Senate Finance Committee hears bill to create home-care labor board and require larger share of Medicaid pay go to caregivers

Juneau — The Alaska Senate Finance Committee on April 13, 2026 heard its first-look testimony on Senate Bill 154, which would create a Home Care Employment Standards Advisory Board and require that a large share of Medicaid personal‑care funding be spent on direct caregiver wages and benefits.

Senator Yount, sponsor of SB 154, told the committee the bill responds to an aging population and a shrinking potential provider workforce. "Seniors are the fastest growing demographic in the state of Alaska," he said, and argued the state must "create strong and long lasting home care infrastructure" to keep people in their communities.

Alexis Rodich, Alaska and Montana director for the caregivers union SEIU 775, said Alaska faces acute shortages of direct care workers, particularly in rural areas, and urged the committee to set a labor floor for Medicaid personal‑care rates. "In the case of this bill, that's 70% initially and 80% by 2029," Rodich said, describing the measure as a means both to improve pay and to increase reporting and transparency on how Medicaid rate increases are used.

Rodich cited a Department of Health–commissioned rate study by Guidehouse that, she said, found Alaska’s long‑term‑services overhead and indirect costs are high relative to other states and that current reporting does not reliably show whether rate increases reached caregivers.

Tony Newman, director of the Division of Senior and Disability Services at the Alaska Department of Health, told the committee the federal regulatory landscape is in flux and that some federal rulemaking the department had expected has been rescinded, leaving uncertainty about whether a state advisory board would be required for federal compliance. "At this time, the department cannot say whether this board would meet, would satisfy a federal requirement," Newman said.

Senator Kiel noted the bill’s fiscal note, reading an FY27 need of $206,600 of unrestricted general funds and one full‑time position, and pressed the department on why the estimated workload would require additional staff. Newman said one position would manage advisory‑board logistics and that new statutory reporting requirements would create added regulatory and data‑management work.

Committee members generally expressed support for addressing workforce shortages and reducing administrative overhead that they said depresses caregiver pay, but raised questions about federal match and the ongoing costs of administering new reporting duties. After the discussion the committee set SB 154 aside for further consideration during the session.