Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1437 To require the Office of Management and Budget to revise the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 28, 2021 Ms. HASSAN (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CASEY, Ms. ERNST, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require the Office of Management and Budget to revise the Standard Occupational Classification system to es- tablish a separate code for direct support professionals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recognizing the Role 4 of Direct Support Professionals Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:45 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1437 IS (1) Direct support professionals play a critical 1 role in the care provided to children and adults with 2 intellectual and developmental disabilities. 3 (2) Providers of home- and community-based 4 services are experiencing difficulty hiring and retain- 5 ing direct support professionals, with a national 6 turnover rate of 45 percent as identified in a 2016 7 study by the National Core Indicators. 8 (3) High turnover rates can lead to instability 9 for individuals receiving services, and this may result 10 in individuals not receiving enough personalized care 11 to help them reach their goals for independent liv- 12 ing. 13 (4) A discrete occupational category for direct 14 support professionals will help States and the Fed- 15 eral Government— 16 (A) better interpret the shortage in the 17 labor market of direct support professionals; 18 and 19 (B) collect data on the high turnover rate 20 of direct support professionals. 21 (5) The Standard Occupational Classification 22 system is designed and maintained solely for statis- 23 tical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical 24 agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupa- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:45 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1437 IS tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu- 1 lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 2 (6) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 3 Classification system are classified based on work 4 performed and, in some cases, on the skills, edu- 5 cation, or training needed to perform the work. 6 (7) Establishing a discrete occupational cat- 7 egory for direct support professionals will— 8 (A) correct an inaccurate representation in 9 the Standard Occupational Classification sys- 10 tem; 11 (B) recognize these professionals for the 12 critical and often times overlooked work that 13 they perform for the disabled community, which 14 work is different than the work of a home 15 health aide or a personal care aide; and 16 (C) better align the Standard Occupational 17 Classification system with related classification 18 systems. 19 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DIRECT SUPPORT PERSONNEL. 20 In this Act, the term ‘‘direct support personnel’’ 21 means an individual who, in exchange for compensation, 22 provides services to an individual with a disability (as de- 23 fined in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:45 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1437 IS of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102)) that promote such individ- 1 ual’s independence, including— 2 (1) services that enhance independence and 3 community inclusion for such individual, including 4 traveling with such individual, attending and assist- 5 ing such individual while visiting friends and family, 6 shopping, or socializing; 7 (2) services such as coaching and supporting 8 such individual in communicating needs, achieving 9 self-expression, pursuing personal goals, living inde- 10 pendently, and participating actively in employment 11 or voluntary roles in the community; 12 (3) services such as providing assistance with 13 activities of daily living (such as feeding, bathing, 14 toileting, and ambulation) and with tasks such as 15 meal preparation, shopping, light housekeeping, and 16 laundry; or 17 (4) services that support such individual at 18 home, work, school, or any other community setting. 19 SEC. 4. REVISION OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSI- 20 FICATION SYSTEM. 21 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 22 et shall, not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 23 of this Act, revise the Standard Occupational Classifica- 24 tion system to establish a separate code (31–1123) for di- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:45 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1437 IS rect support professionals as a healthcare support occupa- 1 tion. Such code shall be a subset of 31–1120, which in- 2 cludes home health aides and personal care aides. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:45 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS