Senate Budget Includes $5M for Nursing Home Workers
Olympia (February 29, 2008) -- The Washington State Senate showed strong support for long-term care workers by passing a budget yesterday that includes $5 million in state funds dedicated to improving wages and benefits for nursing home workers. This money will be matched by federal dollars for a total of $10 million. Sen. Karen Keiser (right) has long championed increased wages and benefits for nursing home workers. 
The Senate budget was a significant improvement over a House budget that dedicated no funding to improving wages and benefits for nursing home workers. The Governor's budget included $7.5 Million in funding for nursing home workers. Now we need to keep the pressure on to win increased funding to improve wages and benefits for nursing home workers!
Nursing Home Highlights from the Senate Budget
Existing Funding ($8.8 million)
- $1.3M for higher-than-anticipated base rate in FY 2009
- $1.1M to eliminate occupancy penalties in support services and therapy care
- $100,000 for a study on fair rental and the costs of a stakeholder workgroup to devise a new rate system
- $6.3M for vendor rate increases - 3.45% in DC; 0.5% in Ops
New Funding ($6.8 million)
- $1.8M for higher-than-anticipated rates during FY 2008
- $5.0M for worker wages and benefits. Add-on will be based on the percentage of Medicaid patient days.
Background Information
Relevant Details of the Senate Budget (Nursing Home Funding Details are on page 5)
Relevant Details of the House Budget
Relevant Details of Governor Gregoire's Budget Proposal