Amendment saves new nursing home standards board from chopping block

Two years after the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board was created, it was saved with an amendment to a bill that would repeal it.

The board’s duties include establishing minimum nursing home employment standards and standards on compensation for nursing home workers; recommending occupational health and safety standards; and investigating market conditions for wages and working conditions of nursing home workers around the state.

Sponsored by Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar (R-Fredenberg Township), HF500, as introduced, would have repealed the statutes that created and govern the board. As amended Thursday and approved by the House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, the bill would keep the board intact while prohibiting a standard created by the board from going into effect unless the standard for nursing homes is paid in full by the Legislature.

“I view House File 500 as amended as the insurance policy for the state of Minnesota, for seniors, and for this legislative body,” Zeleznikar said.

Following the committee’s 9-7 vote, the bill was referred to the House Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee. 

“It’s really a common-sense approach to addressing the high upfront cost that are created by the mandates imposed by the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board,” said Paxton Wiffler, chief operating officer of Monarch Healthcare Management.

Brian Elliott, executive director of SEIU Minnesota State Council, said the amended product is an improvement, but his union still can’t support it.

“We know that wages and benefits have not kept pace with nursing home rate increases over the last decade. We know that the bill amended will have the effect of punishing operators who've been doing the right thing, while rewarding operators who've been chronically underinvesting in their workforce, and we know that this fails to account for natural wage growth as the original standards board legislation does,” he said.