Bill > SF530

Introduced Session

This bill includes measures to support direct care services and the direct care workforce. DIVISION I. Division I of the bill includes provisions relating to support of the direct care workforce. Beginning January 1, 2027, and each odd-numbered year thereafter, Iowa workforce development shall replicate the survey entitled “Direct Care Workers of Iowa 2019 Wage & Benefit Survey”, released in June 2019, to survey wages and benefits for direct care workers, and publish the results of the survey on Iowa workforce development’s internet site no later than December 15. The bill requires the department of health and human services (HHS) to review the funding appropriated for the fiscal period beginning July 1, 2023, and ending June 30, 2025, for rebasing of case-mix nursing facilities to identify how the additional funding was utilized, and the extent to which direct care worker wages were increased as a result of the additional funding. HHS must report initial and final findings and recommendations to the governor and the general assembly. HHS is also required to review the outcomes of initiatives funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act to support the health care workforce and report findings and recommendations to the governor and the general assembly by December 15, 2025. DIVISION II. Division II of the bill requires Medicaid providers to comply with direct care worker minimum wage requirements. The bill provides that notwithstanding Code section 91D.1 (minimum wage requirements —— exceptions), the state hourly wage for an employee employed as a direct care worker, as defined in the bill, by a Medicaid provider shall be at least $15.00 beginning July 1, 2026, and the minimum shall increase by $1.00 per year to at least $20.00 beginning July 1, 2031. The bill does not authorize a Medicaid provider who is paying a direct care worker an hourly wage above the required minimum to decrease the direct care worker’s current hourly wage. On or after July 1, 2032, this state hourly wage shall be increased by a cost-of-living adjustment amount as determined by applying the percent change in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, United States city average, as published annually in October in the federal register by the federal department of labor, bureau of labor statistics. This division of the bill takes effect upon the effective date of an increased appropriation to HHS for the Medicaid program to provide a reimbursement rate increase to Medicaid providers who are subject to payment of the required minimum wage for direct care workers in an amount that offsets the increase in the required minimum wage paid by such Medicaid providers.

AI Summary

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Claire Celsi (D)*, 

Subcommittee: Driscoll, Alons, and Donahue. (on 03/11/2025)

Official Document