Lawmakers agree to fund personal care attendants

Members of the joint subcommittee studying human services budgets agreed Thursday they will restore most of the cuts the governor ordered to personal care attendant pay rates.

The governor's budget proposed cutting the hourly rate for those who provide home care services to the elderly and disabled from $18.50 an hour to $15.50.

That brought strong opposition not only from those who provide the services, with many questioning whether they could afford to continue in the profession, and those receiving the services who said it would force them out of their own homes and into institutional care.

The compromise proposal tentatively adopted by lawmakers would fully restore the rates for attendants helping those within the Office of Disability Services. It would restore half of the $3 cut in Medicaid and Aging Services.

The change will cost about $6 million altogether.

The move won bipartisan support from the committee.

"I think they've made the case," said Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

"We heard very compelling testimony during the budget hearings about the impact the rate cut would have on the personal care attendant system," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno. "It would have the potential for putting a lot more people in nursing homes."

Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, also backed the decision saying, "It's really important to have that care."

At the same time, the committee agreed to pull some money out of the Office of Disability Services Independent Living budgets, which Gov. Jim Gibbons had proposed increasing by $1.2 million a year. They did so after being told the state can meet federal requirements and still greatly expand the program with much less money.

"We can achieve some savings and still make significant progress," said Leslie.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said some of the money saved could go toward the extra needed to restore pay for the personal care attendants.

The decisions the committees are making at this point are tentative as lawmakers try to determine how much money they will need over and above projected revenues to fill holes in the budget.

- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.