Urge the Texas Legislative Budget Board to Protect All Texans

Dear [Lawmaker],

As a member of the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), you have an important opportunity to set the direction for the Texas Legislature’s next biennial budget and ensure community-based services for Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are adequately funded.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) FY 2026-27 Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) contains a placeholder for “community attendant wages” that notes that although there was an “increase to the minimum floor rate during the 88th Legislative Session (from $8.11 to $10.60), providers continue to report issues attracting additional staff to the workforce.”
For community-based direct support professionals (DSPs) who serve Texans with IDD, $10.60 per hour is woefully inadequate. If left unaddressed, the current workforce crisis that has compromised quality and continuity of care for Texans with IDD, prompted some individuals to seek care at institutional settings away from their families, and led to the regrettable closure of hundreds of IDD group homes over the past year will only be exacerbated.
The lack of funding for IDD services and sufficient DSP wages has created a staffing crisis where one-third of staff positions at Home and Community-based Services (HCS) group homes and Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) are vacant. The crisis is only worsening, and community-based DSPs deserve wages that are competitive with their counterparts working at SSLCs.
According to HHSC’s own workforce report released in August 2024, after the legislature increased wages at SSLCs, “employee attrition was noticeably impacted by the salary increases as turnover rates are the lowest HSCS has seen in recent history.” We celebrate this improvement and commend the Legislature for making necessary investments to enhance one important aspect of the IDD service infrastructure in Texas.
However, at the same time, vacancy and turnover rates in HCS group homes and ICFs have never been higher.
HHSC has also noted in their recent SSLC Long-Range Planning Report that a key “factor impacting SSLC enrollment is continued difficulty in finding community placements for residents that can support their complex medical, mental health, and behavioral needs. Since fiscal year 2016, SSLC admissions have exceeded community transitions with current fiscal year to date 2024 admissions being more than three times the number of community transitions.”
The lack of qualified and sufficient staff in community HCS group homes and Intermediate Care Facilities is only exacerbating this trend.
It is with a sense of urgency that we implore you to prioritize critical funding for community-based IDD services, which will allow for better wages for DSPs dedicated to the care of Texans with IDD. We request that you call on HHSC to address this urgent issue in their LAR, and work to deliver wage parity for community-based DSPs with their counterparts at SSLCs when crafting the next biennial budget.
Thank you for your service to the people of Texas, especially the most vulnerable who are depending on your leadership.
Sincerely,

Sincerely,
______

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