Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act

This Act may be cited as the “Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act”.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Direct support professionals play a critical role in the care provided to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing a wide range of supportive services on a day-to-day basis to promote independence, including—

(A) enhancing independence and community inclusion of these individuals, including through travel and recreation, visiting friends and family, shopping, or socializing;

(B) coaching and supporting individuals in communicating needs, achieving self-expression, pursuing personal goals, living independently, and participating actively in employment or voluntary roles in the community;

(C) providing assistance with activities of independent daily living (such as feeding, bathing, toileting, and ambulation) and with tasks such as meal preparation, shopping, light housekeeping, laundry, and home management; or

(D) supporting individuals at home, work, school, or any other community setting.

(2) Through the support of direct support professionals, individuals are able to lead self-directed lives within their own communities.

(3) Providers of home- and community-based services are experiencing difficulty hiring and retaining direct support professionals, with a national turnover rate of 39 percent, as identified in a 2023 study by the National Core Indicators.

(4) High turnover rates can lead to instability for individuals receiving services, and this may result in individuals not receiving enough personalized care to help them reach their goals for independent living.

(5) A discrete occupational category for direct support professionals will help States and the Federal Government—

(A) better interpret the shortage in the labor market of direct support professionals; and

(B) collect data on the high turnover rate of direct support professionals.

(6) The Standard Occupational Classification system is designed and maintained solely for statistical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data.

(7) Occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification system are classified based on work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or training needed to perform the work.

(8) Establishing a discrete occupational category for direct support professionals will—

(A) correct an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occupational Classification system;

(B) recognize these professionals for the critical and often overlooked work that they perform for the disabled community, which work is different than the work of a home health aide or a personal care aide; and

(C) better align the Standard Occupational Classification system with related classification systems.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, as part of the first revision of the Standard Occupational Classification system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals as a healthcare support occupation.

If, after carrying out section 3, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget decides not to establish a separate code for direct support professionals in the Standard Occupational Classification system, the Director shall, by not later than 30 days after the first revision of the Standard Occupational Classification system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives explaining the Office of Management and Budget’s decision.

No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act.