Bill Text: NY S03189 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Enacts the "fair pay for home care act" relating to minimum wages applicable to home care aides; provides for a minimum wage of 150% of the applicable statewide or regional minimum wage.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 36-7)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-29 - PRINT NUMBER 3189A [S03189 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S03189-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3189--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 30, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MAY, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BRESLIN, BRISPORT, BROUK, CHU, CLEARE, COMRIE, COONEY, FELDER, FERNANDEZ, GALLIVAN, GIANARIS, GONZA- LEZ, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HELMING, HINCHEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, KENNEDY, LIU, MANNION, MAYER, MYRIE, OBERACKER, PALUMBO, PARKER, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, SKOUFIS, STAVISKY, TEDISCO, THOMAS, WEBB, WEIK -- read twice and ordered print- ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- recommitted to the Committee on Health in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the "fair pay for home care act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "fair pay 2 for home care act". 3 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 3614-f of the public health law, as 4 amended by section 3 of part NN of chapter 57 of the laws of 2023, is 5 amended to read as follows: 6 2. (a) Beginning October first, two thousand twenty-two, in addition 7 to the otherwise applicable minimum wage under section six hundred 8 fifty-two of the labor law, or any otherwise applicable wage rule or 9 order under article nineteen of the labor law, the minimum wage for a 10 home care aide shall be increased by an amount of two dollars and zero 11 cents. 12 (b) [for] For the period January first, two thousand twenty-four 13 through December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four, the minimum 14 wage for a home care aide shall be as follows: 15 (i) for each hour worked in downstate, eighteen dollars and fifty-five 16 cents; and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01890-05-4S. 3189--A 2 1 (ii) for each hour worked in remainder of state, seventeen dollars and 2 fifty-five cents; 3 (c) [for] For the period January first, two thousand twenty-five 4 through [December thirty-first] April first, two thousand twenty-five, 5 the minimum wage for a home care aide shall be as follows: 6 (i) for each hour worked in downstate, nineteen dollars and ten cents; 7 and 8 (ii) for each hour worked in remainder of state, eighteen dollars and 9 ten cents; 10 (d) [for] For the period [January first, two thousand twenty-six11through December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-six, the minimum wage12for a home care aide shall be as follows:13(i) for each hour worked in downstate, nineteen dollars and sixty-five14cents; and15(ii) for each hour worked in remainder of state, eighteen dollars and16sixty-five cents;17(e) beginning January first, two thousand twenty-seven, and each Janu-18ary first thereafter, the minimum wage for a home care aide shall be the19sum of the minimum wage for a home care aide from the prior calendar20year and the home care worker wage adjustment.21(f) (i) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in no22event shall the minimum wage for a home care aide in downstate exceed23the sum of the wage set by the commissioner of labor pursuant to para-24graph (a) of subdivision one-b of section six hundred fifty-two of the25labor law plus three dollars and zero cents.26(ii) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in no event27shall the minimum wage for a home care aide in remainder of state exceed28the sum of the wage set by the commissioner of labor pursuant to para-29graph (b) of subdivision one-b of section six hundred fifty-two of the30labor law plus three dollars and zero cents] on and after April second, 31 two thousand twenty-five, the minimum wage for a home care aide shall be 32 no less than one hundred fifty percent of the applicable statewide mini- 33 mum wage or applicable regional minimum wage pursuant to section six 34 hundred fifty-two of the labor law. 35 § 3. Section 3614-f of the public health law is amended by adding five 36 new subdivisions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 to read as follows: 37 5. (a) The commissioner shall establish a regional minimum hourly base 38 reimbursement rate for all providers employing workers subject to the 39 minimum wage provisions established in subdivision two of this section. 40 The regional minimum hourly base reimbursement rate shall be based on 41 regions established by the commissioner, provided that for areas subject 42 to section thirty-six hundred fourteen-c of this article, each area with 43 a different prevailing rate of total compensation, as defined in such 44 section, shall be its own region. 45 (b) For the purposes of this section, "regional minimum hourly base 46 reimbursement rate" means a reimbursement rate that reflects the average 47 combined costs associated with the provision of direct service inclusive 48 of, but not limited to: 49 (i) overtime costs; 50 (ii) transportation costs; 51 (iii) all benefits; 52 (iv) all payroll taxes, including but not limited to the federal 53 insurance contributions act, medicare, the federal unemployment tax act, 54 state unemployment insurance, disability insurance, workers' compen- 55 sation, and the metropolitan transportation authority tax; 56 (v) related increases tied to base wages such as compression;S. 3189--A 3 1 (vi) reasonable administrative costs as defined by the commissioner; 2 (vii) allowances for capital costs; 3 (viii) the development of profit or reserves as allowable by law or 4 regulations of the commissioner; and 5 (ix) any additional supplemental payments. 6 (c) Following the initial established regional minimum hourly base 7 reimbursement rate established under this section, the commissioner 8 shall annually adjust the regional minimum hourly base reimbursement 9 rate for each region by a trend factor to reflect and accommodate any 10 additional labor law increases, changes or mandates. Updated rates shall 11 be made publicly available the first day of each October thereafter for 12 use on the first day of January of the following year. 13 6. (a) No payment made to a provider who employs home care aides 14 subject to this section that is less than the regional minimum hourly 15 base reimbursement rate established pursuant to subdivision five of this 16 section for services provided under authorization by a local department 17 of social services, a managed care provider under section three hundred 18 sixty-four-j of the social services law, or a managed long-term care 19 provider under section forty-four hundred three-f of this chapter shall 20 be deemed adequate. 21 (b) The commissioner shall submit any and all necessary applications 22 for approvals and/or waivers to the federal centers for medicare and 23 medicaid services to secure approval to establish regional minimum hour- 24 ly base reimbursement rates and make state-directed payments to provid- 25 ers for the purposes of supporting wage increases. 26 (i) If approved, directed payments shall be made to such providers of 27 medicaid services through contracts with managed care organizations 28 where applicable, provided that the commissioner ensures that such 29 directed payments are in accordance with the terms of this section. 30 (ii) If the state directed payment is not approved, the department 31 shall require plans to justify deviations apart from the regional mini- 32 mum hourly base reimbursement rates. 33 (c) The commissioner shall ensure that managed care capitation is 34 adjusted to ensure rate adequacy for the managed care organizations in 35 order to comply with this section. 36 7. Nothing in this section shall preclude providers employing home 37 care aides covered under this section or payers from paying or contract- 38 ing for services at rates higher than the regional minimum hourly base 39 reimbursement rate if the parties agree to such terms. 40 8. The commissioner shall publish and post regional minimum hourly 41 base reimbursement rates annually and shall take all necessary steps to 42 advise commercial and government programs payers of home care services 43 of the regional minimum hourly base reimbursement rates and require 44 other state authorized payers to reimburse providers of home care 45 services at the regional minimum hourly base reimbursement rate. 46 9. For years in which rate adjustments to the regional minimum hourly 47 base reimbursement rate have not been calculated prior to the start of 48 the calendar year, the previous year's rate shall remain in place until 49 the new rate is calculated, plus the annual average consumer price 50 index-urban or consumer price index-rural, as applicable. If it is 51 determined that retroactive rate adjustments are necessary, payment 52 adjustments will be made as a direct pass through to providers within 53 sixty days of the adjusted rate. 54 § 4. To ensure compliance with this minimum wage increase, the comp- 55 troller shall have the authority to review the contracts entered into 56 between a managed care organization and a licensed home care servicesS. 3189--A 4 1 agency, fiscal intermediary, or any agency subject to the provisions of 2 section 3614-f of the public health law to ensure that rates being 3 offered are adequate and meet the department of health's actuarial stan- 4 dards. The comptroller, in consultation with the medicaid fraud control 5 unit, may develop and promulgate a process to ensure such audits comply 6 with state and federal law to protect proprietary information and 7 contracts. In the event that the comptroller finds evidence that managed 8 care organizations are not paying sufficient adequate rates, they will 9 refer such instances to the department of health and the medicaid fraud 10 control unit for enforcement. If the department of health or the medi- 11 caid fraud control unit chooses not to pursue action related to this 12 referral, it shall inform, in writing, the comptroller's office as to 13 the reasoning. Such reports, and the department of health's responses, 14 shall be public information and made available on the comptroller's 15 website. For the purposes of this section, the term "managed care organ- 16 ization" shall mean an entity operating pursuant to section 364-j of the 17 social services law or article 44 of the public health law. 18 § 5. 1. The commissioners of the departments of taxation and finance, 19 health and labor, in consultation with the office of temporary and disa- 20 bility assistance, shall undertake a study regarding the use of an 21 expanded state earned income tax credit as a strategy to improve the 22 home care aide workforce. Such study shall include an evaluation of 23 issues, including but not limited to: 24 a. the range of increase needed to increase total compensation to the 25 median compensation by county and/or region; 26 b. implementation challenges related to a specific sector enhanced 27 earned income credit; 28 c. possible effects on worker recruitment and retention; 29 d. fiscal impact on the state; and 30 e. any other issues as determined by the commissioners and depart- 31 ments. 32 2. The study shall include a public hearing and/or other processes to 33 gather information from all interested parties. The commissioner of 34 taxation and finance shall report the findings of the study no later 35 than nine months after the effective date of this act or December 31, 36 2024, whichever is sooner. 37 § 6. Severability. If any provision of this act, or any application 38 of any provision of this act, is held to be invalid, or to violate or be 39 inconsistent with any federal law or regulation, that shall not affect 40 the validity or effectiveness of any other provision of this act, or any 41 other application of any provision of this act which can be given effect 42 without that provision or application; and to that end, the provisions 43 and applications of this act are severable. 44 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 45 section two of this act shall take effect January 1, 2025.
