October 18th, 2021
SB 8 (ARPA funds) Passed by the Senate and House!
The Senate passed SB 8. and the House passed SB 8 as of this evening! The bill appropriates $13 billion of the $16 billion available in ARPA funds. The bill reflects agreements reached by the conference committee and can be viewed at: https://lrl.texas.gov/scanned/87ccrs/sb0008_3c.pdf#navpanes=0
In reviewing the document, please note the following:
- Pages 3-24 contain the committee report in bill language. To view bill language related to the one-time direct care recruitment and retention payments, see Section 33, pages 22-24.
- Pages 25 – 75 reflect the conference committee decisions. To view decisions specific to retention and recruitment payments, see Section 15, beginning at the bottom of page 45. The first column reflects the Senate’s version of SB 8; the middle column the House’s version; the last column the conference committee decisions
- Pages 76-77 provide the bill’s fiscal note.
Other Important Notes: The total amount appropriated in Section 33 is $378.3 million. Of these funds: $178.3 million is for ICFs/IID, ALFs, home health agencies and staff providing community attendant services.
FYI-The conference committee removed the language in HB 161 which specified that HCS and TxHmL were included under the term “community attendants.’ However, communications with the House Appropriations Committee Office and other sources indicate that ‘community attendants’ does include HCS, TxHmL, CLASS and DBMD.
