2025 Legislative Priorities
We realize legislators must grapple with difficult decisions this session about meeting Minnesota’s future needs with revenue available. We urge you to see your community members with disabilities and their support staff as a priority as you make these tough decisions.
Please advocate this session to protect and prioritize funding for disability services.
It's already hard to offer our valuable disability service staff the competitive wages and benefits they deserve. We need to move forward - not backward, as the Governor’s proposed cuts would do - in addressing the workforce shortage to better support Minnesotans with disabilities in living the full lives people without disabilities take for granted. The Governor’s proposed cuts to waiver-funded disability services will make it harder for Minnesotans with disabilities to live connected and engaged lives. Further, because state spending on waiver-funded disability services is matched by federal funding, for every dollar the state cuts, individuals and providers experience a cut of twice that amount.
In 2025 and beyond, MOHR asks the Minnesota State Legislature to:
Prioritize our community members with disabilities, their families, and their support staff by strengthening the Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS) so that it better reflects the true costs of providing disability services (SF402/HF382). SF402/HF382 seeks to increase the Direct Support Professional (DSP) wage as well as the Supervisor wage, for services funded through the Disability Waiver Rate System.
This will help address the currently too-low wages afforded to critical front-line disability services staff. These low wages negatively impact the ability of organizations to attract and retain skilled staff, which in turn makes it harder for people across Minnesota with significant disabilities to access the supports they need to gain new skills and increase their independence.
Protect and prioritize the critical employment supports provided to Minnesotans with disabilities through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
Advance system-wide policy and funding reforms to move employment and day services forward through innovation and streamlining.
