1599-6903 Chapter 257 and Human Service Reserve

For the fiscal year 2021 costs of chapter 257 of the acts of 2008 rate implementations; provided, that chapter 257 of the acts of 2008 rate implementations may include but are not limited to, costs associated with any court order or settlement between providers of services and the commonwealth related to the rate implementation process; provided further, that home care workers shall be eligible for funding from this item; provided further, that workers from shelters and programs that serve homeless individuals and families that were previously contracted through the department of transitional assistance and the department of public health who are currently contracted with the department of housing and community development and direct care workers that serve homeless veterans through the department of veterans' services shall be eligible for funding from this item; provided further, that no funds from this item shall be allocated to special education programs under chapter 71B of the General Laws, contracts for early education and care services or programs for which payment rates are negotiated and paid as class rates as established by the executive office of health and human services; provided further, that no funds shall be allocated from this item to contracts funded exclusively by federal grants as delineated in section 2D; provided further, that not later than August 31, 2020, departments and private providers receiving funding from this item shall report to the executive office of health and human services on implemented and proposed initiatives that increase the hourly wages and compensation of the direct care human service workforce; provided further, that this report shall include: (i) aggregated provider employee payroll data of the preceding two state fiscal years and the current fiscal year from the date of new rate implementations, as validated with information from the uniform financial report or a method determined by the office; (ii) median salary and compensation information of the preceding two state fiscal years and the current fiscal year from the date of new rate implementations classified by direct care and front-line staff, medical and clinical staff, and management and executive staff, as validated with information from the uniform financial report or a method determined by the office; and (iii) the average employee vacancy rates of direct care and front-line staff of the preceding two state fiscal years and the current fiscal year from the date of new rate implementations; and provided further, that the secretary of administration and finance may transfer from the sum appropriated in this item to other items of appropriation and allocations thereof for fiscal year 2021 amounts that are necessary to meet these costs where the amounts otherwise available are insufficient for the purpose