with disabilities," McKee said while summarizing SB 154.

Under the bill summary presented to the committee, the advisory board would investigate and recommend Medicaid rate and policy changes to improve wages, working conditions, recruitment and retention for direct care workers. The bill also would require agencies providing Department-funded personal care services to spend at least 70% of the total annual funding they receive for those services on pay and benefits for personal care assistants.

Tony Newman, director of the Division of Senior and Disability Services, summarized the bill's fiscal note: a requested appropriation of $163,000 in year one and $327,200 in the following fiscal year to allow the division to hire one full-time position in year one and a second in year two. Newman said the fund sources for the fiscal impact would be a 50/50 split of federal receipts and general fund.

No public testimony was given during the hearing on SB 154. A motion to report SB 154, version "34-LS0836\n," from committee with individual recommendations and an attached fiscal note was adopted without objection.