From Work to Include's Newsletter
| The 2021 session of the Indiana General Assembly is over half-way. Now is when bills move between houses. Here are a few of the bills you may want to contact your legislator about and follow. Work to Include is working with a few legislators to hold a summer study committee on how to improve Indiana’s Medicaid Buy-In program, MedWorks, and other Medicaid eligibility issues. Once we have a resolution, we will ask you to contact legislators to be sure it passes and the hearing is scheduled. If you know of other bills WTI should follow, let us know. - HB 1001 This is the budget bill and currently it includes a DSP wage increase to get them to an average of $13/hour. Let your Senator and Representative know how critical it is to increase DSP wages. Some are concerned it will lead to lower service plans under the Medicaid Waiver. Be sure to tell your legislator that this increase should not have a negative impact on the number of services people receive. The bill also includes language on Special Education Funding clarifying the classifications of categories based on disabilities.
- SB259 Parents with disabilities. This bill specifies that it is the policy of the state to recognize the importance of family and children, including the parenting rights of a parent, regardless of whether the parent has a disability. This would ensure children would not be removed from parents simply because they have a disability.
- HB 1516 Licensure for ABA Therapists and Title Protection for Music Therapists. Establishes the behavior analyst board (board) that consists of three behavior analyst members, one consumer member, and one physician member. Requires the board to adopt rules concerning the practice of behavior analysis and continuing education requirements for behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts.
- HB 1313- Working with Department of Workforce Development to contact students who left school since 2003 with an IEP, certificate of completion or a certificate of attendance to provide them with access to resources to get a diploma or workforce training opportunities.
There is a great website where you can track the progress during the second half of the session. All you need to do is put the bill number into the block on the left of the screen and you can see up to date action. |
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