2023-06-13 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities
2023-06-13 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - The joint committee on children and families we're gonna hear substance legislation. My name is Jay Livingston. I'm the house chair, and I'm joined today by Robin Kennedy, the senate co chair. And as we look forward in a post hopefully, a post pandemic Commonwealth, the human service crisis is is really 1 of the most pressing issues, which is why We agreed to have this170 hearing first to cover the bills regarding the workforce. I wanna thank my senate, cochair, committee staff, Carl Richardson, who's here who's here for making this hearing incredibly accessible with KART and ASL interpreters so that everyone here can testify and and participate. We we really try to set the gold standard for accessibility with this committee. Today is a hybrid199 hearing. So some people are gonna be here by testifying in person, some by Zoom, If you need a a link to the Zoom, please contact staff, and that was in the notice that we sent.
If you signed up to testify prior to this morning. I'm gonna call your name in the order of that it was received regarding each bill.
If you've signed up this morning, we're gonna try to fit you in as time permits. We're gonna limit person233 to 3 minutes. So regardless of how many bills you've signed up for, you237 have 3 minutes to testify regarding them. Each panel is gonna be 6 minutes to There's a clock on the screen, and we're gonna try to strongly enforce that. Over 50 people have signed up today, and there's another hearing in this room at250 1 PM, and so we're we're gonna try to move this as as quickly as possible.
and I'm gonna rotate for in person here, test a pony, then virtual, and then for the next bill, going the other way. If you have any questions, it is a director of LIS here.
My staff is here Shaina, Lisa, and some others outside. And we're also joined today by as I said, my senate co chair, Robbie Kennedy, Vice Chair, Jessica Jimino, and another member of the committee, Natalie Higgins. And with that, I'll turn it over to from Kennady down if she wanted to make any remarks.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you, Mister chairman, and I with the amount of work and and folks to testify we have ahead of us, I won't take too long. I'll certainly reiterate and echo. I do wanna acknowledge I learned upon coming in here that there was a a terrible accident this morning on 93 and and with as I understand, the loss of life. So wanna take a moment to acknowledge that and acknowledge the family and individuals involved and certainly thank my coach here. I know that we have a lot of work in the months ahead of us with this committee and both recognize that across the Commonwealth, across the workforces, we have big challenges to address. So With that, I will turn it back and say thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. And and with that, we're gonna start The first bill is house 145 senate 86, and the first panel is Kelly Turley, and Andrea Park, and I understand Andrea Park also sign up for house 211, senate 1112.
SPEAKER3 - Andrea's on this remote, but she won't prepare. I'm
SPEAKER1 - Okay. So you you go first, and then there's another person, Corey375 Spalding, who will be after Andrea Park.379 remote. So thank you.
KELLY TURLEY - MASSACHUSETTS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS - HB 145 - SB 86 - HB 211 - SB 1112 - Good morning. My name is Kelly Turley, I'm the Associate Director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the homeless, and I'm pleased to be here today to express the coalition's full support for House Bill 145, Senate Bill 86, an act improving emergency396 housing assistance for children and families experiencing homelessness as well as House Bill 211 and Senate Bill 1112, which would establish a bill of rights for people experiencing homelessness. Both of these are Bills that have been filed in the past, and we hope that they'll become law this session. The first Bill, which was filed by Senator Gomez and Rep Decker would address access in administrative issues for families that are seeking access to the state's rehousing program home base.
We know that families with children face many barriers in accessing shelter here in Massachusetts, even though Massachusetts is commonly thought to be a right to shelter state, we know that more than half of families that apply for shelter are turned away because they don't meet the very narrow criteria. But we know that among those families that are turned away, some of them actually are eligible. The executive office of housing448 and livable communities, the new state agency that oversees the family shelter system, formerly the Department of Housing and Community Development, their own data shows that many families are turned away, but we know that many more of those families are turned away without assistance that they need or they're delayed in getting placements, and this Bill would address some of those issues by making sure that families that appear to be eligible who haven't yet stayed in a place not meant for human habitation are able to access shelter the same day and then have additional time to provide requested483 documentation to establish ombudsman's person unit within the executive office. This is language489 that was actually passed by the legislature in the FY 22 budget, but never implemented by the previous executive office of Housing and Economic Development. The House version of the Bill would include language to make sure that families have their own place to stay while they're in shelter.
Last winter as we saw the number of families seek shelter increase, families were placed for the first time ever in511 barracks style shelters, which led to a lot of chaos, lack of dignity, and public health concerns. In addition, this Bill would make sure that if there are any future states of emergency, that families won't be unduly terminated from shelter or denied access. Then briefly, the Bill of rights is a Bill that has been filed for many sessions. It was filed this session by Senator Rausch, Rep Pignatelli, and Rep Frank Moran, and it would seek to extend anti discrimination protections for people544 experiencing homelessness to make546 sure that we aren't criminalizing people while they are unhoused to make sure that we're affirming as a state the right to move freely in public spaces to have confidentiality of records. I just want to say that we're seeing a tremendous number of people who are unhoused564 in Massachusetts with housing prices, and these two Bills in particular would help the state move forward to uphold the inequity. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Andrea Park?
Apparently, it's on Zoom.
Yep.
No. Okay. Corey Spaldy, who's also on Zoom.
No.
k. And then sorry, I missed somebody in person, Tim Skalona.
Next we have a637 panel of Kate or Arard and Cynthia.
and it's a new bill. That's house 147.
Okay.
Next, we have Mary O'Donnell.
Hello.
MARY O'DONNELL - MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL - HB 147 - My name is Mary O'Donnell, I'm a pediatric occupational therapist and an instructor of occupational therapy at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. I'm here to express my enthusiastic and urgent support of Bill H 147, an act providing immediate childcare assistance to homeless families. As you might know, this Bill would allow any child birth to three years of age who have entered shelters or who meet the McKinney Vento homelessness assistance act definition of homelessness to be automatically qualified for early intervention services through the Department of Public Health. Early intervention services is mandated by part C of IDEA, are intended to be family centered, health promoting, and free and accessible developmental services for children who have or are at risk of developing disabilities. Based on extensive existing literature of the effects of adverse childhood experiences on brain development, we know that children exposed to homelessness are at considerable risk of developing disabilities.
Children experiencing homelessness have double the rate of developmental delay compared to housed peers. We know that children 18 to 41 months old who have had just one emergency shelter stay are significantly more likely to experience mental health problems, development delays, behavioral challenges, and poor acquisition of pre academic skills. We also know from research that experiencing homelessness earlier in development increases the risk of negative health and developmental outcomes. This underscores the critical need for early and coordinated interventions to support the health and development of young children experiencing homelessness. Currently, children experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts do not automatically qualify for early intervention despite their known risk factors for developing lifelong impairments. As a pediatric occupational therapist working with children and families during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, I witnessed firsthand the challenges that many families faced, hoping with changes to service delivery while trying to support children with disabilities or behavioral challenges.
I learned from families at our clinic and from experts in the field that these families experiencing homelessness face these challenges long before the Covid-19 pandemic. These families due to policies and programs that807 do not adequately meet their needs809 are not accessing federally mandated programming that they are eligible for and that could support the whole family. Early intervention clinicians don't just treat delays in children, they support the whole family in understanding their child's development, they educate caregivers on how to play with their children, and they connect families with resources to prevent challenges from exacerbating. Left unchecked, these children end up in831 our school systems and medical facilities with833 problems that could have been mitigated at much835 younger age. The current early intervention operational standards in Massachusetts are not adequately meeting the needs of children and families experiencing homelessness, and the categorical eligibility outlined in this Bill would ensure that these children and families have accesses to the services they need and deserve. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
SEN KENNEDY - I have quite a860 broad question, but I'll ask specifically to your clinic. Do you have a sense of what you would need in staffing capacity to meet the current demand867 you have for EI services? In addition, maybe any projections you might be able to offer for what this would look like if it were to be implemented.
O'DONNELL - So I don't work in an early intervention clinic, I work in an outpatient clinic, and what we found was that families who should have been accessing early intervention services throughout the pandemic were actually coming to that outpatient clinics because they weren't able to access early intervention throughout the pandemic. So these children that were under the age of894 three were sort of coming more and more to outpatient services. We don't think that this will significantly, like, place a burden on early intervention programs, it will more so be restructuring how we're providing early intervention within shelters and temporary residences. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you.
The next bill is house 153, Senate 120, and Lynn Dadzevo
who's also signed up for house 171 and senate 83.
Oh, and she signed up on Zoom.
First name is Lynn.
Next for this bill is Rachel
Help me?
Sorry if I put your your name.
RACHEL GWALTNEY - CHILDREN'S LEAGUE OF MASSACHUSETTS - HB 153 - SB 120 - Good morning, Chair Livingston and Chair Kennedy and committee members. Thank you985 for this opportunity to testify today. My name is Rachel Gwaltney,988 I'm the Executive Director of the Children's League990 of Massachusetts. CLM is a statewide association of 58 member organizations994 who are providers and advocates of child and family services across the commonwealth. I'm here to testify in support of an act to eliminate disproportionality and inequities for at risk children, S 120, H 153. This legislation will require child serving agencies to not only collect and report data that illuminates disproportionate representation of youth from racial, ethnic, and other identity categories, but also requires state agencies take corrective action to1019 target and dismantle the persistent racial, and intersectional inequities in state systems.
This Bill assigns the office of the child advocate to coordinate reporting and corrective action planning because the OCA is well positioned to take a wide angle view of the data and to hold accountable child serving agencies. The OCA can also bring together stakeholders and experts who work directly with children and families to support these efforts. Decades of research has proven that nationally disparities occur at every decision making point in the child welfare process from protected intakes to out of home placements to exiting out of state care. As illustrated by the FY 22 DCF annual report, children1054 of color are reported to DCF at1056 twice the rates of white children and are more than twice as likely to have open DCF cases and experience out of home placements. Similarly, DYS FY 22 data shows that youth color represent 83% of the detained population while making up only 36% of the general child population in Massachusetts.
Similar disparities exist for youth who identifies as LGBTQIA plus and other youth whom DCF1078 identifies as high needs such as those who are economically disadvantaged, English language learners and students with a disability. While DCF is one agency that has made progress in using data to unpack these issues, children and families are rarely served by just one agency. Despite some efforts in a few places, the Commonwealth is missing opportunities to use data across child survey agencies not only to identify these serious disparities, but then to do the hard work to dismantle the disproportionately poor outcomes for specific demographic groups of children. Child welfare safety and well-being is a complex issue that crosses multiple public service sectors. Without complete and comparable information, we cannot address the disproportionate treatment of families based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability status, and economic status. CLM and our members believe this Bill is a for important change, and we ask the committee to report it favorably. So thank you for this opportunity. I'm happy to answer any questions, and we will also submit written testimony with additional details and endorsements from our members. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Thank you. I have no questions. Do you have any questions? Is anyone? Thank you.
Also before this hearing is h152
we understand no 1 has signed up for that. And h -- Yeah. -- 154.
Next, we're gonna hear a testimony on h 171 in senate 83. First Catherine Johnson.
CATHERINE JOHNSON - DDS - HB 171 - SB 83 - Morning, Senator Kennedy, Representative Livingstone, and members of committee. I'm here to express my strong support for Bill H 171 S 83. My name is Catherine Johnson, and I've worked in the field of disability services for 29 years and I believe this legislation is crucial to address our workforce crisis that we're experiencing right now and also to ensure fair rates for workers who are servicing adults with disabilities under DDS. The current rates are inadequate, organizations like the one I work for, Nashoba Learning group face unsustainable losses every single year. The impossibility of making ends meet for services like this means that thousands of adults1226 go without these proper services because organizations like ours simply can't afford to provide more of it. Workers in this field have demanding schedules, they have physically challenging tasks and these jobs require extensive specialized training much of it state mandated.
Yet, the amounts that they are able to be paid are similar to and sometimes less than other positions that are entry level, that require no special skill skill set and that are often done by teenagers, by high school students, like working in a fast food restaurant. So this wage disparity obviously is hampering our ability to higher skilled workers and it's also hampering our ability to hire unskilled people who are just willing to be trained.1286 This1288 Bill is a step towards rectifying this unfair situation and I think that by increasing the rates of payment, we can begin to alleviate this workforce crisis that we're experiencing so that service organizations can provide adults with disabilities the care that they need and that they deserve and still operate in the black. I respectfully request your support for Bill, H 171 and S 83 and thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
SPEAKER8 - Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - I have no questions, Susan. Thank you. And also I'd like to acknowledge that
members are allowed to participate virtually as well, and member Alyssa Sullivan is participating virtually.
The next person is Elizabeth Martino.
Sure. Oh, also, I
A lot of people signed up today, and so many members who would have testified
had are deciding to submit written testimony to make sure that the public can testify and representatives garbly and Ronaldo would have testified but or they wanna make sure everyone else has a chance to testify. The next person is Mona Roy.
And
I guess
Senator Moran would have testified on house 153 senate 120.
MONA ROY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning, respective1396 legislators. Thank you for your time today. My name is Mona Roy, and I'm here to testify in favor of H 171. I'm here testifying in my role as a parent of an adult son with autism. My son, Alok, is a barely verbal young man with profound autism and a boatload of other developmental and medical issues who struggles to follow verbal instructions and can ease significant support. He's been followed by DDS since he was 7. He became a residential student at the May Institute for autism at the age of 14, and when he turned 22, moved into a group home. In other words, the system has known about him and his significant needs for decades. While he was at the May Institute, he received academics and vocational training and earn money doing benefit packets for an insurance company. Even during the shutdown, he was identified as someone who could not go without services. and thus received ABA services at his residence, and he1449 did make progress. When he turned 22, the May wished him happy birthday1453 and said, congratulations, that's when his life took a dark turn.
We were always told that a 22 Alok would have a program with intellectual and service engagement instead, he moved into a group home with three nonverbal individuals where he sits inside all day long with little activity, engagement, or purpose basically waiting to die. Due to the workforce shortage, there's no one to take him out into the community. Today, he also probably will not see daylight or breathe fresh air because I'm here testifying. We try our best to find outside activities, hire staff, tutors, we bring him home to give him some semblance that he's more alive than dad, we try to mitigate his misery with our money. Meanwhile, instead of being a practicing attorney, I now spend my time finding him activities or giving him1502 company. It seems crazy that very few people are upset that parents, usually, the moms are leaving the workforce in record numbers to take care of their disabled children. If only for the lost tax revenue, never mind our sanity and self respect. That's not sustainable and if these systems are not fixed, I'm sure something tragic will happen.
I myself and any of our visit on Friday, it's odd that the system until age 22 trained him to be a functioning member of society and now the same system sits by with underfunded programs watching that progress evaporate. It's now been1542 months and he keeps saying, congratulations, it's canceled because in his experience, congratulations is a dirty word for get lost1550 and he is almost lost to us. He's slowly withdrawing, getting used to a world where he sits in his room, homes alone, with a life with no purpose, seemingly waiting to die. But I can't let that happen even if I die trying, I will continue to try and give him what he needs, but I cannot do it alone. Please pass this legislation, I respectfully1573 request that you think1575 of Alok at Andrew and so many other kids who are now adults who deserve to be part of society. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
SPEAKER10 - Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you.
Another legislator who would have testified wanted to be acknowledged, Schminupik Nitelli would have testified on house 211 senate 1112.
The next panel is Mora Sullivan, Melissa Doroche, and Christine Hubbard.
Wait. 6 minutes.
MAURA SULLIVAN - THE ARC OF MASSACHUSETTS - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning, Chair1627 Livingstone, Chair Kennedy, and members of the joint committee. Thank you for the opportunity to share my deep concerns about the workforce shortage crisis. Specifically, I am supporting H 171 S 83. For the record, my name is Mara Sullivan, I am the director of government affairs and health policy for the Arc of Massachusetts. and1649 I represent advocates for autism. Today, my most important1653 voice, though, is being mom1655 of two sons with profound autism. They are young adults now who bring me indescribable joy, but immense worry as they have such significant challenges and need lifelong supports. Lawmakers, we face a terrible inequity, thousands of individuals that have the most complex conditions do1680 not have access to services due to the workforce crisis that has now become a systemic failure. Adults with disabilities are isolated, clinically regressing, and families are emotionally and financially broken.
How can this continue here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? I also have a daughter who works daily to support people with autism, she comes home on concussion watches with bruises. It's an incredibly challenging career, and it's time to value the work. As an aging caregiver who understands the safety net system, I live in fear for the future of my sons and how will my daughter manage? The focus of my job has been to turn the tide on this crisis, and I am certain that increasing the rate of pay is foundational to that. If we care, if you care, we must break the bias that allows society to look the other way. So please stand with our community and pass this Bill favorably. It's an honor to come before you.
MELISSA DUPREY - UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH - HB 171 - SB 83 - Hello. My name is Melissa Duprey, I'm the assistant professor of nursing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and I'm a board member of the livestream disability services organization from New1776 Bedford, however, my opinions here today are my own. Thank you committee members for listening today in support of H 171 and Senate 83. My recent research has focused on factors that influence direct support professionals' resilience and retention. I've spoken with dozens of direct support professionals across the Commonwealth in the past year. Research finding support that low wages are indeed a primary contributor to this workforce shortage crisis.1808 Direct support professionals,1810 as you have already heard today, report that they make more money working at McDonald's, Home Depot, jobs that are far less demanding.
Many direct support professionals that I spoke with described how they simply could not afford to do this work anymore despite wanting to because of the low pay. Direct support professionals have accountability1834 and responsibility for skills that are largely within the realm of nursing and health care. The low compensation for direct support professionals is not in line with the value of their work and is demoralizing. They cannot afford basic necessities yet they watch as the people they serve have their everyday needs met. In my own neighborhood in Freetown, a homeless direct support professional was living in her car on my street as she worked full time plus overtime at a beautiful DDS funded home. This direct support professional could not afford a place to live, I contacted the provider agency president for the group home, but his hands were tied because of the funding level set by the state. It is time to pay direct support professionals a wage that can be measured with the value of the service that they provide. Thank you.
CHRISTINE HUBBARD - AUTISM ALLIANCE - HB 171 - SB 83 - My name is Christine Hubbard, I live in Natick. I serve on the board of directors of two community providers of developmental services and on the executive committee of advocates for autism of Massachusetts, which is a grassroots advocacy coalition. I also am AFAM's rep to1918 the Commonwealth autism Commission and1920 Chair the subcommittee on adults of the commission. But this morning, I'm talking to you as mom and legal guardian to my Ned, who's 36 and supported in a group home in Westborough and attends a day program in Northborough. Ned has severe autism with limited verbal abilities, he is served by a wonderful direct care staff both at his home and at his day hub program.
Prior to the pandemic, Ned was served by different staff and his residents from the staff of the day hub and attended the day hub for six hours each weekday. While we were extremely grateful that the day hub has resumed operation five hours per weekday, its workforce has not yet come back. The staff that they have now largely consists of individuals from the residential staff with many of these dedicated workers working large amounts of overtime every week. Obviously, this is very expensive for the agency and exhausting for these DSPs. The problem is particularly acute in the Metro West Central Mass area where Ned is served because of the high cost of housing. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank thank you.
SPEAKER10 - Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you. The next panel is Alio Sarkisian and Lori Maderis, and we're also joined the ranking Republican member, representative perfume, and online representative Mendes.
SPEAKER15 - You wanna talk to her?
SPEAKER1 - You
SPEAKER15 - wanna talk to her? She wanted to yeah. Go ahead.
SPEAKER16 - Hi.
LEO SARKISSIAN - THE ARC OF MASSACHUSETTS - HB 171 - SB 83 - Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy, it's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you for this opportunity to testify. I'm Leo Sarkissian with the Arc of Massachusetts. With me is Laurie Madero, she is not only an active family leader, but she's also on board of Mass families and here to speak with me both as a family member and representative as well. We strongly support House Bill 171 and Senate Bill 83. The Arc is a leading advocacy organization for people with intellectual and abdominal disabilities, including autism, and their families feel strongly that time has come. We're reaching out to the legislature because the times come for that too. Historically, the administration sets the Chapter 257 rates, they also set the rates for Mass Health. We decided a few years ago, it's important to address not only the Department of family Services programs, but also Mass Health rehabilitation2081 with so many people attend that have developmental, intellectual disabilities.
So the reason we believe and the the core of the Bill is 75th percentile for benchmarks for those members and staff, we've been sharing the FOIA on how the state assigns the race. If you look at the FOIA, it's very clear that the benchmarks you know, as recently a few years ago, was $15.52 an hour for direct care staff in our field at a time when everyone had agreed, we should be going to $15 for minimum wage that speaks for itself. Why 75 percentile? These are2118 perspective rates, they're two years out. So, of course, if you pick 50 or 53,2122 you know, you you're gonna be behind the 8 ball, okay? The second reason is these are blended rates. So whether it's the direct tier 1 or direct tier 3, which is a frontline manager, whether you work one year or 10 years, you're at that blended rate. So obviously, just because you have that rate marking, doesn't mean it solves the whole problem, right?
You're going to be distributing that blended rate based on tenure and things like that. Unless you have such a big fund balance, that you're somehow gonna pay for 70% of your cost or 68% of your cost with private money, which we know doesn't happen. The second core issue is fringe benefits in the Bill and that's vital because right now, it's projected to be 25.39% to benchmark effective July 1st but only a few years ago again was at 22.4%. Well, we'd like the mark to be close to the health and education sectors, why? Because they tend to recruit the staff but you get my point, right? And if we're not at least at 30%, you know, that's a problem, okay? Because people have to live, they have to get health insurance, it's nice to have a little bit of a retirement contribution, and you're able to do that. So I just wanted to focus on those key things, we came to you because we have to,2196 we're in a crisis. Forbes, and2198 US News and World reports says we're either number three or six in the nation on cost of living. You know that better than me, you're dealing with all kinds of the homelessness issue, so many issues. So I want to thank you for giving us opportunity. Thank you.
LAURIE MADEROS - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning, everyone, and thank you very much. My name is Laurie Maderos, I'm here to talk about my 30 year old daughter with considerable life long support needs. She's born with multiple anomalies, including intellectual, deficits in her heart and a GI, she impacted with her vision, her hearing, orthopedically, and has extremely low muscle tone. She's on a plethora of medications including a daily lubenox injection of blood thinner. At the age of 17, Ashley developed a condition called rapid developmental regression, NOS, where she lost about2249 eight to 10 years of skills over a period of about two years. The results are that she now wears depends, she needs assistance, toileting, showering, brushing her teeth, and has impoverished sweet patterns. She has a diminished frustration tolerance and inability to shift and get stuck in dysregulation events that happened four to five times a day, sometimes lasting up to an hour. Without antecedence of provocation, she just slips away, she shouts and screams and hits herself on the head, and on the knees and the legs, leaving bruises on her wrists on both hands. She used to go to a day program, and it was a small2292 one that really worked for her.
She went shopping and2295 cooking for projects, she hadn't used it with a room full of instruments. She volunteered for meals2301 on wheels when most back riding had dance parties, however, that program closed during Covid and she has been without2310 any program or any socialization since March 9th 2022. Her program permanently closed because they couldn't entice staff to come back with the rate of pay that was there. So Ashley, like thousands of others now are home alone with nothing to do and no socialization. She's become clinically depressed, and after a 80 mile round trip through a psychopharmacologic recently, she had to put her on yet another medication and antidepressant, because she's so lonely and so isolated. If we're truly going to address the workforce issue, you have got to put some wheels on the bus. No one can drive the bus without wheels, you can't expect anybody to do that. This is a conundrum that can be solved, but it's going to need you to help solve that. In closing, Benjamin Franklin once said that lost time is never found again. I'm 60, my husband's 65, and I have peers in my same situation who are 75 and 85. How much time do you think we have to wait out the crisis? SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Do you have any
SPEAKER15 - questions? Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thanks. And also representative Labouf has joined online and we're joined by a representative Chant. The next person testifying is Cynthia McKinnon McKinley. McKinley?
The next 1 is Citi.
Thank you
JUDITH URSITTI - COUNCIL OF AUTISM SERVICE PROVIDERS - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning, Mr. Chair. My name is Judith Ursitti, I am vice president of Government Affairs for the Council of autism service providers. We're a non profit 5012447 C6 professional association started by some organizations right here in Massachusetts. Milpark, New England Center for Children, we have member organizations here today, Amigo, Nashoba Learning group, all who serve people who have various abilities, including profound autism. As an aside, I have a son who has profound autism who was served by Nashoba Learning Group and recently, my family founded a private foundation called the Profound autism Alliance. The reason we did that is because one in four of the you hear about who have autism spectrum disorder have what's called profound autism and I'm not sure if you've heard, but recently the CDC actually did research on this particular population, and they're really unseen frequently as you've heard, and you will hear with testimony today, they're isolated, their caregivers are stressed, their siblings, their communities are doing the best they can, but they are in a dire situation.
So we started profound autism alliance to try to help this population. The research that I mentioned from the CDC found that one out of every four people who have autism fall within that profound category. Their life expectancies are shorter, because of the lack of health services and connections that they have. They suffer from seizures, they struggle to sleep, they struggle to eat, it is a dire situation. When I was coming here today, I was thinking about what I could tell you that would compel you to prioritize this population. You will hear so many stories about so many issues during these hearings and during the legislative session but I beg you, this population is frequently at the back of the line. On behalf of my son, Jack and all the people who fall within this category, I've been doing this2572 a very long time. I worked on passing the autism insurance law right here in Massachusetts many, many years ago, but times are so hard, we need champions. We need you not only to pass this2588 legislation, but champion it, see it through and support those who provide the services to this population. Thank you so much for your attention. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
Thank you.
Maria Blawson.
Avadon Roy.
PAULA ROY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Respected legislators, thank you for your time. My name is Paula Roy, and I'm here to testify in favor of H 171 S 83. I am my brother's future guardian, and my brother has severe autism. What does it mean to be disabled? Some say it means having a mental or physical condition, I would argue it's the bounds of our society and our failure to help certain individuals that defines disability. Time and time, again, systems have failed those with autism and other profound disabilities. My brother, who is 22 years old is living proof of what happened when we don't see the humanity nowadays. Because he is hardly verbal, most will not acknowledge how much pain my brother is in, where mostly he sits in front of a TV with hardly any social interactions.
When will people with autism be seen as human beings? We treat people with autism like they are pets, giving them food and shelter, and perhaps a chew toy. Although unlike my brother, even dogs are walked twice a day, he needs his own peer group and a day program where he will have structured activities and work towards purpose. I don't understand how he went from working for an insurance company six months ago to sitting in his room humming along all day. When my mom and I visited day programs, where he's wait listed, they said they can't provide day services to their clients because of the staffing crisis. So even in a day program, he will likely be in a room all day long, but at least he will have all these. As his brother and future2721 guardian, I see that his once meaningful future is so bleak, it's hard for families to go on.
My brother is a person, not a budget line item, but a real person. While he has autism and he's intellectually disabled, in other ways, he is very smart. Like, when he resets all my mom's subscription passwords, he likes music, drawing, Bollywood movies, as well as Boston sports radio, ESPN, red sox, etcetera. I said earlier that the systems have failed him, but who controls the systems, who decided that at age 22, disabled folks magically need no more education and far less support? Who thought it was okay to offer less wage to people who are supposed to support my brother? People would keep blaming the pandemic, but I blame my willingness pre pandemic to underfund motives so that when a crisis hits they were sure to collapse. We can't change in the past, but we can't start to mitigate the damage to my brother and others and at least to invite but I future adults by passing this Bill. Thank you for your time and attention. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony.
Cynthia Reid?
CYNTHIA REID - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning. I'm Cynthia Reid, the parent of a 31 year old adult with disabilities who participates in programming at the Nashoba Learning Group. The need to increase wages for workers at NLG and their peer agencies is critical. The difficulty in attracting and retaining staff post Covid to work with my son has limited his opportunities to return to the community activities. In addition to my son's profound autism, he is device dependent for his communication. His most critical medical comorbidity is seizure disorder, he lives at home where he is always within2840 our sight line to monitor his status for seizures.2843 His time at NLG requires that staff are trained not only to support his behavioral and communication needs, but also to recognize precursor signs and to respond in the case of a seizure. That level of situational awareness anticipation of a change in his status, calm approach in an emergency, and ability to be supportive and kind to my son throughout an episode is remarkable. The current wage rates the state sets for his staff are not commensurate with these daily expectations.
H 171 S 83 takes a step in the right direction. to increase salaries which should help to attract and retain more workers to this field. Less staff turnover means a higher likelihood that the staff with my son are actually prepared to respond effectively to his potential seizures or behavioral outbursts. This committee is aware of the economic data regarding salaries. I would like to add to the committee's understanding about the market rates. For a few hours per week that my son may need coverage outside of NLG hours and family coverage, hiring someone who can manage his potential behavioral and medical episodes that may occur means paying between $30 and $40 an hour. Nashoba learning group provides critical support to my son whose day activities. He is happiest and healthiest when he's engaged, productive, and able to be in the community with people he knows and most importantly who know and understand him. His hours at NLG provide peace of mind for our family that he will actually be safe if a behavioral or medical crisis develops. Please help NLG and other agencies which employ workers supporting people with disabilities to reduce their critical worker shortage by passing these bills and moving wages to rates which will attract and retain caring employees. Thank you on behalf of my nonverbal son. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
in our human mind.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
Maureen Callahan.
Marion Cabana.
Then we're gonna switch to people virtually
COVID-nineteen.
SPEAKER20 - Yeah.
Yes.
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SPEAKER1 - 4
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SPEAKER1 - Yeah.
SPEAKER20 - Hang on.
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SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you for testifying and sharing your story. Must be very difficult.
Next is Samantha Carrel.
SPEAKER21 - Also Hi. Hi. Can you hear me okay?
SPEAKER1 - Yes.
SPEAKER21 - Okay. Great.
SAMANTHA CARROLL - NASHOBA LEARNING GROUP - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good afternoon. My name is Sam Carroll, I'm the program director for Nashoba Learning Group's Adult Program. This program is a nonprofit organization that's dedicated to providing comprehensive, individualized education, and life skills training to individuals with autism. I stand before you today to express our unequivocal support for Bill H 171, S 83, an act relative to rates for workers providing supports and services for individuals with disabilities. Our mission at NLG is to empower individuals with autism to achieve their full potential. This might seem like a simple statement, but on a daily basis our staff most days need to be superheroes. Our staff need to have the complex skills necessary to respond and implement procedures to help our members acquire essential communication skills to get their needs met, learn de escalation strategies when they're overstimulated, learn important skills such as safety, nutrition, money management, hygiene, exercise, and just even things that we take for granted like knowing about your human rights. Our staff work to reduce serious maladaptive behaviors, aggression, property destruction, self injurious behavior, stereotomy, elopement, inappropriate sexual behaviors, and that's just naming a few.
These behaviors can be physically harmful to themselves or others socially stigmatizing and interfere with their ability to access meaningful activities3383 within their communities. Our staff need to be able to multitask, make judgment calls, remain neutral during periods of intense agitation, respond appropriately when someone is hurting themselves or attempting to hurt others and much more. However, the current compensation rates for workers providing these essential services are inadequate. This has led to a workforce crisis, making it increasingly difficult to attract and retain the skilled3413 professionals that we need to fulfill our mission. In3417 the fiscal year 2022 alone,3419 the adult program has experienced significant hardships in funding with a loss of over $1,400,000 as a direct result of deficits and funding to support our members' needs and our workforce. Despite the support of 393434 cosponsors, we were unable to secure the necessary funding to3438 offset this loss. This financial strain that we continue to face year after year directly impacts our ability to provide quality services for one of our most vulnerable populations. The current rates for workers are not sufficient to meet the growing demand for services and we're currently in a workforce crisis because of it. We're deeply grateful today that this Bill is up for discussion, we strongly urge the committee to support this Bill. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
While I have a few3470 extra seconds, my president Liz Martin was also here to speak. She missed being called, but if she could be called up now, that would be great. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Sure.
SPEAKER1 - Sure.
Sure. Alright. We we're we've had a a ton of people sign up today is we're trying to get through this as fast as possible. People who missed generally, we get called at the very end. Sure.
SPEAKER21 - Okay. Sorry about that.
LIZ MARTINEAU - NASHOBA LEARNING GROUP - HB 171 - SB 83 - Thanks, Sam, I appreciate it. I will be quick because3506 we've heard from all these people all associated with Nashoba Learning group what the dire need is. As Sam pointed out, and I started the adult program 10 years ago in a school 10 years before that, because our profound autism population is not getting the services they need. We're determined3525 to provide them, and so I am heartbroken by the stories of people who have missed out on programmed. We made the economically irrational decision to continue our program and support our adult, even though we've been slow to bring in our new graduates and we can't grow, but we were determined to support the adults because of what happens to them if they don't get the support they need. So, we went out on a limb, we had to keep raising our salaries3552 to try to solve our crisis in3554 workforce. We finally did, it's a rate of about $26 per hour, but people don't just work the build hours.
So, in order to pay them what they need, we have to account for benefits and PTO, and the fact they need training, you know, they spend an extra hour each day that's not billable when members aren't there and that would translate to a rate of $39 per billable hour.3577 We work hard to keep rates at our pay as low as possible, but these people do very hard work, they're very good at it, we need them to stay. Our adult including my son,3589 build rapport with the staff and if the staff leave because they can't make their rent payment, and we just keep cycling through new staff, that is detrimental to the adult that we serve. So, I urge you to support this Bill and also to think about the inflation we're experiencing if we're now going to look at a year prior to rate setting and rates are for two years, we should build in an inflation factor so that we're not always a couple years behind and trying to catch on rates. So, thank you so much for letting me break in, and I appreciate it, and please support the Bill. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Next, we have Mary Michelle Wu.
MICHELLE WU - MAYOR OF BOSTON - HB 147 - Good morning, everyone. Thank you to, Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy for conducting this hearing and to community members for your leadership. I thank you to the room, I really apologize for stepping in, grateful to be taken out of turn to have a chance to speak on an issue that is so important to the city of Boston and one that is part of our very small legislative package because it directly impacts families that we see. I'm joined here by our senior adviser for children and families, Christopher Swain, who has been doing incredible work, including on this issue. We're here to testify in support of Bill H 147, an act providing immediate childcare assistance to homeless families filed by Representative Marjorie Decker. As you all know, Boston and the Commonwealth face an ongoing housing crisis that's displacing families every year. Boston is using every tool at our disposal to try and combat this crisis and make housing more affordable, keep families in their homes.
When families seek shelter, we work with those3702 families to connect them to new housing, jobs, and educational opportunities empowering them to remain in Boston.3708 This Bill will allow us to do that work more effectively for our families in greatest need of services. In an average year, there are approximately 600 young children in Boston's shelters, and currently, as a result of the administrative and procedural issues that come from a family needing shelter and requiring childcare, the process for that family to receive childcare vouchers takes approximately 30 days. In those 30 days, it's challenging, if not impossible, for families to fully devote their attention to finding housing work or educational opportunities as they are applying for the process to get the vouchers to be able to have child care to do all those things. In the city, we've been doing our best to backstop that wherever possible.
We partnered with congresswoman Pressley, we've used federal funding to try to where we can plug those holes one by one by one but it really and it calls out for a systemic fix. This legislation would ensure that children with families and shelters are immediately able to receive the care they deserve. Care that provides stability, healthy developmental experiences, and protective nurturing relationships for every child to thrive. Research shows that early intervention3777 is critical for a child's long-term3779 success, and taking early action3781 is especially important in instances where children have been exposed to3785 any kind of trauma. At the same3787 time, immediate childcare access creates crucial opportunities for parents3791 to dedicate their full energy and effort to getting their family back on the road to stability. Later today,3797 you'll hear testimony from Cynthia, a Boston mother who experienced a challenge of securing childcare in partnership with Horizon's for homeless children and who will share from her firsthand experience how impactful the changes proposed in this Bill would have been for her and will be for so many others.
The Bill also provides childcare vouchers for families who are receiving TAFTC and meet the McKinney Vento homelessness3821 assistance act definition of being unhoused. Given the scale of our housing prices, we see many instances where families unable to secure their own housing are forced to double up with family and friends, and they need to be counted as well. In Boston, there are approximately 1400 children under the age of five who are part of families that meet this standard of homelessness. Providing these families with childcare will ensure that young children have access to education and wraparound supports that further healthy development and ensure they're on track to starting school ready to learn. We also know that children exposed to trauma are more likely to experience developmental delays, this Bill would change early intervention eligibility, so any child ages zero to three living with family and shelter or who meets the McKinney Vento with definition of homelessness would be categorically eligible for early intervention services.
Boston is seeing a rise in the number of young people who require special education services starting at age three in our public school system. So, making early intervention available to young children who are3885 unhoused without barriers will help us better meet the needs of our students and3889 families and reduce the need for costly interventions later on in their educational careers. If this legislation passes, at the city level, we'll be able to use our current resources earlier and more effectively to meet the needs of our most vulnerable young children and prevent costly, damaging, and destabilizing outcomes for families who cross our city. This Bill will also streamline communication between shelters, childcare providers, and others who serve on house families closing gaps in the system and making it harder for3918 families in our communities to fall through those cracks. So, I want to thank the3922 many, many organizations that I'm3924 joining and advocating for the passage of this legislation and for all those fighting to improve the ways we serve our in-house families and their children. Boston is striving to be a city for everyone, first for families, for multigenerational families anywhere across the Country and this will be a very important step. Thank you.
CHRIS SWAIN - OFFICE OF THE MAYOR - HB 147 - Thank you, Chair Livingstone and Chair Kennedy. As Mayor Wu described, Boston has been focused on meeting the needs of unhoused children and their families. We are fortunate to have received federal funds to increase the number of child care programs that are working with homeless families. This legislation will allow us to continue working with advocates and the state’s Department of Early Education and Care to ensure that young children and their families get the support that they need. We're coupling it also with a community wide process called Chime, which will help us identify some of the additional barriers. So, we urge you to pass 147. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Very efficient. Are there any questions?
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you.3981
We're gonna go back to the Zoom. Ellen Adalabys.
SPEAKER24 - Very close.
ELLEN ATTALIADES - ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES PROVIDERS - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning, Chairs Kennedy, Livingstone, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Ellen Attaliades, and I'm the president CEO of the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers, also known as ADDP. ADDP is a prominent State wide Association4011 representing 134 human service organizations who provide services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities including autism and to people who have brain injuries. ADDP is pleased to join with the Arc to support Senate Bill 83 and House Bill 171. Also has worked very closely with the human services collaborative over the past few years to advocate for using competitive salary benchmarks for our workforce. The human services industry is facing the largest workforce shortage in its history. According to ADDP's most recent workforce survey, our members are experiencing an overall 26% vacancy rate for the safety net programs that they operate.
Due to the inability to hire staff, there are approximately 2257 individuals, many with complex medical needs and challenging behaviors on wait list to return to their day programs, placing a significant strain on their families and the4077 residential support system. Due to the workforce crisis, our survey also indicates that there are wait list for 1630 newly eligible individuals to receive day services. Given the current workforce shortage, it is critical that the community human service organizations be able to offer competitive staff salaries to maintain safety net services. At the current time, EOHHS has set salary benchmarks using the Mass Bureau of Labor Statistics at4107 the 53rd percentile, which translates into an average medium4111 salary for direct support professionals at $19.53 an hour for service rates effective this July4119 1st.
To account4121 for the prospective two-year rate system4123 and to capture inflationary costs, ADDP recommends that the Commonwealth adopt the most recent salary benchmarks for all positions at least at the 75th percentile. This would mean the average median salary benchmark for direct support would be at $20.79 an hour. In addition, we support the provision of these Bills that provide for compensation related to direct support and in supervisory staff salaries, an increase in tax and fringe benefits from 25.39% to 30% to include retirement benefits and the use of the 75th percentile for4163 salary benchmarks in Mass health funded programs such as day habilitation. Thank you for your consideration. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
Thank you. And the next person also online is Kelly Hutton.
KELLY HUTTON - CENTER OF HOPE FOUNDATION - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning. My name is Kelly Hutton, and I work at Center of Hope Foundation4186 located in Sturbridge and Southbridge and we provide primarily day and residential services to adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities. I would like to advocate for H 171 and S 83. Our agency provides mainly day services in the form of rehabilitation programming. The starting rate of pay that we can offer new direct support professionals with the current rates for Mass Health is $15 per hour, and I want to take a moment to share the responsibilities of direct care staff with you. When these staff start, there are 34 trainings that must4221 be completed during orientation, many of which need to be updated annually.4225 Direct care staff step into a teaching role as they lead skills training groups that focus on increasing independence.
The staff of individuals are of varying needs and abilities in these groups and are expected to get everyone to participate. Staff assist with activities of daily living, such as dining, transfers, toileting, and range of motion, staff are trained in evaluations and recommendations, made by physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy consultants. Staff must know specific information about people's behavior plans and provide one choice support to people with intensive behavioral challenges. These staff at times have to respond to a variety of crisis situations where they be yelled at or assaulted by members in distress, staff must complete daily tracking sheets, and complete case notes. Staffing individuals and groups of people into the community to volunteer and engage in recreational activities, staff must be responsible for not only the physical safety of individuals, but also for their money by making sure that all change and receipts are accounted for everyone in the group.
Many staff are also expected to drive agency vehicles and bring members to and from program each day. Most importantly, these staff form relationships with program members and their families. These staff are some of the main supporters and trusted people in the program members' lives, all for $15 an hour. Can you imagine all this responsibility for this rate of pay? It is no wonder that our vacancy rates are so high for direct care staff at 38% and that over a two-year span, there is little change to the vacancy report as there is so much staff turnover. We are putting into place as many benefits as possible outside of higher rates of pay. We frequently survey our staff, and the number one concern is a lack of4337 pay raises, we need your help.4339 Our 207 staff and 400 individuals in their families are depending upon you. Please support the workforce Bill H4350 1714350 and4350 S4350 834350 so4350 that our agency and others throughout the state can stay open and support some of the most vulnerable in our population. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
Thank you. That closes testimony on that bill. The next bill, no 1 has signed up for, but we want to acknowledge as part of the hearing, house 177.
next bill that we're going to do here, testimony on is House 191 or in Senate 84. Representative Khan had signed up to testify, but to give the public more of an opportunity and make sure everyone could be heard today, she has decided to do written testimony instead So the first panel is going to be Michael Weeks, we weeks, Lydia Todd and Chris White.
MICHAEL WEEKES - PROVIDERS COUNCIL - HB 191 - SB 84 - Good morning, Chairwoman Kennedy, Chairman Livingstone, the members of the joint committee. My name is Michael Weeks, I'm the president and CEO of the Providers council. The council, as some of you may know, is the state's largest association of community based human services organizations in Massachusetts, and I'm here joined with Olivia Todd who is the lead for NFI, Massachusetts, and Chris Mite who leads road to responsibility, and we are here in support of House Bill 191 and Senate 84. I can tell you with clear and 100% assuarity that this is number one priority for the provider's council and for the members of our association. Our association works with a broad range of membership who provide services for people with disabilities, but also with our elderly, women and children who may be at risk, need care, protection, our children, our unhoused population, those dealing with opioid or alcohol addictions, mental health needs, go brings the full range of supports that the Commonwealth provides is represented within our membership.
The number one issue that all of them will probably tell you is the workforce prices that they're facing and that's why we think it is important that we bring to your attention the need to pass this important legislation. The Bill today essentially is trying to do correct pay disparity. It's essentially a gap on a pay disparity between what our community-based workers are making what others are making, and particularly in the state, it is a question of fairness, it's a question of equity. Something that I think we all feel very strongly about needs to be corrected and can be corrected here in Massachusetts. Last month, the UMass Donahue Institute introduced a report called Essential or not, the critical need for human services workers. In this report, they noted that between 2016 and 2020, employment actually went down4530 in the human services sector when it was4532 supposed to go up, and that's because people could not find people to do the job. Yet, there are more establishments that were created at the same time.
Here's some interesting facts that also came out of report that there are an estimated 30,000 client facing positions that are vacant in Massachusetts that more than one in six workers earned less than 200% of the federal poverty level, and that the median income of human services workers is4559 just 34,273, a more underlying, that's median, that's not starting. The median income of all workers in Massachusetts $15,000 more than that 34,000. We're in trouble, and we have been in trouble for a long time. So, we're asking for a support for a way to do that, and we propose legislation that will close that gap, and, in fact, would eliminate that gap. That gap that finds ourselves, not only facing an economic issue, but also social justice issue. Eight out of 10 of the people that work in our field, are women, 36% are people of4594 color. We can do better if4596 we want to, and I think we have the means4598 to make this happen. So, we want to eliminate those4602 disparities and one of the ways we're doing it is we came up with a4604 five-year plan to phase in a way of rectifying the situation so we can eliminate the disparity by 2027.
LYDIA TODD - NFI MASSACHUSETTS INC - HB 191 - SB 84 - Good morning. My name is Lydia Todd, and I serve as executive director of NFI, Massachusetts. Thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of House Bill 191 and Senate Bill 84. As we've been hearing the biggest challenges of staffing crisis, I'd like to give you an example4631 of how this has impacted the adolescent community specifically youth served by4636 the Department of Children and Families. Many adolescent group homes have closed over the past couple of years due to lack of staffing. NFI provides residential services in the Northeast region, and we were awarded contracts for 36 emergency beds and 33 treatment beds in 2021. Since then, we had to give up the lease on one 12 bed program causing it to be taken out of inventory permanently and we still have two 12 bed programs that are waiting for sufficient staff to open. This means DCF has less than half the capacity it needs just with our one agency in one region.
You've heard about how the rates are set. We're learning that college graduates are seeking $50,000 a year minimum, which equates4682 to $24 an hour. We're currently paying our staff $20 an hour which is more than what we are funded for just because no one will even apply for the job for a rate less than $20 an hour. Amazon pays $20.75 an hour in our area. Vacancies and high turnover4701 have a negative impact on the people we serve many of whom who already suffer from trauma and abandonment issues. This is especially important with our adolescent population. When the staff constantly turn over, this reinforces a poor sense of self-worth and causes the child to become committed to their view that everyone abandons them. So even in the programs we're operating, the turnover is absolutely overwhelming, approaching 70% in some cases every year. We recommend that the rates be compensated at the 75th percentile so that we can compensate workers fairly and address this compelling issue. Thank you.
CHRIS WHITE - ROAD TO RESPONSIBILITY - HB 171 - HB 191 - SB 84 - My name is Chris White. Thank you for hearing4745 my testimony. I have testimony for this and H 171 as well. I'll be super brief, during the pandemic and really throughout our history, road to responsibility has been around since 1988. We've been gutted during this workforce catastrophe by having the state operated programs effectively taking our most experienced and skilled staff, leaving us with largely a green workforce, and it's killing programs, and it's destroying, I get calls every day from families who are desperate. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Any questions? Thank you for your testimony.
The next panel is gene Goldsberry, Janice Smith sorry. Gene Goldberry, Janice Smith, and Mary Lovell.
GENE GOLDBERRY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning. Thank you very much for allowing us to come and speak a little bit this morning, we'll be quite brief. People have shared with you many concerns around House Bill 171 and Senate 83 and we are here to support those files. I'd like to talk a little bit about what that impact really is on staff, if I can tell you a couple of quick stories. I can tell you a story about Thomas who works in one of our group homes, he's a dad with three daughters. His wife also works. He works overnight so that4855 his wife can work during the day, and he can be there to take care of his children. They are not able to buy new school clothes every year, there's a lot of hand me down hand me down hand me down again kinds of things that happen and the family rarely is able to purchase meat for their dining table, it's a lot of rice and beans and pasta and so forth.
Another would be a staff Julie who works in our day program, Monday through Friday, 40 hours a week, well, a little more because she also drives a van getting people back and forth and in order to make ends meet for herself as a single mom, she also works at least one day every weekend in one of our residences. sometimes two days. That leads basically no family life for these individuals who are being paid at a sub wage rate that none of us would want to work for. Using the current 53% of the National Bureau of Labor Standards pay rate, we really leave our hardworking direct care staff in an untenable position. If someone shares an apartment, pays half the rent and utilities, pays commuting expenses to get to work, there's a little left to pay for food or other essentials. This might work in a state where the cost4943 of living is less but it doesn't work in Massachusetts. Most of our staff at Minuteman work two jobs or a lot of overtime for us, some of them work three jobs. We're grateful to them for their work and their dedication but we need to ensure that they're getting a living wage. We can do better in this state, and we must do better in raising the benchmark to the 75% level of the Bureau of Labor Standards will make sure that direct care staff receive a living wage. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
and my friend Janice has some things to say also.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
JANICE SMITH - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good morning. It is important for my staff to be paid fully. They work hard and help me, the pay now isn't enough for them to pay rent, food, and a car. Most staff have to work two jobs or more to cover their bills. This Bill will make sure they get paid fairly and can continue working in this field. Thank you for listening to what I have to say. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you all very much.
5036 SPEAKER15036 -5036 Thank5036 you. Any questions? Thank you.
Next bill we're gonna address is house 208 senate 93 and the first panel is Lorenzo Ortega, Kenya Villa, Natalie Ross, Juan Jermillo, and Gina Frank. Is he gonna be a person or
We can come on down.
In in who is on on Zoom?
SPEAKER22 - That's just a few minutes.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER30 - Do you want us to go first? What's that?
JEAN CALVERT MCCLURE - SEIU LOCAL 509 - HB 208 - SB 93 - Good morning. My name is Jean Calvert McClure, I'm a proud first nations woman of5095 both the Cherokee Wampanoag Nations. I'm a licensed independent clinical social worker with the Department of Mental Health, and I'm also the Department of Mental Health Chapter President with SEIU local 509. I'm here today to testify in support of H 208 and S 93, an act to ensure a parity of social work licensure. I represent hundreds of5116 social workers who work with the Department of5118 Mental Health, who provide essential care to people in our Commonwealth who are living and struggling with mental health issues. We've heard a lot recently regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as the concerning lack of access to mental health services available to communities of color. At the Department of Mental Health, we disproportionately provide services to people of color, and yet the vast majority of our social workers are white, about 62% compared to about point 0.6% of social workers who identify as being indigenous, I am a rare person there.
Even when developed with the best of intentions, standardized tasks do privilege white candidates. If you look at the past rates for social work licensure exam with the clinical exam, 90% of white candidates passed on the first attempt compared to 56% of black candidates and then 67% of Latino candidates. We also see significant differences in terms of diagnostics and treatment. Black individuals are three times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia when compared to people of other races and ethnicities who present with the same symptoms and needs, and Hispanic individuals are 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia when compared to others of different races or ethnicities, again, with the same symptoms and needs. As clinicians, it's essential that we build a therapeutic alliance and build trust with our clients.
But, you know, for my people and other people of color, there can be significant, mistrust of the government, end of white providers for good reason, which we won't go into5218 today. But, you know, effective treatment also cannot occur without cultural confidence. In order to support this, we need to remove the barriers for people of color to become social workers, for5230 people, for whom English is a second language, for people who need and understands our beliefs and our practices, people who look like us. A good first step to this would be to eliminate the test that is currently required for all levels of social work licensure. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
You wanna go tech in? k.
Any?
SPEAKER32 - Hi. I'm sorry.
KENNY VILLA - DCF GREATER LOWELL AREA - HB 208 - My name is Kenny Villa, I'm testifying in support of House Bill 208. I am an ongoing social worker for the Department of Children and Families of the Greater Lowell Area Office. Children are vulnerable population and families have different needs. As a social worker, it has brought me hope and joy given these children and families an opportunity to better themselves Being involved with the department can be another challenging time these families face and since being employed, I have been able to evolve my knowledge around the individual needs of people on a clinical and personal standpoint, exploring different options and giving children5303 a safe space to voice their concerns and5305 work collaboratively for5307 a practical solution. It provides me joy when I see clients evolve from what they once were to what they can overcome. I have taken this exam three times, and this upcoming month will be a fourth time I take it.
Financially, it can5322 be a burden as a department only pays for the first exam, and it can take a toll also on your mental health. The work that we do at the Department of Children and Families is important as we are a protective child agency. We are these children's voices when they do not have one. The exam is required for social workers to pass, takes a great deal of effort in areas that are not as relevant to the work we do at DCF. Removing this exam would be beneficial for all our social workers who are dedicated to their job because it will reduce the amount of stress and anxiety it places on an individual knowing that you are at risk to lose your job. As a social worker, we are constantly helping these families and learning from our coworkers in the field and this is where I5370 gained most of my skills. I have been at DCF for over a year and a half to learn and apply the knowledge learned at the job took me about five to six months.
There is always something new to learn as an ongoing social worker. We have ongoing workshops and meetings at the office to discuss different things in this field of work. This field is an ongoing learning platform for all us workers. I do not want to discredit the exam, however, the material the exam covers are maybe a tenth of what we do as ongoing social workers at DCF. I believe we, as workers, would benefit more from a certified course than studying for an exam just to be licensed or for alternative methods to certification as to this Bill proposes, particularly as we consider the needs of the diverse communities we serve. In order to give culturally competent care, we must find innovative ways to attract and retain staff that can provide that care. This Bill an important step towards just achieving that. Thank you.
GENA FRANK - SEIU LOCAL 509 - HB 215 - HB 208 - I'm Gena Frank from SEIU Local 509, Gina Frank, political director, and we support this, Bill. We also support legislation that's been advocated for today about increasing pay for frontline direct care workers in group homes, other folks with disabilities. You're also going to hear from at DDS workers' 509 to support that Bill as well. h 215. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
Thank you. Hold on.
Next on this bill is Stacy Hardy Chandler.
STACEY HARDY CHANDLER - ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORK BOARDS - HB 208 - SB 93 - Thank you, and good morning, Chair Kennedy, Chair Livingstone and joint committee members. My name is Doctor Stacey Hardy Chandler, and I am the CEO of the Association of Social Work Boards, I'm accompanied by Jennifer Henkel, who's the senior director of member engagement. ASWB is the professional regulatory nonprofit that helps the Massachusetts Board as well as 63 other jurisdictional members throughout the US and Canada fulfill their public protection mandate. ASWB was formed over 40 years ago when several5510 boards came together to meet common needs, including a uniform, objective, entry level competence measurement process. We appreciate the opportunity to testify on House Bill 208 and Senate Bill 93. While ASWB supports efforts to address DCF workforce challenges, including a task force, we cannot support provisions that reduce entry to practice professional standards through the removal of licensing exams.
First, we take the position that social work is a profession, a profession comes with uniform standards that uphold the public trust and confidence. For licensed and regulated professions, entry to practice competence measures bring legitimacy. I want my doctor to take a test, I want my teacher to be examined. Professional exams provide information5563 qualitatively different from degree requirements and contribute to better regulatory decisions and accountability. We believe workforce is the right issue but the exams are the wrong target. The broad issuance of licenses without an examination detracts attention from addressing the real upstream causal factors. Reducing entry to practice standards will not stop people from leaving the field just as fast. We need to5591 focus on the things that we heard earlier;5593 working conditions, pay, that's commensurate with people's experience in their education and retention factors. We heard that multiple times as key to these workforce questions. We stand by the practicing social workers who assure exam fairness. Social workers contributing to our exams represent a demographic cross section of our field. Competence measurement standards across professions require getting content about practice from those who are actually practicing, robust anti bias measures that include independent third-party psychometrics and continuing monitoring and vetting of items.
Last year, we were the first health or human service association to publish a disaggregated pass rate analysis report. It revealed disparities in outcomes for demographics like age and race, but this is a warning, don't confuse outcomes with origins. Candidates do not come to licensure with the same resources or the same opportunities. Finally, we encourage the Commonwealth to not act prematurely. While still early, unintended consequences are emerging in other jurisdictions that Massachusetts can avoid. This includes impact on federal social workers. This legislation is not the answer, we respectfully ask that you take the time to support profession wide collaboration between educators, regulators, and advocates, which would have a more positive and lasting impact on the professions workforce and those social workers served. We're happy to answer any questions, and we'll be submitting written testimony.
JENNIFER HENKEL - ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORK BOARDS - HB 208 - SB 93 - Thank you. The only thing I would add in addition is that we are very supportive of DCF, any workforce issues they want to have, we'd love to be a part of those conversations. The exam measures competence for all social workers practicing in whatever setting it is be it hospitals, university settings, schools, in judicial systems. So, the exam is not just set to measure for DCF, so workforce shortages in DCF are overly specific to what the exam is created for and measures. We're happy to discuss the anti-bias measures billed into the exam and the cultural competence that is part of the exam development process. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your testimony.
Next bill we're gonna call is house 211 senate 1112.
Don is signed up with that. Senator Rauch may be testifying5770 on it later. Next is house 214, Senate 77. Representative Roy was gonna testify, but he wanted to make sure the public would have had the opportunity to do so. So he's decided to submit written testimony. The first panel is
Michael everyone's5792 testifying once So Danielle Lopez, Amy, Jordas, Kristi Bock, Elizabeth Callahan, Priscilla, Wilton.
SPEAKER25 - Yeah. You're on Zoom.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER25 - Yeah. We're joining by June.
SPEAKER1 - Okay.
SPEAKER25 - Okay. But Daniel is here with me today.
SPEAKER1 - Right.
SPEAKER25 - Okay. Thank you. Oh, well, thank you once again.
SPEAKER1 - Everyone says fine once today.
SPEAKER25 - Oh, Is that oh, is that what you meant? Oh, okay. Oh, Daniel?
SPEAKER1 - Yeah.
SPEAKER25 - Feel free to go. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER34 - Hi.
DANIELLE LOPEZ - BAY COVE HUMAN SERVICES - HB 214 - SB 77 - Good morning. Thank you for giving me the time to talk. I know you all heard a lot today, so I appreciate it. My name is Danielle Lopez and I'm here today to share my testimony in support of legislation that would create a loan repayment program for human service workers. I'm currently a5844 case manager at Bay Cove Human Services, not sure if you've heard of it, but it's one of5848 the leading human service providers in the Greater Boston area and has been for5852 many years. Our population served include unhoused individuals, individuals with substance disorder, other mental health issues, and adults developmental and intellectual disabilities. In my job as a case manager or family support navigator, I work alongside other social workers and programs that our clients are connected with to ensure their health and safety. Namely, I strategize and plan them effective, efficient ways for my clients to allocate and spend the funding given to them by the Department of Departmental Services.
My job is to meet my clients where they're at and to advocate for them so that they have the tools and services they need to live a happy and successful life, but that's really hard when the burden of my loans is on my shoulders every day. I make $20.75 an hour, which, to be quite honest, is not enough. But on top of that, I have $59,000 in debt, I attended school at Boston University, I just graduated in May. Although I make enough for basic necessities, such as food, rent, and other, like, basic monthly expenses, I live paycheck to paycheck, and this is really stressful. I'm not alone in that, all my coworkers, I have a coworker who's from India, he's our accountant, he's, like, integral to our team, he also struggles deeply. In5949 order for me to serve people who5951 need help the most, like you all have heard all5953 these stories today, I have to come to my job 100% present, and that's really difficult when I know that I have $60,000 in loans for an education that I pursued to be able to help these people with the right tools and education I need. So, thank you for letting me talk, and I would just really appreciate it, and I know thousands of other people would as well if this Bill is passed. So, thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. And the rest of the panel is online.
I'm not sure what order you wanna go in, but it's Amy Chazan. Christy Buck, Elizabeth O'Callaghan and Priscilla Walden with a remaining time.
SPEAKER35 - Am I able to go for am I able to go? Sorry.
SPEAKER25 - Alright. Sure.
SPEAKER1 - It's your choice.
SPEAKER35 - Sorry about that. Yeah.
AMY JOZAN - JUSTICE RESOURCE INSTITUTE - HB 214 - SB 77 - So my name is Amy Jozan, and I am here to speak about Senate 77 House 214, the repayment program. So, my name is Amy Jozan, I've been working for Justice Resource Institute since April 2021, and I'm here today to support this act because I am currently now making $48,000 a year, have a PhD, and two beautiful children of my own. One of my children is medically complex and has many high needs of its own. Currently, I can obtain fuel assistance and live in poverty because of my wage. I have roughly now about I'm looking at $30, not including books and student loans and I'm unsure how I'm going to be able to pay those in this sector. So currently, I'm working with a high caseload in targeted management for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families. The work we do here is paramount to maintaining that children may remain safe in their homes and communities. We partner with multiple agencies and providers to ensure the safety and sustainability of our clients who suffer a variety of very serious health challenges, as well as very high exposure to multiple psychosocial stressors.
Our work is valuable, and our staff are required to go through extensive training, have secondary education, and we experience high acute stress daily. So, within my first month on the job, one of my clients had a serious attempt and was hospitalized. With the proper targeted case management, she's now stable, on the right medications, has outpatient therapy, can achieve her vocational goals through therapeutic mentoring, she has appropriate therapeutic school setting. So, she's excelling in all domains and has been free from self-harm in over a year. So, her siblings have also been able to get evaluations and proper supports as well. We have supported the mothers with happy tears and tears of worry. The family is a complex dynamic, and we understand that and assess collective need. We pour our entire hearts into our families, which often leads to burnout and high turnover.
Due to my income and the number of household members6126 that I'm caring for, I'm living in6128 poverty, again, I'm unable to meet my own basic needs and bills with this job. I went back school to obtain my MSW to make this job my career, however, I understand that I might be paying off student loans for over the next 20 to 25 years, so it might not be worth pursuing more credentials. I had to take a second job to afford food and clothes for my children. Please help us to help our children who are in the midst of a mental health crisis, please hear our collective plea and respond. Thank you so much for listening. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Who wants to go next?
Elizabeth O'Callaghan. You you the 4 3 of you have 4 minutes left. So if you wanna use it, it's fine.
SPEAKER36 - Thank you.
ELIZABETH O'CALLAHAN - SEVEN HILLS FOUNDATION - HB 214 - SB 77 - Good morning. My name is Elizabeth O'Callahan and I'm here to share my testimony in support of legislation that would create a loan repayment program for human service workers. I'm a licensed mental health counselor and a licensed behavior analyst working6187 as clinicians supporting adults with developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities and co-occurring mental health diagnoses living in DDS funded residential group homes at Seven Hills Foundation since 2015. I attended Anna Maria College for my bachelor's on the promise of affordable tuition that unfortunately increased significantly over the course of my time there once it was too late to transfer. I chose to take up more loans rather than lose my accumulated credits by leaving. After graduating in 2011, I worked full time while attending Framingham6220 State's counseling site program toward my LMHC at night. New grads coming to speak to us, we're reporting salaries less than 30,000 as unlicensed master's level clinicians.
So, in addition to the6232 yearlong practicum and internship totaling 700 unpaid hours in the last year of school, completing over 3000 postgrad hours for licensure at that salary would be untenable. The specter of student loans and low salary prompted me to make a partial career change, I simultaneously enrolled in coursework in behavior analysis out of pocket. I am privileged to have had enormous support to obtain my LMHC eventually leverage a higher salary as a BCBA and ultimately stay in the field. But many are not as lucky, my individual success though6267 that meant that our field6271 now has one less full-time therapists due to student loans and low pay. We cannot find workers, especially therapists for our clients. Many of our clients go delayed or just without therapy, we do the best we can to fill the need, but many just go without. I suspect others drowning in debt, and low salaries just leave the field altogether.
Lack of access to care and low-quality care due to extreme shortages of qualified workers is just one example of how student loans don't just harm us, but they harm the people we support. I'm passionate about my career and our field, but I'm very worried about meeting the overwhelming need and the lack of workers, and the math still doesn't work. Even for me, I still made $26,000 my first year with the masters, when my loans are paid off, I will have paid over $100,000 in student debt, also after thousands of dollars out of pocket. My story is common, which means that when others do the math, many will find that they just simply can't stay in human services. This is why the program being proposed today6336 would help us greatly. Those in human services who have dedicated our lives to supporting others shouldn't suffer due to education requirements necessary to perform our work.
Again, many will choose not to, they'll just simply leave the field. You don't have to be a big journalist to see the financial contingencies in place strongly encourage workers to just seek out fields with higher paying salaries when their human service salaries can't cover their student loans. Creating a student loan repayment program would help employees like me stay in this field that we love. Thank you again for listening to our stories today, I ask for your positive consideration of creating student loan repayment program that'll strengthen not only my life, but the lives of our clients and consumers whom we provide essential services every day. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Is anyone else want to add anything in the last 30 seconds?
SPEAKER37 - I won't have time to go through what I wrote, but I do just want to share that I am $77,277.26 in debt from6396 my undergrad and master's degree with a 7.2% interest rate. That is 278 a month.
on an income-based repayment, and it should be
SPEAKER1 - 75833.
SPEAKER37 - I won't I'll be 66 when I pay off these loans.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for sharing your personal stories.
Next fill is house 215,
and we have a panel
Tina
Simmerman, Shaina Jackman,
6441 Kathy6441 Cole. Stanley
Tara Atasca, Amanda Tallah, Maureen Bigar, in Jean McLeod.
TINA SIMMERMAN - SEIU LOCAL 509 - HB 215 - Good morning. I'm Tina Zimmerman, so I'm going to start off the panel. Good morning, Chair Kennedy and Chair Livingstone and committee members. I am Tina Simmerman, the SEIU local 509 Chapter President for the department, a developmental service, and a human service coordinator. I'm here today to ask your support for Bill 215 that addresses the workload and the reason why it's so important for caseload caps to be established at a ratio of 55:1. The human service coordinators crisis situation is not much unlike the stories that you've6490 heard today from parents and advocates that have testified earlier. We're in a crisis situation with high caseloads, we're not able to deliver or provide services as we once had. When I started my job as a human service coordinator in June of 2005, my caseload was 38 individuals.
Fast forward to 18 years, and my caseload is now 70, the caseload and workload has doubled. The stark difference is that I was able to build real relationships in 2005 with the most vulnerable people in the Commonwealth.6520 I was able to get to know their family history, I was able to help them communicate their needs, to their doctors, to6526 their service providers, and listen with their families. The last time I testified on a Bill such as this one, there was a vendor in the room explaining how they lost as many employees that they hired that year as they had hired, the number was close to 500. With that large turnover in staffing, the6543 human service coordinators are the ones that know how to work with our individuals. We know their likes, their dislikes, we know what their adaptive aids are, in order to be independent as possible, we know their history as well as their constants. Imagine for a moment that you are nonverbal, a stranger walks up behind you and then tries to feed6562 you on your right side. You6564 take a swing at them, this happens enough6566 that staff now believe that you're having a6568 behavior, they call any clinician and now you have a behavior plan that staff need to follow.
If staff only knew that you had a6575 vision deficit in your right eye, and that you were left hand dominant, they could have avoided the entire scene. A service coordinator is somebody that would know that and would have that documented and could work with the provider that's providing services so that those things do not happen. Imagine enjoying sitting on the floor watching TV, it's comfortable to you, but the clinician in your home defines that as a grounding behavior and now you're strongly encouraged to sit on furniture, the service coordinator would know that this isn't a behavior but a preference. Now those are minor stories I have shared and witnessed, I have many more, but I do not have time to discuss why the service coordinator role is so important to6614 not only to DDS because we are reimbursed for the federal waiver about 50% of our salaries, but also the most vulnerable citizens of our Commonwealth.
I currently have two men that are actively dying on hospice in the same home and I've not had time to spend with them or their families through the transition due to other competing workload issues that I have. Somewhere along the way, we have gotten the human and human services. DDS currently serves 46,168 individuals, we6644 have6644 5319 transition age folks that are coming into the adult service6650 world, and behind them is another 10,161 more children coming up through our system. Each of these individuals deserve champions in their corners to ensure their supports are adequate and specific to who they are and their needs. So, I'm challenging each of6667 you to be that champion for those individuals.6669 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
And I'd like to pass this off now to Maureen bigger.
Good afternoon. I apologize for the delay. I did not know I was going to be called up so soon.
MAUREEN BIGGER - DDS - HB 215 - Good morning, members of the committee. My name is Maureen6689 Bigger, and I am an adult service coordinator with the Department of Developmental Services. I work in the Franklin Hampshire area office6695 in Northampton. I'm a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and I earned a master's in social work from Yukon. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. My area of concentration was case work. I am speaking in support of House Bill 215. I've been a service coordinator since 2000. I was hired in Westfield as a 20-hour service coordinator and was told I6716 would have 20 individuals on my caseload and that the standard was one individual per hour of work. That was true when I came to Northampton and increased to 30 hours and was given 30 individuals. Within a year, I became a full time 40-hour service coordinator and had 40 individuals. That remained a standard at DDS until 2010 when there was a layoff at the department of approximately 100 service coordinators.
After that, caseload numbers began to increase. Because there was no caseload cap, there was theoretically no limit to the number of individuals that could be6750 assigned to a service coordinator. Caseloads went up over 60, as Tina said, my current caseload is6756 58. The practical effects of those caseload numbers mean that individuals get less frequent and less thorough services from service coordinators. There was an expectation that anybody in a 24-hour group home would get monthly visits from us and for many years they did. Once the caseloads went up, the standard was changed and we're now expected to visit our group homes every other month. Visits today programs in which a lot of information could be gathered from staff and seeing several clients at once have been reduced because practically speaking that is not time service coordinators have available.
As case load numbers have gone up, technological expectations have increased. We have numerous computer systems in which we must make daily entries, and we have electronic progress notes. All of this is time taken away from clients. While we cannot roll back the clock on technology, we could address the rising caseloads. Many years ago, at a conference, I met a service coordinator from Washington, DC, they had very high caseloads and had recently instituted a cap. She now had 32 individuals on her caseload. I asked her about that change and she said it was life changing for the individuals she served as well as for her in terms of the quality of the job that she could do for everyone on her caseload. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I have work -- Thank you for your testimony. And if you'd like to provide more information to the committee where we accept written testimony until the bill is reported out, which may not be till next February. So appreciate your time.
SPEAKER38 - The other panel members have an opportunity to speak.
SPEAKER1 - I each panel has 6 minutes, and the the 2 of you took up 6 minutes. Thank you. Thank you.
leader Donato was also gonna testify on 2 bills, house 152, 8 in house 153 to to make sure that the public had adequate time to test them up. or testimony to get through all these panels, he has deferred his time. Next 1, Jamilla.
Hey. You're on the list next. Alright. Have a good day.
Sentaraj.
SEN RAUSCH - SB 1112 - HB 211 - Good morning, Mr. Chair, Madam Chair, fellow committee members. Thank you for hearing my brief testimony. I know you have a busy docket today and for taking me out of turn. I am here to testify on Senate 1112, an act establishing a bill of rights for people experiencing homelessness, and the companion legislation House 211, filed by Reps Moran and Pignatelli. I think we are all well aware of the problem of homelessness in Massachusetts, it's really a crisis. Massachusetts has the highest homelessness rate in the nation, more than 15,000 people estimated to be experiencing homelessness just last year, and we know that housing and security has a grossly disproportionate impact on people of color and our LGBTQ plus community members.
So, we need systemic solutions, we know we need systemic6952 solutions for housing, we know we also need systemic solutions to advancing the dignity and civil rights of people who are experiencing homelessness, and that is exactly what this Bill is designed to do. The homelessness Bill of rights has four main functions. First, it extends antidiscrimination protections in 151B and Chapter 272 of the General Laws to protect people experiencing homelessness. This codifies freedom from discrimination while registering to vote, seeking employment, housing, accessing places of public accommodation. The MCAD would receive and investigate complaints of discrimination based on a person's housing status. Again, we know we need this. Just6994 looking at a 2014 survey, the6996 national coalition for the homeless reported that more than 70% of people experiencing homelessness felt that they had been discriminated against by private businesses based on housing status.
The second function is to secure the right of persons experiencing homelessness to rest, to seek shelter from the elements, to occupy a legally parked car, to pray, to eat and to avoid needless harassment in public spaces. The third function is to create an important enforcement mechanism by offering a private right of action for violating any of the rights created and enforced and uplifted in the Bill. This private right of action allows a particular plaintiff whose rights have been impacted to bring illegal action seeking relief from any harm caused. The fourth function is to repeal some derogatory and archaic language and laws criminalizing, and I'm quoting here vagrants, tramps, and bag of bonds.7061 These laws have since been ruled unconstitutional and yet their presence on our books persists. Massachusetts would follow other states in offering these protections, Rhode Island, Illinois and Connecticut have all passed legislation creating Bills of rights for people experiencing homelessness. Colorado, California, and Oregon have also introduced right to rest legislation. We know that this Bill will not end homelessness, but we know that this is a very important step forward. The Bill has received a favorable report in the past, and I'm happy to take any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER40 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Also chair, Miny Dom, 1 to testify in favor of each 214, but to make sure7107 everyone here has a chance to testify, she7109 has deferred her time. And next, we're gonna go virtually for testimony regarding senate 69. First, we have former justice or, judge, Jade Plitzman.
SPEAKER41 - Don't start to clock it.
SPEAKER20 - Do you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Take your time.
SPEAKER41 - Is my time up? Yeah.
Good afternoon or good morning good morning.
JAY BLITZMAN - ROXBURY YOUTH ADVOCACY PROJECT - SB 69 - Good morning, Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy, thank you so much for the opportunity to testify in vigorous support of your Bill,7161 Representative Livingstone, I second your motion and Senator Cynthia Creem, that's S 69, an act protecting youth during custodial interrogations. My testimony is informed by my experience of 20 years as a public defender having started and founded the Roxbury Youth Advocacy Project, 23.5 years as a juvenile court judge and a year as the director of the Massachusetts advocates for children and organization which focuses on educational issues involving youth with disabilities, which is particularly important in this context. It is beyond this boot that children will often feel bound to submit police questioning when an adult in the same circumstances would feel free to leave.
The pressure of custodial interrogation is so immense that it can induce a frighteningly high percentage of people to confess to crimes they never have committed. This language comes from Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor in the famous case of JDB versus North Carolina, which echoes earlier Supreme Court case dating to 1948 concerning the susceptibility of children to confess to waive their rights and most tellingly often falsely confessed to crimes they didn't commit. Only one in five youth understand the Miranda rights, 2/3 of youth incorrectly believe they will be penalized for exercising their right to remain silent. In looking at the 340 DNA exonerations, 32% or 34% involve children if you factor in7257 adolescents that is late teens the number rises to 42%.
As regards to the issue that Miranda comprehension, only one in five youth understand Miranda rights, and here's an important issue, most parents don't understand the Miranda rights either. The Massachusetts interested adult doctrine does not suffice to protect children, only an attorney can do that to guard against techniques which involve use of false information, minimization of consequence, an act protecting you during custodial interrogations would enable to have an attorney present. This was recommended in 1980 by the American Bar Association in their juvenile justice standards. This is a question of the science and the research catching up to what we've always known. Having practiced actually capture reality. Only attorneys can effectively fulfill this role. A number of states have moved away from allowing deceptive police tactics during interrogation and several states have enacted similar legislation to this including California, Washington, Illinois and New York have pending legislation, it's time to apply the science and the research to the realities of adolescent and child development to better protect children, and better protect public safety by guarding against false confessions. Thank you so much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your testimony.
SPEAKER41 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, sorry.
I apologize.
REP HIGGINS - I did just have one question. Where would these attorneys come from? What do you foresee as the increased need for juvenile public defenders? Where's that going to come from?
BLITZMAN - Well, the committee for public council services already has a youth advocacy division, those are salaried staff attorneys. They're also bar advocates who take court appointments. This model has been used in other states, notably Washington has on call attorneys who can be called prior to a custodial interrogation, and this I imagine could be done pretty readily. Bar advocates, private attorneys who take court appointments will be part of that pool and they would be reimbursed through the committee for public counsel services. The interest in adult rule, quite candidly, does not work. You know, my experience over 24 years as a judge is the interest in adult rule has resulted in more children falsely confessing because parents don't understand their rights, only an attorney can't really understand. A parent understandably wants their child to do the right thing, but their advice, their7427 understandable parental role is not that of an attorney, they just don't have the knowledge and the information. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Thank you. And sorry. I didn't acknowledge comes in to Ramos earlier.
Any other questions? Thank you for your testimony.
SPEAKER41 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And next, visiting us from Illinois, representative Justin Slotta.
Also, virtually.
I'm just not. The next, it also, virtually, is Leon Smith.
LEON SMITH - CITIZENS FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE - SB 69 - Thank you very much, Chairs Livingstone and Kennedy, esteemed members of the committee. My name is Leon Smith, and I'm the executive director citizens for juvenile justice, and I'm proud to submit testimony in support of Senate 69, an act protecting youth during custodial interrogations. I would like to start with a quote from US supreme court Justice Sonya who, in the seminal case JDB versus North Carolina wrote, it is beyond dispute that children will often feel bound to submit to police questioning when an adult in the same circumstance would feel free to leave. That quote, perfectly frames the heightened disadvantage that young people face when being interrogated by law enforcement and establishes the importance of ensuring that legal household is present with them to ensure an understanding of their rights and to prevent the type of false confessions and wrongful convictions that undermine both our system of justice and the best interests of young people.
Research firmly establishes the vulnerability of young people during these interrogations. I won't restate some of the research that judge Blitzman did, but I7537 will drill down on the fact7539 most relevant to this legislation that research showed the least understood Miranda warning amongst minors is the right to consult with an Attorney prior to questioning. Also, I fully agree with the present adult role, having a parent or guardian present does not adequately protect young people either, as research shows that only 42% of adults understand Miranda warnings themselves. The consequences are significant as adolescents are two to three times more likely to confess than adults and when you factor in the permanent and significant consequences of justice system involvement, including the tension and incarceration in the court record, it is urgent that our legislature takes steps to ensure protections.
This Bill does that by requiring videotaping of interrogations and having an7589 attorney present at the reading of Miranda warnings during police interrogations and it really would also bring about equity. I want to just state this. Judge Blitzman is correct that the public defender’s office will be able to provide this type of protection. Many young people from privileged backgrounds, they often have private counsel retained before speaking to law enforcement, this type of protection should not be limited or based upon a young person's socioeconomic background, this would ensure equity and that protection for all children. I'd like to end very quickly with a quote, one final quote from Doctor Lindsay Malloy who did a lot of research in this area and she states, unfortunately, parents often lack the knowledge and legal sophistication to appropriately advise their children so the appropriate adult really should be an Attorney. I fully agree, this Bill would ensure that young people have that protection in Massachusetts. And for these reasons, I respectfully request that you favorably report this legislation. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER10 - Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Also, I noticed that Michelle Sicola is joining online.
And then in person, it
We'll see now Gonzales.
Sorry if I sorry if I mispronounce your first name.
DELSONIA GONZALEZ - COMMITTEE FOR PUBLIC COUNSEL SERVICE - SB 69 - Good morning, Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy and members of the joint committee. My name is Delsonia Gonzales, and I'm the deputy chief counsel of the youth advocacy division of the committee for public counsel service overseeing juvenile defense in Massachusetts. I'm here to testify in support of Senate Bill 69. Chairman Livingstone, as Judge Blitzman mentioned, you also filed a similar Bill, House 1650, and during the last session, the Bill received a favorable vote out of this committee. I'd like to begin with a question that was posed to Judge Blitzman as overseeing juvenile defense in Massachusetts. the number of attorneys wouldn't change because these youth would be assigned counsel anyway, and with an attorney present, the case may not result in criminal charges.
So, I just wanted to point that out first. Youth are uniquely vulnerable to unknowing and voluntary and false confessions given their developmental immaturity. The requirement that an attorney be present during custodial interrogation is essential to ensure a youth's constitutional rights are protected and the process is fair. Prior to becoming chief counsel in 2021, I represented children in delinquency and youthful offender proceedings in Massachusetts for over 16 years. And during that time, I represented a 15-year-old boy who was accused of a serious felony, the child's never been in trouble before, he was brought to the police station with his father. Although he was visibly upset and sobbed loudly throughout the majority of7787 the interview, placed in his hands over his head, hiding his face, putting his head on the table, the interrogation was aggressive and7795 persistent and lasted over two7797 hours.
During the interrogation, the detectives repeatedly put their hands on the youth lifting his head and pulling7803 his shirt over him and telling him to tell the truth and that he was tearing his family apart. They also used his religion to psychologically pressure him to falsely confessing. One of the detectives who knew how important his religion was to him said God is watching, and during the suppression of the statements, the judge found that these tactics that were used were manipulative and found that during the interrogation, the youth had unequivocally invoked his right to remain silent, which the police ignored. Although his father was present, he said that he didn't understand the warnings and thought it was disrespectful and not customary to disobey authority, especially the police and told his son to answer to the questions. Seeing that I'm running out of time, I'd rely on what has already been said by Judge Blitzman and Leon Smith around the research and would urge the committee members to favorably vote on this Bill. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Barbara. Any questions?
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your7874 testimony.
SPEAKER21 - Thank you.
CYNTHIA - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 147 - Good afternoon, Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy and members of the Joint Committee. My name is Cynthia, I'm a mom, a college student and early educator and an advocate and also a shelter resident living in Dorchester. I'm proud to be here today to explain the urgent needs policy is contained in the bill, H 147. As a current family living in a shelter, I'm here to be the voice many families who don't have it and for children as well. I have had including myself, many mothers express their frustration when8339 it comes to not having access to a childcare voucher, mothers who feel that they cannot continue on in life or progress in life because they're unable to go to school or start working due to the lack of childcare, expressing their frustrations and the pressure of shelter on top of us asking us to save up money and go out and work and find something to do. Also, as an early an early educator, I have been able to see these kids who have been in the shelters for eight months, nine months without getting an education, not getting the needs they need.
I also have a son who just started EI after a year. I advocated for him for a year8394 because he had no words, he's nonverbal, he has about, I think, just five words, and they're mostly common. Like, mom, dad, I'm hungry or bottle or whatever. As a mom and many mothers here, you know, how frustrating it can be to not being able to help your child express their emotions and express their feelings. Seeing my son constantly banging his head on the floor, pull his hair out, hit his friends, his teachers, me, and public, and at home, and the trauma that it has caused him, I'm not getting these services. I've been in the shelter for a year, and he just got a caseworker maybe, like, two weeks ago. The process was8440 long, it was harder8442 for me and8444 I8444 think that families would benefit from this Bill because there's many kids in the shelters who need it,8452 my son being one of them. If I would've had the8456 easy access of a voucher and DI when I first arrived, my son8460 would probably be more verbal now and he wouldn't have these behavior issues that we are better challenging as a mother, as a single mother in a shelter working full-time, full-time student. So, it's hard, but thank you.
KATE BARRAND - HORIZON FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN - HB 147 - Thank you for describing the problem. So, thank you, Chair Kennedy and Livingstone, and members of the committee. My name is Kate Barrand, I'm here from Horizon for homeless children, and we are the only organization of Commonwealth that serves homeless children. So, we are acutely aware of the need for this Bill that I support, which is H 147. For the issues raised by our wonderful mother here, we remain the right to shelter state. We are having a crisis, most people don't fit under the stringent8508 guidelines for emergency assistance in this state, so most of the homeless are8514 outside of the shelter system, and this Bill is inclusive of both the sheltered and unsheltered, which is very important. The average stay in a Boston shelter now is 24 months, that's 24 months of the most important five years. Half of the children in shelter are under five, that's the most important time in your brain development.
According to recent estimates, we have about 6000 children under the age of three experiencing homelessness. What we know from study after study, and from the experiences we have in our classrooms, this is a deep and lasting negative impact on children and their development. If the appropriate intervention is not supplied, we see it every day in developmental delays, we see it in attachment issues, we see it in social and emotional dysregulation. All of this can be addressed if these children get put into early education programs, and can get access easily to early intervention. Right now, we have children be denied early intervention, who are homeless, not the right plan. So, what we're going for here is the appropriate interventions that exist today are simply made accessible, easily accessible, categorical eligibility for early intervention does that.
They don't need to be screened, homelessness gets them the service, that would make it infinitely easier. In addition, there is still too much bureaucracy in the process of getting a voucher. The EEC has all the right intentions right now, and it's making progress but with changes in administration, people change policy. So, what we're trying to do by codifying both of these in law is to make this a permanent situation in Massachusetts that the services we have are made easily accessible to the children who need them the most. The reason for this is that these issues lay the foundation for these same children being homeless adults, and we're seeing that now. I've been at this long enough that I know the moms we're serving are often children who grew up in the system. We didn't address it then, so let's get it right this time. Thank you so much for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Annie. Thank you for letting us come back up after we missed
SPEAKER1 - Of course. Of course.
SPEAKER46 - This is a very long line.
SPEAKER1 - I think I think some Any questions? My co chairs us on.
KENNEDY - I just have another quick question, and in fairness, I appreciate if you don't have the answer on hand. But when Mayor Wu testified earlier, she referenced 1440 children, I think, in Boston alone that would immediately fit these criteria if this law was to pass. Do you have any sense in Boston alone how many new early education and care slots would be needed to be able to meet that demand alone? Let alone what I can imagine both in Boston as well as statewide is a waiting list for available early education and care programs. I ask that somewhat as a comment for our partners in the education committee, but also as a question just to, I'm curious to gauge the sense of that.
BARRAND - So I don't think we have the answer to that today, but I am happy to go try and get that answer. It's not hard to figure out, it is not an enormous number. I know we did early intervention, but we didn't do the voucher piece. So, I think what we should do is get back SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
to you.
No.
SPEAKER2 - No worries. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER15 - Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Any other questions? Thank you for sharing your personal story. Thank you for your time.
Another person we called earlier with Cynthia McKinley. Is is she here? Great.
SPEAKER30 - Good afternoon. Thank you so much for fitting me on -- Of course.
SPEAKER1 - --
SPEAKER3 - part of the retirement amount of this work.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, you heard?
SPEAKER13 - Yeah.
SPEAKER30 - So
CYNTHIA MCKINLEY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - So I'm Cindy McKinley, I'm from the Amesbury. I have a young woman with autism and a career human services person. So, I want to share an experience that I had about two years ago because I think it speaks to where we're at for that. So about two years ago, my daughter and I were at a fundraising for autism services and, as you might know, there are information tables and all kinds of people from the autism community are there. And8768 making some of the rounds and speaking to people that were representing various agencies and the autism commission and etcetera, one thing that was reported was that providers were reporting that they were at a place where they could take three to five cupcakes, which is probably unfortunate term, but I think we kind of all know what that means. versus one kid who has more complex challenges.
So, this is still what we're hearing from providers today and in all the meetings that I attend, that is still what we hear that there are just some folks that are so complex relatively that they are more complicated, they have behavioral issues, they have complex medical issues. The feeling is that they don't have staff and when they do get them, they don't retain them so they can't have a situation where staff get to understand these folks and work with them. And, my concern is that we're going to have some very unpleasant nasty and unfortunate outcomes and I think that was alluded to in some private testimony. So, my kid is a lovely young woman, she sings like an angel, she did not get that from me, I will tell you.
She's a member of a choir, she has, in the past, been able to do computer work, she's been able to volunteer in animal shelter, but she cannot have a conversation with you and she finds the world overwhelming. It often becomes so anxiety producing that she will have a meltdown. It then requires people that understand her, that know her that she trusts, that she has a relationship with who can help her and have assessed what works, what doesn't. So, she's not a cupcake. Like, Wendy, she's a ton of stuff to8887 offer, and because she's of higher needs, as so many of these folks said, are somehow excluded and I don't think that's avert or anything else, I think it's just the reality of the situation. And when we look at staffing, this well pre dated Covid has been going on for quite a number of years ever since my daughter's been in service is several years, you know, folks don't stay, there'll be openings for months and there'll be openings even for years, I have seen that as well, and the turnover is just people can't stay. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
SPEAKER30 - Thank you for fitting me and I appreciate it. Any questions?
SPEAKER8 - Rep Ramos and I would like to welcome you. We represent Ames Barry.
SPEAKER30 - I know you represent names, Marie. Thank you for being here.
Thank you so8941 much. And, again, thanks for giving me that.
8943 SPEAKER18943 -8943 Thank8943 you.
Next, I wanna check for online. Is there anyone who is online who signed up to testify today, who have calls,8955 and you just missed your time.
No? Okay. And then I know there there's some people in this room that signed up today. Is there anyone that signed up before today that hasn't testified yet?
Come on down.
SPEAKER25 - apologize for not only the other time.
SPEAKER1 - No problem.
TIMOTHY SCALONA - HARVARD LEGAL AID BUREAU - HB 211 - SB 145 - Good morning to members of the committee. I'll skip my titles, but I'm a current Suffolk law student set to graduate next year. I'm also serving this summer at the Harvard legal aid bureau, advocating for people experiencing eviction and foreclosure under supervision, of course. Most importantly, however, I'm a survivor of homelessness, and I'm here today to advocate and support on House Bill 211 S 145. As of today, 4000 days ago, nearly 11 years ago, my life as I knew it, ended. Facing the foreclosure of my childhood home in Wilmington, Massachusetts, my family of nine, was thrust into homelessness. My six siblings, parents and I moved between hotel shelters and motels to survive. We often lived in rooms with two beds on microwave and a mini fridge for nine people.
When we could no9052 longer afford our own hotels, we went to the9054 state emergency assistance program for support. It provided us shelter, but it imposed its own form of violence on my family. It occasionally places nearly a hundred miles from our home community subject this to constant intrusion from state workers and it allowed hotel staff to physically separate us the undesirable homeless people from the normal guests and enforce these barriers in the institution. While I was privileged enough to escape homelessness, go into college at UMass9083 Emerson, and then go to law school, the crisis took its toll, and I didn't overcome it. For some days, it feels like I never left homelessness9091 itself. My family continues to sit at the edge of the homelessness crisis, and in fact, they were served with eviction notice last week. If only I were graduating from law school this year, then maybe I could help them.
My lived experiences inspire me to express my support both for the active improving emergency housing assistance for children and families experiencing homelessness. I support the Bill as it stands as it would improve filter access, improve family conditions under those circumstances. I would also like to express my support to the act establishing bill of rights individuals experiencing homelessness. In part, I'm inspired to do so because of my own lived experiences where we were demeaned and discriminated against because of my family's housing status from caseworkers and people in our home community. However, I also support it in light of what I have studied as a law student.
The realities that homeless people, especially once in far worse conditions that I experienced are persecuted and villainized for existing in public spaces, they're subjected to constant surveillance monitoring and harassment. This subjects them to high rates of illness and violence and if this trauma were not enough, they're publicly crucified for existing and that's in those spaces. Failing to protect them from discriminatory coercive tactics only exacerbate situation and perpetuates the homelessness crisis. The lifespan of somebody experiencing housing and security in the United States is 30 years less than somebody who's actually housed, so it has a bloody legacy. This is a housing emergency, and we have the power to build the world where housing is free, and these Bills help to create that world. Thank you for the time to speak today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
No problem. I don't think you said your name.
SPEAKER47 - Oh my god. Tim Skalona is my name.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. And thank you for sharing your personal story. I know how difficult that can be. Are there any questions?
Thank you.
Right. Is there anyone else that signed up before today that has not testified yet? Okay. Like, all the people that sign up today. Rich Glassman?
RICK GLASSMAN - DISABILITY LAW CENTER - HB 171 - SB 83 - Good afternoon, Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy, and members of the committee. Thanks for the opportunity to comment. I wanted to speak to House 171 and Senate 83. I'm the director of advocacy at the Disability Law Center. Just a few brief comments. You've heard so many different perspectives from workers, from individuals, from families, from program managers about the workforce crisis. I'm really appreciative that you all have devoted so much time to that this morning. It really is, as Maura Sullivan said earlier, a systemic failure, but one piece of this to be aware of is that it's also the root cause of a lot of abuse and neglect. And we investigate as the federal protection and advocacy system abuse and neglect and when we scratch the surface, what we see is temporary relief staff and inadequate pay and high staff vacancies and turnover and more screening and hiring decisions and so on.
So let me comment briefly on House 171, which I think is a really good start to tackling this problem. Two things about the Bill that I think are very good,9296 one is the 75 percentiles, and you've heard about that, the cost of living is so high here. The other is that it addresses day hub. As I understand, the Chapter 257 increases don't drill down the day hub, it's such a big problem. I think some of the other bills before you today, Senate 77, Senate 84, don't have language that gets you there. So, I think that language needs to be examined really closely. There's obvious language in House 171. So those are two really good things. Two other comments about ways in which I think the Bill can be improved. First, it sets up three tiers, basically,9337 money that goes to DSPs, direct support professionals, then to middle managers, essentially, and then benchmarking to fringe and health care costs and retirement.
If you look at the definition of middle managers, it doesn't look at people that are just over the DSP, it includes all the people in the back office except for executives and I think that that is too broad a category and diverts too much money away from where it's really needed, which is in the front ranks. Then the second thing is that I think the Bill needs tiers in which the9377 money goes first to DSPs and9379 then to middle managers and then9381 to the retirement and fringe which, as it's written, could even include executive retirement and fringe. So, I think it needs a little tweaking, we've made some suggested changes to the language but I think it deserves your9393 support. Again, thank you for tackling such an important issue. We appreciate it. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. And if you submitted those with those changes this morning. Great. Thank you. Alright. Any questions?
Thank you. Next, Caroline O'Neil.
Sorry, I thought she was gonna be Caroline O'Neill. Somebody signed up Charlie F.
Chris White?
John,
Nann Leonard. Great.
NEIL LEONARD - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - Thank you for9442 your patience this morning, and listening to our9444 stories. I'm also supporting House 171 and Senate 83. And my son is fortunate enough to go Nashoba learning group, whose founder, Liz Martineau, spoke to you earlier today about how she's had to raise salaries in order to continue providing the high-quality care that he gets at his day hub. One point that I don't think has been addressed yet is our federal financial participation, CMS just recently in May published regulations for public comment that would revamp the way rates are set for day hub services. For the first time, make sure that quality is one of the components, and they make the point that the money that they are spending through FFP for core quality services is a waste of their money, and they really only want to pay for high quality services. So that's what my son is fortunate to get but that's not what can be afforded at the rates that are currently paid. So, I just want to make sure that we maintain our access to that 50% match we get from the federal government by improving the quality of services by improving those rates. That's it. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions?
Thank you.
Does anyone else here wanna testify?
SPEAKER15 - It's my arm, the data.
SPEAKER1 - Sure.
SPEAKER15 - Anytime.
LAUREN GUTIERREZ - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 171 - SB 83 - So, again, my name is Lauren Gutierrez, I appreciate your times. I did want to let you know that I can only work part time because I asked you to approximately 25 hours a week. Care and management, just multiple providers, multiple medical and dysregulation and very challenging behaviors. 25 years of working part time has impacted my husband and I's ability to live a life after work. My husband's 65, and he can't retire and I hope that9578 I can go on, as long as I can go on,9580 in order for us to have a life one day,9584 when we can't retire. I just wanted to mention the direct care providers, you can make more money at Starbucks, plus you get tips, plus you don't have to brush anybody's teeth, toilet them, help them with their period, or shower them.
I have other children, I have a son-in-law who's a Quincy police officer, I have a daughter who's an occupational therapist, I have a son who's in senior leadership at Mass Saves, I have a daughter who's in finance, a son who's a9614 therapeutic massage therapist, and I'm stopping out of stata in New Hampshire and we can't go to their children's events as grandparents, one of us can go. So, we're always taking turn, who's going to recital, who's going to the sports game and quite9632 frankly who's going to the wedding. My husband's brother and his wife are having their 50th anniversary in a week and a half, and he's going to Arizona because we both can't go, this is not going to get better unless the direct care provider salary is addressed.
I just want to say this last thing in closing, I want to live a great life, I want to have a great story and I believe that it's not too late and that it is possible. I also wanted to say that Ashley loves music, and my husband says her favorite genres, the 3C's, church music, Christmas music, and country music. That's how we wake up every day is the praise and worship church music that she chooses and there's this one song that has been stuck on the roof for week to week to weekend, it's called Way maker. It's a very sweet song, and quite frankly, kind of face build and affirming and I just wanted to say that I didn't want to come here today, like, Oliver Twist begging, please, sir, may I have some luck. I wanted to come here to say, you can be way makers and you can make a way. You may lay for myself, for Ashley, for my husband, and thousands, and tens of thousands of families and individuals with disabilities9713 just like us across the Commonwealth, and 25 years is an awful long time to be running in this much with deficit. So, thank you again kindly and for the little bit of extra time. I appreciate it. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for for sharing Any questions? Okay.
SPEAKER15 - Yeah.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
Does anyone else here. Has anyone does anyone else here not had a chance to testify?
Right. Well, with that, motion to adjourn the hearing.
Thanks. With that, we're turned. Thank you.
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