Legislature(2021 - 2022)DAVIS 106
03/10/2022 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB297 | |
| HB265 | |
| HB292 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 265 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 292 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 297 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 292-HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED WAIVER SERVICES
4:01:37 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that the final order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 292, "An Act relating to home and
community-based services; and providing for an effective date."
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY said the committee would hear invited
testimony.
4:02:15 PM
DEBBIE MULHOLLAND, Caregiver, testified in support of HB 292
because she believed in advocating to give her clients "the care
they need." She talked about her personal experience of being a
professional caregiver for over ten years and working with
clients who also have family members as caregivers. She shared
anecdotal stories of the problems and stressors these family
members face which have been exacerbated by a lack of
professional care available. She mentioned that decreasing
options for these families due to a lack of funding for
caregivers over the last 10 years has forced more family members
to fill the caregiver role, which sometimes has led to an
inability to fully meet the patient's needs. She reported that
her employer had made the choice to no longer accept Medicaid
because of continual cuts to hours and that service was just one
in a long list of resources and options that have been
diminished. The cuts have gone "far too far," she opined, and
have left this vulnerable population without the ability to
complete basic needs, like feeding, showering, and going to the
bathroom. She stated that passing HB 265 would help restore the
amount of hours caregivers can work, allowing more seniors to
receive services. She shared that during the COVID-19 crisis,
caregivers continued to show up and serve their clients, and she
asked the committee to support approving hazard pay for these
caregivers.
4:05:47 PM
JANET JOHNSON, representing self, testified in support of HB 292
and shared her 22 years of experience navigating the care system
for her daughter, Rose, who has multiple disabilities. She
expressed how challenging it was to receive even the most basic
care for Rose and that she often had to care for her completely
alone. She spoke of the difficulty in finding respite help due
to the limited hours for which her daughter was approved. One
of the ultimate goals for her family and others caring for
someone with disabilities was to get off the waitlist for more
hours, which she said they finally achieved, but were then met
with a complete lack of caregivers. She shared that in the
absence of a professional caregiver through the state, her son,
Sam, provided years of unpaid assistance. She emphasized her
exhaustion from working two jobs to make ends meet and the
stress of providing care for Rose. She had heard that family
members could be paid to provide care and opined that obtaining
that funding was harder than it should be. She expressed her
difficulty with the regulations around payment for in-family
care and with finding concrete answers through the process.
Eventually, she said, she ended up speaking to the judge who had
helped establish guardianship of Rose and he was able to add
payment for her son to the paperwork, but she lamented that the
process also took a couple years. She expressed her gratitude
for the pay but reported that it was at $13 an hour and Sam
could get paid for only part of his caregiving time and under
very restrictive circumstances. She said that when her daughter
was able to finally find an appropriate group care home the
facility was unable to find caregivers to provide her services.
She explained that her daughter was now living in Anchorage,
Alaska, which was Rose's dream, but even with a lot of creative
support, she was unsure how much longer it would be sustainable,
and worried that she would be unable to live on the $13 an hour
if Rose had to return home for care. She opined that HB 292 was
a small but important step toward getting more people the help
they need.
4:12:53 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER asked Ms. Johnson to share any additional
details she had on the reduction of hours her family
experienced.
MS. JOHNSON described the allotment of respite hours as "use
them or lose them" but that it was always a fight to find anyone
available. She explained how low staffing in her daughter's
current group home made it hard for the home to meet
requirements, like taking Rose to her doctor's appointments.
4:16:02 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER thanked Ms. Johnson for her testimony.
4:16:25 PM
JUDITH JESSEN, representing self, testified in support of HB 292
in her capacity as a former caregiver, but spoke first about her
experiences growing up in and around assisted living facilities
due to her father's job as a caregiver. She recounted many
personal stories that highlighted her desire to become a
caregiver from a young age. She shared that she was hired as a
caregiver directly out of high school with a plan to work full
time to save money to go to school for human services and
further her caregiving career. However, she stated that
although she repeatedly heard about need for care, she struggled
to find a full-time schedule. She stated that she was
eventually able to find a full-time position with her "dream
client" and described the close personal relationship that she
built with that client. She said that "everything was perfect
except the hours of care changed all the time," leaving her in a
position where she was unable to pay her bills or tuition. In
order to keep working as a caregiver, she shared, she had to
pick up multiple other jobs and worked an average of 100 hours a
week. She expressed that this continued until she was about to
turn 26 and was faced with the upcoming additional cost of
paying for her own insurance. She shared that trying to balance
giving quality care, making enough money to live, and attending
to her personal and familial life became too overwhelming and
she had to make a "devastating decision to leave the
profession." She stated that she currently worked for the
caregiver's union to help make the situation better for
caregivers and their clients. She had considered returning to
caregiving now that she was married, but the pay and instability
of hours remained a barrier. She expressed that being unable to
be a caregiver was "the regret of my lifetime." She reiterated
her strong support for HB 292, stating that the spending for
hazard pay and prevention of hour cuts it included would be a
big step towards making it easier for caregivers to do the jobs
they love.
4:23:03 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY opened public testimony on HB 292.
4:23:26 PM
LAURA BONNER, representing self, testified in support of HB 292,
sharing that she was the primary caregiver for her daughter who
has received disability services to assist with her care. She
said that many of the caregivers did very well in their jobs;
however, the pay had not increased for those positions very much
over the years and so the turnover rate was very high. She
emphasized the importance of retaining well-trained caregivers
as there can be serious harm done if a caregiver does not
recognize triggers within their clients. She voiced support for
providing better stability for the caregiving profession and
mentioned several specific parts of the bill that she supported,
including changes to notification and the terms for
discontinuation of service. She emphasized that HB 292 would
help allow her daughter to receive the services that keep her
healthy and safe.
4:25:39 PM
ROSE JOHNSON, representing self, testified in support of HB 292.
She compared her experience with caregiver availability to being
on a rollercoaster. She explained that because of the lack
caregivers in Alaska, her brother has been her primary caregiver
for most of her life, but she expressed that she didn't want him
to have to do that forever. She shared her desire to go to
concerts and "be a popstar" and told the committee that she
wanted a caregiver who was fun and could support her goals. She
expressed her belief that the bill would help people like her
live their dreams.
4:31:12 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY, after ascertaining there was no one else who
wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 292.
4:31:20 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that HB 292 would be held over.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 292, LOS received since 3.10.22.pdf |
HHSS 3/10/2022 3:00:00 PM |
HB 292 |
| CSHB 297 Amendments and Actions.pdf |
HHSS 3/10/2022 3:00:00 PM |
HB 297 |
| CSHB 265 Amendments and Actions.pdf |
HHSS 3/10/2022 3:00:00 PM |
HB 265 |