Hello OPRA Members,

First, we want to thank those of you who provided verbal or written testimony this week! Those of you providing verbal testimony spent long days at the at the Statehouse and we can’t possibly express how appreciative we are for your participation in the process!

OPRA staff and your lobbying team have drafted an amendment to the FY 2020-FY 2021 state operating budget (House Bill 166) that requests an additional $13.75 Million beyond what Governor DeWine and Director Davis has included in their proposed budget to be devoted to the system. The OPRA amendment includes funding needed for HPC providers to get DSP wages from Director Davis’ proposed average HPC DSP wage of $12.38 up to an average hourly wage of $13.00 and funding for day array providers to help cover the cost of providing community integration as mandated by the CMS HCBS Settings Rule. I have attached a document (OPRA Proposed Amendment Language) that includes the exact language of the amendment and a document that goes in to more detail about the mechanics of the amendment (OPRA Proposed Amendment Explainer). We will discuss this proposal on the Friday Members-Only Update call tomorrow morning.

The budget will be moving out of the House Finance Sub-Committee on Health and Human Services and will be moving to the full House Finance Committee during the next few days.  We need to keep up the momentum, so we ask that you reach out to your local legislators through email, by phone or in person tomorrow and over the weekend to let them know that you support Director Davis’ budget initiatives, as well as OPRA’s amendment requesting an additional $13.75 M in General Revenue Funds. You can find your Legislator’s contact information here. I have also included two OPRA resources you may want to also send to your elected officials as reasoning behind why the system needs these additional funds.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Christine

Christine Touvelle

Policy Analyst

O- 614-224-6772

1152 Goodale Blvd.

Columbus, Ohio 43212