Protection and Advocacy asks for staff, retirement funds and to continue assistive-technology pilot during HB1014 hearing

The Human Resources Division of the Senate Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 1014 to review the budget request for the North Dakota Protection and Advocacy Project (P&A), and heard testimony asking the Legislature to fund a permanent workforce-technology coordinator, cover an expected retirement payout and consider a communications specialist.

Veronica Cazitz, executive director of the North Dakota Protection and Advocacy Project, told the committee P&A is an independent state agency established in 1977 that provides free advocacy and protective services to eligible individuals with disabilities across North Dakota. "P and A provides free services to eligible individuals with disabilities across North Dakota," Cazitz said, describing investigation, monitoring and legal representation work the agency performs.

The agency presented data showing protective-services investigations made up roughly 63 percent of its caseload in the last two federal fiscal years, and that P&A handled 2,390 cases and 1,771 clients in the most recent biennium compared with 2,264 cases and 1,668 clients in the prior biennium. Cazitz told the committee that 99 percent of cases were resolved completely or partially in the client's favor last federal fiscal year and that P&A completed 6,126 information-and-referral requests over the last two federal fiscal years.

Why it matters: committee members pressed for detail because the agency's budget is roughly 56 percent federal and 44 percent state funds and many federal grants are fixed formula awards that have not kept pace with inflation. P&A said it needs one continuing staff position to sustain a pilot that placed individuals in community settings using assistive technology and expects near-term retirements and vacancy costs to create one-time funding needs.

Key budget numbers and staffing - Current base appropriation shown by the agency: about $4.3 million in federal funds and $3.4 million in state general funds (total roughly $7.79 million) and 28.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs). - Agency request: about $8.4 million and 30.5 FTEs; Governor Armstrong proposed about $8.6 million and 29.5 FTEs; the House version included about $8.5 million and 29.5 FTEs and explicitly funded the workforce-technology coordinator and a retirement payout. - Vacancies and turnover: 11 vacancies during the current biennium; turnover was about 32% in July 2023'June 2024 and about 11% in the most recent 12 months; average time to fill a position is roughly three months.

Federal grants and limits Cazitz outlined P&A's federal grant portfolio and current award amounts: Protection and Advocacy for Developmental Disabilities (about $415,000/year); Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (about $474,000/year); Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights (about $196,000/year); traumatic brain injury and assistive-technology grants (each about $50,000); voting access (about $141,000); Social Security beneficiary programs (roughly $24,000 and $73,000). She told the committee many of these are minimum-allotment formula grants that have seen little growth, noting 10-year growth rates in the low double digits and saying federal increases have not kept pace with Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation estimates.

Workforce and technology pilot: coordinator request and results Jordan Wetzel, the temporary project coordinator for P&A's Workforce and Technology Project, described a pilot using assistive technology to reduce reliance on high-cost institutional care and on staff hours. Wetzel said the pilot includes four participants and that, in one example, a participant leaving the Life Skills Transition Center (LSTC) whose institutional annual cost the witness described as about $560,647 moved to a community apartment with about $12.50 of assistive-technology items. Wetzel told the committee that change produced a reported annual savings of roughly $402,967 for the state.

"These tools range from simple, low cost items like smart light bulbs or automatic door openers, to more specialized devices such as medication management systems, smart security devices, and remote monitoring solutions," Wetzel said, summarizing technologies used in the pilot. Wetzel and Cazitz said the pilot was initially funded with federal COVID-era dollars and partner contributions and that the House included funding to continue one permanent coordinator position. The agency estimated the permanent position would cost about $200,000 over two years (salary and benefits), and said it proposed a 50/50 state/federal split for that position in budget discussions.

Other optional requests and operational details P&A also requested one-time retirement-payout funding to cover an expected large accrued-leave payout for a soon-to-retire staffer (the agency estimated typical payouts of $20,000'$30,000 per person and said a recent payout was about $25,000). The agency additionally requested a communications specialist to boost public awareness of P&A services; Cazitz said awareness is uneven and some potential clients do not learn about P&A until a problem has escalated.

Committee process and next steps Committee members asked detailed questions about grant drawdowns, indirect rates (the agency cited a 15% de minimis federal indirect rate), how federal reimbursements are tracked, and the realism of higher federal grant assumptions in the House sheet. Cazitz and Wetzel emphasized that many federal awards are fixed and that increasing state funds is the more reliable way to stabilize the agency budget.

The committee took testimony and did not vote on HB1014; members said they will wait until the budget forecast and other legislative steps before taking further action.