HF813 Bill Summary

• Establishes grants through the Commissioner of Human Services for disability and home and community-based providers to recruit and retain direct support and frontline workers earning $30 per hour or less.

• Eligible workers may receive up to $1,000 per year for retention payments, recruitment incentives, postsecondary education costs, child care, transportation, or other approved retention and recruitment costs.

• Grant recipients must attest to eligibility requirements, distribute full grant amounts to eligible workers, submit distribution plans within 60 days, and report within 12 months on how funds were distributed; failure to report may result in fund recoupment.

• Commissioner may audit grant use up to six years after award and must recover any funds used for unauthorized purposes; grant awards are excluded from income calculations for determining eligibility for child care assistance, food support, housing support, and other assistance programs.

• Appropriates $43,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 for workforce incentive grants and $4,000,000 for an awareness-building campaign by the Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development to recruit direct care professionals through paid advertising on television, streaming services, radio, social media, and billboards.