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Committee opens hearings on placeholder to study developmental disabilities and a bill to adjust provider payments for inflation
Summary
The Senate Human Services Committee opened a March 27 public hearing on Senate Bill 133, a placeholder measure that staff said would be replaced by language requiring the Department of Human Services to adjust payments to contracted providers serving people with intellectual or developmental disabilities for inflation.
The Senate Human Services Committee briefly opened a public hearing on Senate Bill 133 on March 27. Committee staff described the introduced measure as a placeholder directing the Oregon Department of Human Services to study developmental disability services and report to the legislature. Staff also said a dash-1 amendment posted to OLIS would replace the placeholder and require ODHS to adjust payments that contracted provider agencies receive for services to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities to reflect inflation.
Staff and members noted the House Human Services Committee was simultaneously considering the same measure, and several provider organizations planned to submit written testimony because representatives were appearing before the House committee at the same time. Committee members discussed a rate and wage study conducted across the human-services enterprise that found compensation and provider rates lagging; witnesses said historical delays in cost-of-living adjustments in some higher-acuity settings have left providers unable to retain staff and that the proposed amendment would allow a regular cost-of-living adjustment for those contracted residential providers.
No committee vote occurred on SB 133 during the March 27 proceedings. Staff told the committee the bill was posted for future work session consideration and that providers planning to testify before the House would file written testimony into the Senate record. Committee members asked staff to schedule the item for a possible future work session so members could consider the amendment language.
Committee members emphasized complexity in the provider workforce, noting many different direct-support professional (DSP) roles exist across agencies and that prior rate-and-wage study findings indicated a need to "right-size" compensation across the system to reduce staff turnover and reliance on cross-sector wage shifts.
