AN ACT CONCERNING A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO PROVIDE QUALITY SUPPORT AND SERVICES FOR PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 17a-218 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2017):

(d) The commissioner may provide, within available appropriations, respite care services which (1) may be administered directly by the department, or through contracts for services with providers of such services, or by means of direct subsidy to parents of persons with intellectual disability to enable the parents to purchase such services, and (2) when provided, shall be delivered at the level and frequency that such services were provided on January 1, 2017, seven days a week. The department shall give preference for respite care services to persons who are not receiving or have not received such services and persons in need of an emergency placement. The department shall provide additional respite care services based on the geographical need of families on the department's waiting list for such services. On and after January 1, 2018, the department shall offer training to individuals receiving respite care services in one or more of the following areas: (A) Self-care; (B) activities of daily living; and (C) personal and social adjustment.

Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2017) The Department of Developmental Services shall provide in-home support services to individuals and families on a department waiting list or seeking services from the department by utilizing employees who complete the department's Training Academy for Family Support program.

Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2017) The Commissioner of Developmental Services, in consultation with the Commissioner of Social Services shall, within available appropriations, adjust, in accordance with the application of standard accounting principles as prescribed by said commissioners, the amount of the grants issued to nonprofit private provider organizations who contract with the state to provide residential services, employment opportunities or day services to persons with intellectual disability. Such adjustment shall provide a pro-rata increase based on direct care employee salaries reported by such provider organizations to the Department of Developmental Services in such provider organizations' 2015 annual report, which shall be adjusted to reflect salary increases occurring after the release of such report. Such pro-rata increase shall reflect reasonable costs mandated by collective bargaining agreements with certified collective bargaining agents or otherwise provided by a nonprofit private provider organization to its employees. For purposes of this section, "employee" does not include a person employed as a manager, chief administrator or any individual who receives compensation for services pursuant to a contractual arrangement and who is not directly employed by a nonprofit private provider organization that provides residential services, employment opportunities or day services. The Commissioner of Developmental Services may establish an upper limit for reasonable costs associated with salary adjustments beyond which the adjustment shall not apply. Nothing in this section shall require the commissioner to distribute such adjustments in a way that jeopardizes anticipated federal reimbursement. Nonprofit private providers that receive such adjustments but do not provide any increase in employee salaries as described in this section on or before July 31, 2017, may be subject to a rate decrease in the same amount as the adjustment made by the Commissioner of Developmental Services.

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:

In Section 3, "in the Department of Developmental Disability's 2015 annual cost report" was changed to "by such provider organizations to the Department of Developmental Services in such provider organizations' 2015 annual report" for accuracy, and "facility" was changed to "nonprofit private provider organization" and "nonprofit" was inserted before "private provider organization" for consistency with other provisions of the section.