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Committee advances bill to let spouses receive Connecticut home‑care stipend
Summary
The Human Services Committee voted March 4 to send SB 1300 to the floor. The bill would let spouses be eligible for a stipend under the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders; lawmakers pressed for fiscal estimates and safeguards during discussion.
The Human Services Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1300 to the floor on March 4, 2025. The bill would change the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders to allow a spouse who provides home care to be eligible for the program's stipend.
Supporters said the change would let more people remain at home instead of entering nursing homes, potentially producing long‑term savings to Medicaid. Opponents and several committee members pressed for a fiscal estimate and details about program safeguards before supporting the measure.
Representative Mastrofanchesco said she could not support the bill without more information on how many spouses would be affected and what the cost would be. She asked specifically whether the measure would require a spouse who receives the stipend to join the same union as certified personal care attendants (PCAs).
Representative Hughes, who described herself as having worked in the program, said the home‑care stipend is distinct from the PCA program. “It’s a stipend. It’s not the same as PCAs who are getting an hourly wage,” Hughes said, and she described multiple monitoring layers — nursing visits, social work assessments and a third‑party agency that acts as the payee — that she said reduce the risk of improper payments.
Committee members noted that spouses are currently excluded from the program and that the bill would make spouses eligible under the same reimbursement scheme used for other family caregivers. The committee and sponsors said a fiscal note from the Office of Fiscal Analysis would be required if the bill advances, and that fiscal and implementation questions would inform the next steps.
No specific statewide estimate of how many spouses would become eligible was provided during the meeting. Committee members repeatedly asked staff and sponsors for a fiscal note and other clarifying information; the bill was advanced to the next legislative stage so that those analyses can be produced and reviewed.
Next steps: SB 1300 was voted out of committee to be considered on the floor; sponsors and committee members said they expect a fiscal note and additional implementation details before final enactment.
