[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2941 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 587
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 2941
[Report No. 118-693]
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 27, 2023
Mr. Fitzpatrick (for himself and Mr. Morelle) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the
Workforce
September 19, 2024
Additional sponsors: Ms. Ross, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Golden of Maine, Mr.
Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Trone, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Molinaro, Ms.
Kuster, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Wild, Mr. Higgins of New York, Ms. Norton, Mrs.
Peltola, Mr. Lawler, Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania, Ms. Caraveo, Mr.
Pappas, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Evans, Mr. Davis
of North Carolina, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Mrvan, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr.
Connolly, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Nickel, Mr. Casten, Ms. Davids of
Kansas, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Porter, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Pettersen, Ms. Pingree,
Mr. Moulton, Mr. Cartwright, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Neguse, Mr.
Tonko, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Carey, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr.
Estes, Mr. Comer, Mr. Smucker, Mrs. Kim of California, Mr. Kildee, Mr.
Crow, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Auchincloss, and Mr. Carter of Louisiana
September 19, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April
27, 2023]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Recognizing the Role of Direct
Support Professionals Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Direct support professionals play a critical role in
the care provided to individuals with intellectual and
developmental disabilities.
(2) Providers of home- and community-based services are
experiencing difficulty hiring and retaining direct support
professionals, with a national turnover rate of 43 percent, as
identified in a 2021 study by the National Core Indicators, and
full-time vacancy rates increasing by 94 percent between 2019
and 2021.
(3) High turnover rates can lead to instability for
individuals receiving services, and this may result in
individuals not receiving enough personalized care to help them
reach their goals for independent living.
(4) A discrete occupational category for direct support
professionals will help States and the Federal government--
(A) better interpret the shortage in the labor
market of direct support professionals; and
(B) collect data on the high turnover rate of
direct support professionals.
(5) The Standard Occupational Classification system is
designed and maintained solely for statistical purposes, and is
used by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers and
jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of
collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data.
(6) Occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification
system are classified based on work performed and, in some
cases, on the skills, education, or training needed to perform
the work.
(7) Establishing a discrete occupational category for
direct support professionals will--
(A) correct an inaccurate representation in the
Standard Occupational Classification system;
(B) recognize these professionals for the critical
and often overlooked work that they perform for the
disabled community, which work is different than the
work of a home health aide or a personal care aide; and
(C) better align the Standard Occupational
Classification system with related classification
systems.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL.
In this Act, the term ``direct support professional'' means an
individual who, in exchange for compensation, provides services to an
individual with an intellectual disability or a developmental
disability (as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities
Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 15002)) that
promote such individual's independence, including--
(1) services that enhance independence and community
inclusion for such individual, including traveling with such
individual, attending and assisting such individual while
visiting friends and family, shopping, or socializing;
(2) services such as coaching and supporting such
individual in communicating needs, achieving self-expression,
pursuing personal goals, living independently, and
participating actively in employment or voluntary roles in the
community;
(3) services such as providing assistance with activities
of daily living (such as feeding, bathing, toileting, and
ambulation) and with tasks such as meal preparation, shopping,
light housekeeping, and laundry; or
(4) services that support such individual at home, work,
school, or any other community setting.
SEC. 4. REVISION OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget (in this Act referred to as the ``Director'') shall, as part of
the first revision process of the Standard Occupational Classification
system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, consider
establishing a separate code for direct support professionals as a
subset of healthcare support occupations.
(b) Report to Congress.--If the Director decides not to establish
the separate code for direct support professionals described in
subsection (a), the Director shall, not later than 60 days after the
Director announces in the Federal Register the final decision of the
revision process described in such subsection, submit to the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of
Representatives a report explaining why such separate code was not
established.
Union Calendar No. 587
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 2941
[Report No. 118-693]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
September 19, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed