Bills of Interest – Passed
- HB490/SB0163 Public Health – Community Health Workers – Advisory Committee and Certification: This bill passed with amendments, suggested by The Coordinating Center. This bill establishes a Community Health Worker Advisory Committee to advise the Maryland Department of Health on the development of a certification and training of community health workers.
- HB 1280/SB 66 Maryland Department of Health – Enrollees in the Employed Individuals with Disabilities Program – Demonstration Program: Requiring the Maryland Department of Health to establish a demonstration program supported by State general funds to cover health care services provided to certain individuals that are not covered by the Maryland Medical Assistance Program.
- HB1696/SB1071 Task Force to Study Access to Home Health Care for Children and Adults With Medical Disabilities and Report on Home– and Community–Based Services: This bill establishes the Task Force to Study Access to Home Health Care for Children and Adults with Medical Disabilities, which is to be staffed by the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). The bill was amended to include the study of the history of the Medicaid-provided LPN-level home health care reimbursement rates, including any waiver programs that have served children or adults with medical disabilities over the last 10 years. The Coordinating Center has been appointed to serve on this Task Force.
- HB 782/SB 550 Maryland Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Program –Death of a Designated Beneficiary: permits assets in ABLE accounts to be transferred, on the death of a designated beneficiary, to the beneficiary’s estate or to another ABLE account designated by the beneficiary. Unless required by federal law, the bill prohibits the State from seeking reimbursement from an ABLE account for any amount of medical assistance (Medicaid funds) paid for the designated beneficiary. The legislation also permits transfers from College Savings Plans to ABLE accounts.
- SB 284: Maryland Medical Assistance Program – Dental Coverage for Adults- Pilot Program: This bill requires the Maryland Department of Health to apply for an 1115 Health Waiver demonstration pilot program to expand Medicaid coverage for limited dental services for adults. The pilot can be limited to participants who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, by the age of participants, by the total number of participants, and by geographic region. MACS plans to join other interested stakeholders in providing input on the Waiver application.
- SB 1045: State Government – Grants and Contracts – Reimbursement of Indirect Costs: This bill permits a nonprofit to seek reimbursement of indirect costs of at least 10% of state contracts. Such costs may include depreciation for buildings and equipment and general expenses such as salaries and expenses of executive officers, personnel administration, and accounting.
Bills of Interest that Failed
- HB1427 Election Law – Use of Ballot Marking Devices: This bill would have required election judges to make a reasonable effort to ensure that every tenth voter at a polling place uses a ballot marking device that is accessible to voters with disabilities.
- HB 664/SB 543- Labor and Employment – Payment of Minimum Wage Required (“Fight for Fifteen”): This bill would have increased the minimum wage to $15/hour by 2024, and was the only minimum wage bill to include an increase in the reimbursement rate for IDD community services.
- SB 235: Labor and Employment – Minimum Wage Indexing: This bill would have indexed the minimum wage with CPI (inflation) beginning in July 2019 (after minimum wage had reached $10.10/hr.); no community services rate increase was included in the bill.
- HB1312/SB0878 Health Insurance – Medicaid Buy-In Task Force: This bill would have established a Medicaid Buy-In Task Force to make recommendations regarding the feasibility of a Medicaid buy-in program and submit specified reports to the Governor and the General Assembly.
