The Georgia General Assembly passed the SFY 2025 budget. The SFY 2025 Budget contains funds to fully implement the reimbursement rates recommended in the Independent Care Waiver Program (ICWP) and Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP) provider rate studies completed last year.
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![]() A recent article published in HealthAffairs emphasized how the COVID-19 pandemic strained the already fragile direct care workforce, which led to closures of vital home and community-based services (HCBS) providers and placed additional burdens on family caregivers. The federal government deployed short-term funding and flexibility through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to stabilize the workforce, resulting in improved wages and workforce initiatives. However, these gains are now in jeopardy as the enhanced federal funds are depleted. To address this, policymakers must act swiftly to preserve recent progress and enhance workforce stabilization efforts. Insights from interviews and focus groups across states underscore the need for higher wages, improved training and support systems, and meaningful worker engagement in program development. National Home Care Advocacy Day is next week, and plans are being finalized to make each HCAOA member’s visit memorable. Meetings with legislators are scheduled, and plans are set for the Welcome Reception on April 16 at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, HCAOA’s federal lobby firm. On April 17, a Breakfast Brief will be held in the Rayburn House Office Building Room 2325, followed by meetings with your members of Congress.
Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed several workplace protection bills, including the Employee Free Choice Act (SB 5778), making Washington the sixth state to bar employers from disciplining or terminating employees who decline to attend "captive audience" meetings, often used to undermine union activities. Another notable bill (HB 1905) expands pay equity investigations by allowing the Department of Labor & Industries to probe discrimination claims based on age, race, disability, and other protected classes, previously limited to gender-based claims. Inslee also approved SB 5793, which enhances the state's paid sick leave law, broadening its scope to include caring for non-traditional family members such as roommates and close relationships and enabling paid sick leave if a child’s school or daycare is closed due to emergency declarations made by local, state, or federal government.
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