2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 8 - LABOR AND INDUSTRY (§§ 8-1-101 — 8-88-207) › LABOR I - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT (§§ 8-1-101 — 8-20.5-401) › WAGES (§§ 8-4-101 — 8-10-103) › Article 7.5 - DIRECT care workforce stabilization board (§§ 8-7.5-101 — 8-7.5-107) › Section 8-7.5-104 - Duties of the board - recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards - analysis of market conditions - public outreach - report

(1)
(a)
(I)
By September 1, 2024, and every two years thereafter, the board shall develop recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards that are reasonably necessary or appropriate to protect and ensure the health and welfare of direct care workers without impeding the dignity and independence of direct care consumers. The recommendations must include, as appropriate, standards for compensation, working hours, and other working conditions for direct care workers. The board shall also develop recommendations on how the state can better communicate information to direct care workers about their rights and about the obligations of direct care employers.
(II)
Notwithstanding section
8-7.5-103 (6)
and subsection (1)(c) of this section, the board may extend any recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards developed pursuant to this section to additional types of workers who are determined to provide services that are direct care in nature within Colorado's long-term care delivery system if deemed appropriate by the members of the board appointed pursuant to section
8-7.5-103 (2)(a)(I)(A), (2)(a)(II), and (2)(a)(III)
.
(b)
Any standards recommended by the board pursuant to this article 7.5 must be at least as protective of or beneficial to direct care workers as any other applicable state statute or rule.
(c)
As specified in section
8-7.5-103 (6)
, the board shall not make any recommendation that does not receive the affirmative vote of at least eight voting members of the board. The board shall record the vote on each recommendation on which the board votes.
(2)
(a)
In developing recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards, the board shall:
(I)
Investigate the market conditions of the direct care industry in relation to the Colorado labor market, including existing wages, benefits, working hours, and other working conditions of direct care workers and challenges to direct care employers throughout the state and in specific areas of the state specified by the board;
(II)
Investigate other direct care industry models, including direct-care-worker-owned opportunities and the impact of access to worker organizations;
(III)
Investigate the impacts of racial and economic injustices on direct care workers and the direct care consumers to whom they provide direct care services;
(IV)
Investigate the adequacy of the reimbursement rate available through the medical assistance program established in articles
4
,
5
, and
6
of title
25.5
;
(V)
Host public meetings in accordance with subsection (2)(c) of this section for purposes of engaging with and obtaining input from direct care workers, direct care employers, and direct care consumers; and
(VI)
Endeavor to develop minimum direct care employment standards that meet or exceed the existing industry conditions that apply to a majority of direct care workers in the state or in specified areas of the state.
(b)
The board shall consider the following information in developing recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards:
(I)
Data concerning wage rates, benefits, working hours, and other working conditions, which data is collected by or submitted to the board and relates to direct care workers in the state or in the areas specified by the board;
(II)
Data concerning the reimbursement rate through the medical assistance program established in articles
4
,
5
, and
6
of title
25.5
;
(III)
Statements showing wage rates paid to, benefits provided to, and working hours and other working conditions of direct care workers in the areas specified by the board;
(IV)
Signed collective bargaining agreements applicable to direct care workers in the state or in the areas specified by the board;
(V)
Testimony and information provided by current and former direct care workers, worker organizations, direct care employers, employer organizations, direct care consumers, and organizations representing direct care consumers;
(VI)
Local jurisdiction minimum direct care employment standards;
(VII)
Any recommendations and findings from previous and existing working groups that the board considers relevant, including any direct care workforce collaborative stakeholder groups convened by the department of health care policy and financing and the home care advisory committee created in section
25-27.5-104 (3)
;
(VIII)
Information submitted by or obtained from state and local government agencies;
(IX)
Data and analysis that the department of health care policy and financing shall provide to the board regarding the direct care workforce that serves recipients of the medical assistance program established pursuant to articles
4
,
5
, and
6
of title
25.5
and context, expertise, or feedback that the department of health care policy and financing shall provide to the board, when relevant to the recommendations the board is developing, that is specific to the potential impacts of the recommendations on the medical assistance program established pursuant to articles
4
,
5
, and
6
of title
25.5
; and
(X)
Any other information pertinent to the determination of minimum direct care employment standards.
(c)
(I)
The board shall endeavor to engage as many direct care workers as possible in investigating the direct care industry market conditions and in developing recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards and improved communications. To facilitate outreach to direct care workers and direct care consumers, the board shall develop a public education and communication plan in order to inform direct care workers and direct care consumers of the board, its purpose, its meetings and hearings, and the right of direct care workers and direct care consumers to participate in the board's meetings and hearings, its market conditions investigation, and its development of recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards. The plan must be culturally competent and use targeted methods that will effectively engage direct care workers and direct care consumers, including advertising and other marketing tools, and must include an option for direct care workers and direct care consumers to provide the direct care worker's, direct care employer's, or direct care consumer's name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number for purposes of receiving ongoing communications from the board about opportunities for engagement with the board.
(II)
For purposes of facilitating engagement with and input from direct care workers, direct care employers, and direct care consumers, the board shall host at least four public hearings before finalizing its initial recommendations for minimum direct care employment standards. The board shall:
(A)
Schedule public hearings at variable times of the day and days of the week throughout the year, including at least one meeting scheduled on a weekend, one meeting scheduled in the evening, and one meeting scheduled in the morning;
(B)
Provide notice of each hearing, including the date, time, and location of the hearing and the name and contact information for each member of the board, at least thirty days in advance of the hearing and shall enlist assistance from the department of labor and employment and the department of health care policy and financing, as well as employer organizations, worker organizations, consumer advocacy groups, and other stakeholders in the direct care industry, to provide notice of the hearing to direct care workers, direct care employers, direct care consumers, and other interested parties; and
(C)
Include in the notice an option for direct care workers, direct care employers, and direct care consumers to provide the direct care worker's, direct care employer's, or direct care consumer's name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number for purposes of receiving ongoing communications from the board regarding the activities of the board and opportunities for direct care workers, direct care employers, and direct care consumers to participate in hearings and to provide input to the board. A department or other entity that receives an indication of interest from a direct care worker, a direct care employer, or a direct care consumer shall forward that information to the board.
(3)
(a)
By September 1, 2024, the board shall report any recommendations for initial standards for direct care worker compensation, working hours, and other working conditions, including recommendations for legislation or administrative rules or orders, that the board approves in accordance with section
8-7.5-103 (6)
to the governor and to the business affairs and labor committee of the house of representatives and the business, labor, and technology committee of the senate, or their successor committees.
(b)
No later than two years after the board reports its initial minimum direct care employment standards recommendations pursuant to subsection (3)(a) of this section, and at least once every two years thereafter, the board shall conduct a review of the direct care industry and develop recommendations in accordance with subsections (1) and (2) of this section. The board shall report its recommendations as specified in subsection (3)(a) of this section.
(c)
In addition to the board's biennial review of the direct care industry pursuant to subsection (3)(b) of this section, the executive director may convene the board at other times to conduct a review of minimum direct care employment standards if the executive director determines that a review is necessary.
(4)
Nothing in this section:
(a)
Limits the rights of parties to a collective bargaining agreement to bargain and agree with respect to direct care employment standards;
(b)
Diminishes the obligation of a direct care employer to comply with any contract, collective bargaining agreement, or employment benefit program or plan that meets or exceeds, and does not conflict with, any minimum direct care employment standards enacted into law or adopted by rule; or
(c)
Diminishes the rights of an eligible person, as defined in section
25.5-6-1101 (4)
, participating in the consumer-directed care service model pursuant to part 11 of article
6
of title
25.5
to control and manage the eligible person's services, including the right to hire, fire, schedule, and set wages for direct care workers who provide direct care services to the eligible person within parameters set in current state and local law.
Added by 2023 Ch. 362,§ 1, eff. 8/7/2023.
2023 Ch. 362, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).