Committee hears broad DHS policy bill; lays House File 2,115 over as amended

The House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee received testimony and technical overview on House File 2,115 — a multi‑article Department of Human Services policy bill — and laid the bill over for possible inclusion after author and agency presentations.

Representative Schumacher introduced the bill and moved to lay it over for possible inclusion. Department of Human Services staff described the measure as largely technical with several policy provisions across articles affecting aging and disability services, behavioral health, direct care and treatment statutory updates, licensing and background studies, and childcare licensing. Christy Grom, DHS, said Article 1 eliminates the day services needs determination for community‑based day services and codifies training and competency requirements for waiver case managers. Kerri Briones described provisions moving Direct Care and Treatment statutory authorities as the agency prepares to assume separate responsibilities on July 1.

Article 2 (behavioral health) contains changes to children’s mental health targeted case management to align with adult standards and federal state‑plan expectations, and codifies the school‑linked intermediate grants. Ari Didion, DHS Office of Inspector General, presented Articles 5 and 6 covering background studies, licensing, program integrity, and proposed prohibitions on kickbacks in Medical Assistance and the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Didion said the bill would add state‑level CCAP anti‑kickback language modeled on other states and make licensing updates intended to reduce paperwork and align training requirements.

Several testifiers raised substantive concerns about specific provisions. Josh Berg, representing a nonprofit that provides housing and supports for people with disabilities, urged the committee to pause implementation of Section 4 (a technical fix to residential support services criteria enacted in 2021). Berg said providers and families were surprised by a DHS bulletin describing new criteria and asked for clearer definitions of “complex behavioral health” and “complex medical needs,” costs of implementation, and more stakeholder collaboration before changes go into effect.

Committee members asked for more clarity on penalties and enforcement in the kickback proposals, on program integrity safeguards, and on fiscal estimates. Ari Didion said criminal penalties for kickbacks appear elsewhere in the bill and that enforcement would depend on case facts; DHS staff said they would work with the author on drafting and offered to supply fiscal analyses. DHS also told the committee it would review language and training changes required by a 2023 federal child‑care compliance review and that some no‑cost technical corrections were included in the author’s amendment.

After testimony and questions, Representative Schumacher renewed a motion that House File 2,115 as amended be laid over for possible inclusion. The committee approved the motion; the bill will be carried forward for further consideration and fiscal analysis.

Provenance: The discussion begins with the author’s motion to lay over House File 2,115 and includes detailed agency testimony across several DHS divisions, followed by multiple public testifiers and committee questions. The committee laid the bill over as amended.

Sections included in the bill: aging and disability services (day services needs determination removal; waiver case manager training and competency codification; residential criteria cleanup), behavioral health (children’s mental health alignment; school‑linked intermediate grants), direct care and treatment statutory housekeeping and substantive changes, licensing and background studies (kickback prohibition proposals; licensing and training clarifications), and childcare licensing updates tied to federal Child Care and Development Fund compliance.