IB 
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. NICK-
EL, 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] 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives 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 intellec-
tual and developmental disabilities. 
(2) Providers of home- and community-based 
services are experiencing difficulty hiring and retain-
ing 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— 
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(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 statis-
tical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical 
agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupa-
tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu-
lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 
(6) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 
Classification system are classified based on work per-
formed 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 sys-
tem; 
(B) recognize these professionals for the crit-
ical and often overlooked work that they perform 
for the disabled community, which work is dif-
ferent than the work of a home health aide or a 
personal care aide; and 
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(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 dis-
ability 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 com-
munity inclusion for such individual, including trav-
eling 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 inde-
pendently, and participating actively in employment 
or voluntary roles in the community; 
(3) services such as providing assistance with ac-
tivities of daily living (such as feeding, bathing, 
toileting, and ambulation) and with tasks such as 
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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 CLASSI-
FICATION SYSTEM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Direc-
tor’’) shall, as part of the first revision process of the Stand-
ard Occupational Classification system occurring after the 
date of enactment of this Act, consider establishing a sepa-
rate 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 profes-
sionals described in subsection (a), the Director shall, not 
later than 60 days after the Director announces in the Fed-
eral Register the final decision of the revision process de-
scribed 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 sep-
arate code was not established. 
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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 Classifica-
tion system to establish a separate code for direct 
support professionals, and for other purposes. 
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:00 Sep 20, 2024
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PO 00000
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