1.1.................... moves to amend H.F. No. 844 as follows:
1.2Delete everything after the enacting clause and insert:

1.3    "Section 1. [179A.54] INDIVIDUAL PROVIDERS OF DIRECT SUPPORT
1.4SERVICES.
1.5    Subdivision 1. Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
1.6(a) "Direct support services" has the meaning given to it under section 256B.0711,
1.7subdivision 2, paragraph (c).
1.8(b) "Individual provider" has the meaning given to it under section 256B.0711,
1.9subdivision 2, paragraph (d).
1.10(c) "Participant" has the meaning given to it under section 256B.0711, subdivision 2,
1.11paragraph (e).
1.12(d) "Participant's representative" has the meaning given to it under section
1.13256B.0711, subdivision 2, paragraph (f).
1.14    Subd. 2. Rights of individual providers and participants. (a) For the purposes of
1.15the Public Employment Labor Relations Act, under chapter 179A, individual providers
1.16shall be considered, by virtue of this section, executive branch state employees employed
1.17by the commissioner of management and budget or the commissioner's representative.
1.18This section does not require the treatment of individual providers as public employees for
1.19any other purpose. Chapter 179A shall apply to individual providers except as otherwise
1.20provided in this section. Notwithstanding section 179A.03, subdivision 14, paragraph
1.21(a), clause (5), chapter 179A shall apply to individual providers regardless of part-time
1.22or full-time employment status.
1.23(b) With regard to the application of chapter 179A to individual providers:
1.24(1) If an exclusive representative is certified pursuant to this subdivision, the mutual
1.25rights and obligations of the state and an exclusive representative of individual providers
1.26to meet and negotiate regarding terms and conditions shall extend to the subjects covered
2.1under section 256B.0711, subdivision 6, paragraph (c), but shall not include those subjects
2.2reserved to participants or participants' representatives by clause (2) of this paragraph;
2.3(2) No provision of any agreement reached between the state and any exclusive
2.4representative of individual providers, nor any arbitration award, shall interfere with the
2.5rights of participants or participants' representatives to select, hire, direct, supervise, and
2.6terminate the employment of their individual providers; to manage an individual service
2.7budget regarding the amounts and types of authorized goods or services received; or to
2.8receive direct support services from individual providers not referred to them through a
2.9state registry;
2.10(3) Any agreement reached between the state and the exclusive representative
2.11of individual providers under chapter 179A shall be submitted to the legislature to be
2.12accepted or rejected in accordance with sections 179A.22 and 3.855;
2.13(4) Individual providers shall be subject to the prohibition on strikes applied to
2.14essential employees under section 179A.18, and to the interest arbitration procedures
2.15applied to essential employees under section 179A.16;
2.16(5) The only appropriate unit for individual providers shall be a statewide unit of all
2.17individual providers, which shall be treated as an additional appropriate unit under section
2.18179A.10, subdivision 2. Individual providers who are related to their participant or their
2.19participant's representative shall not for such reason be excluded from the appropriate unit;
2.20(6) Beginning July 1, 2013, upon a showing made to the commissioner of the
2.21Bureau of Mediation Services by any employee organization wishing to represent the
2.22appropriate unit of individual providers that at least 500 individual providers support such
2.23representation, the commissioner of human services shall provide to such organization
2.24within seven days the most recent list of individual providers compiled under section
2.25256B.0711, subdivision 6, paragraph (g), and subsequent monthly lists upon request for
2.26an additional three months; and
2.27(7) Beginning August 1, 2013, any employee organization wishing to represent
2.28the appropriate unit of individual providers may seek exclusive representative status
2.29pursuant to section 179A.12. Representation elections for individual providers shall
2.30be conducted by mail ballot, and such election shall be conducted upon an appropriate
2.31petition stating that at least ten percent of the unit wishes to be represented by the
2.32petitioner. The individual providers eligible to vote in any such election shall be those
2.33individual providers on the monthly list of individual providers compiled under section
2.34256B.0711, subdivision 6, paragraph (g), most recently preceding the filing of the election
2.35petition. Except as otherwise provided, elections under this clause shall be conducted in
2.36accordance with section 179A.12.

3.1    Sec. 2. [256B.0711] QUALITY SELF-DIRECTED SERVICES WORKFORCE.
3.2    Subdivision 1. Findings and purpose. (a) The state of Minnesota has long been a
3.3leader in providing cost-effective and participant-preferred home and community-based
3.4services as an alternative to skilled nursing facility care for seniors and people with
3.5disabilities, and has a history of making improvements to strengthen this system. The
3.6state faces increasing demand for such services and a workforce able to provide them,
3.7due to changing demographics.
3.8(b) The state of Minnesota faces numerous obstacles to meeting this demand,
3.9namely the staffing shortages and high turnover rates that characterize the workforce
3.10available to provide such services, a growing issue throughout the country. For these
3.11reasons, expanding access to such services, including opportunities for participants to
3.12select and direct individual providers of such services, will require the state to develop
3.13the infrastructure for recruiting and retaining a workforce of qualified individual service
3.14providers sufficient to meet the growing demand for such participant-directed services.
3.15(c) The legislature enacts this section to address these issues by ensuring the
3.16development and maintenance of a stable, reliable, and experienced workforce of
3.17sufficient size to provide high-quality services to all seniors and people with disabilities
3.18who are authorized to receive such in-home services within state-financed programs, and
3.19by ensuring that such persons have the opportunity to select and direct members of that
3.20workforce as individual providers of such services.
3.21    Subd. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this section:
3.22(a) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of human services unless the context
3.23indicates otherwise.
3.24(b) "Covered program" means a program to provide direct support services funded
3.25in whole or in part by the state of Minnesota, including the Community First Services and
3.26Supports program; Consumer Directed Community Supports services and extended state
3.27plan personal care assistance services available under programs established pursuant to
3.28home and community-based service waivers authorized under section 1915(c) of the
3.29Social Security Act, and under the alternative care program, as offered pursuant to section
3.30256B.0913, as modified by subdivision 5 of this section; the personal care assistance
3.31choice program, as established pursuant to section 256B.0659, subdivisions 18 to 20, and
3.32as modified by this section; and any similar program that may provide such services.
3.33(c) "Direct support services" means personal care assistance services covered by
3.34medical assistance under section 256B.0625, subdivisions 19a and 19c; assistance with
3.35activities of daily living as defined in section 256B.0659, subdivision 1, paragraph (b),
3.36and instrumental activities of daily living as defined in section 256B.0659, subdivision
4.11, paragraph (i); and other similar, in-home, nonprofessional long-term services and
4.2supports provided to an elderly person or person with a disability to meet such person's
4.3daily living needs and ensure that such person may adequately function in his or her home
4.4and have safe access to the community.
4.5(d) "Individual provider" means an individual selected by and working under the
4.6direction of a participant in a covered program, or a participant's representative, to provide
4.7direct support services to the participant, and does not include an individual from an
4.8employee workforce assembled, directed, and controlled by a provider agency.
4.9(e) "Participant" means a person who receives direct support services through
4.10a covered program.
4.11(f) "Participant's representative" means a participant's legal guardian or an individual
4.12having the authority and responsibility to act on behalf of a participant with respect to the
4.13provision of direct support services through a covered program.
4.14    Subd. 3. Quality Self-Directed Services Workforce Council established. (a)
4.15There is established the Quality Self-Directed Services Workforce Council to ensure the
4.16quality and availability of individual providers to be selected by and work under the
4.17direction of participants to provide direct support services.
4.18(b) The council shall be composed of the commissioner of human services, who
4.19shall serve as chair, and the following members, who shall be appointed by the governor:
4.20(1) six current or former recipients of direct support services;
4.21(2) one legal guardian or legal representative of a current or former recipient of
4.22direct support services; and
4.23(3) one member of the State Council on Disability, under section 256.482, one
4.24member of the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, and one member of the
4.25Minnesota Board on Aging, under section 256.975.
4.26(c) All appointments to the council shall be made as provided in section 15.0597.
4.27Membership terms, compensation and removal of members, and filling of vacancies are
4.28as provided in section 15.0575. A majority of the members appointed and serving shall
4.29constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business.
4.30    Subd. 4. Duties of council. The council, in consultation with the commissioner, has
4.31the following ongoing advisory duties and responsibilities relating to ensuring the quality,
4.32stability, and availability of the individual provider workforce:
4.33(1) assess the size, quality, and stability of the individual provider workforce in
4.34Minnesota and the ability of the existing workforce to meet the growing and changing
4.35needs of both elderly participants and participants with disabilities;
5.1(2) assess and propose strategies to identify, recruit, and retain prospective individual
5.2providers to be available for employment by participants or participants' representatives;
5.3(3) advise the commissioner regarding the development of orientation programs,
5.4training and educational opportunities, and the maintenance of one or more public
5.5registries as described in subdivision 6;
5.6(4) advise the commissioner and other relevant state agencies in assessing existing
5.7mechanisms for preventing abuse and neglect of participants and recommending
5.8improvements to those protections;
5.9(5) advise the commissioner in determining standards for compensation, including
5.10benefits, and other conditions of employment for individual providers sufficient to attract
5.11and maintain a qualified workforce; and
5.12(6) otherwise advise and advocate regarding appropriate means of expanding access
5.13to quality, self-directed direct support services.
5.14    Subd. 5. Operation of covered programs. (a) All covered programs shall operate
5.15consistent with this section, including by providing such services through individual
5.16providers as defined in subdivision 2, paragraph (d), notwithstanding any inconsistent
5.17provisions of section 256B.0659 or section 256B.04, subdivision 16.
5.18(b) This requirement shall not restrict the state's ability to offer to those participants
5.19who choose not to self-direct a direct support worker or are unable to do so the alternative
5.20of receiving similar services from the employee workforce assembled, directed, and
5.21controlled by a provider agency.
5.22    Subd. 6. Duties of the Department of Human Services. (a) The commissioner
5.23shall afford to all participants within a covered program the option of employing an
5.24individual provider to provide direct support services.
5.25(b) The commissioner shall ensure that all employment of individual providers is
5.26in conformity with this section.
5.27(c) The commissioner shall, in consultation with the council:
5.28(1) establish compensation rates, payment terms and practices, and any benefit
5.29terms, for all individual providers;
5.30(2) provide for required orientation programs for all newly hired individual providers
5.31regarding their employment within the covered programs through which they provide
5.32services;
5.33(3) provide for relevant training and educational opportunities for individual
5.34providers, as well as for participants and participants' representatives who receive services
5.35from individual providers, including opportunities for individual providers to obtain
5.36certification documenting additional training and experience in areas of specialization;
6.1(4) provide for the maintenance of one or more public registries to:
6.2(i) provide routine, emergency, and respite referrals of qualified individual providers
6.3to participants and participants' representatives;
6.4(ii) enable participants and participants' representatives to gain improved access
6.5to, and choice among, prospective individual providers, including by having access
6.6to information about individual providers' training, educational background, work
6.7experience, and availability for hire; and
6.8(iii) provide for appropriate employment opportunities for individual providers and a
6.9means by which they may more easily remain available to provide services to participants
6.10within covered programs; and
6.11(5) establish other appropriate terms and conditions of employment governing the
6.12workforce of individual providers.
6.13(d) The commissioner shall ensure that appropriate background checks are performed
6.14on all individual providers included on any registry as described in paragraph (c), clause (4).
6.15(e) The commissioner's authority over terms and conditions of individual providers'
6.16employment, including compensation, payment, and benefit terms, employment
6.17opportunities within covered programs, individual provider orientation, training, and
6.18education opportunities, and the operation of public registries shall be subject to the state's
6.19obligations to meet and negotiate under chapter 179A, as modified and made applicable
6.20to individual providers under section 179A.54, and to agreements with any exclusive
6.21representative of individual providers, as authorized by chapter 179A, as modified and
6.22made applicable to individual providers under section 179A.54.
6.23(f) The commissioner shall cooperate in the implementation of this act with the
6.24commissioner of management and budget in the same manner as would be required of
6.25an appointing authority under section 179A.22 with respect to any negotiations between
6.26the executive branch of the state and the exclusive representative of individual providers,
6.27as authorized under sections 179A.22 and 179A.54. Any entity, including financial
6.28management entities, contracting with the state to provide support to participants or
6.29participants' representatives with regard to the employment of individual providers,
6.30shall assist and cooperate with the council and commissioner of human services in the
6.31operations of this section, including with respect to the commissioner's compiling and
6.32maintaining the list of individual providers required under paragraph (g).
6.33(g) The commissioner shall, not later than July 1, 2013, and then monthly thereafter,
6.34compile and maintain a list of the names and addresses of all individual providers who
6.35have been paid for providing direct support services to participants within the previous
6.36six months. The list shall not include the name of any participant, or indicate that an
7.1individual provider is a relative of a participant or has the same address as a participant.
7.2The commissioner shall share the lists with the Quality Self-Directed Services Workforce
7.3Council and with others as needed for the state to meet its obligations under chapter 179A
7.4as modified and made applicable to individual providers under section 179A.54, and to
7.5facilitate the representational processes under section 179A.54, subdivision 2, paragraph
7.6(b), clauses (6) and (7).
7.7(h) The commissioner shall immediately commence all necessary steps to ensure
7.8that services offered under all covered programs are offered in conformity with this
7.9section to complete any required modifications to currently operating covered programs
7.10by September 1, 2013.

7.11    Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
7.12This act is effective the day following final enactment."