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.