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June 6, 2022  
Attendant Wages and Budget Advocacy 
>> Laura: Hello.  Good afternoon, everyone.  I am Laura Perna with the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities.  I'm going to be going over our accessibility for today's Raise Your Voice call on attendant wages, starting with my own audio description.  I'm a white woman in my mid 30s with short, dark brown hair.  Behind me you can see the corner of my office, which is wooden walls that are painted white and then there are boards going up every two or three feet or so.  On today's call we have closed captions, which you can turn on and off and adjust as you need.  If you're unsure how to adjust the captions, you can give us a shout in the chat and we can walk you through how to do the settings there.  If you had requested that the closed captions follow you into the breakout rooms, which we are using today, they will.  In addition to breakouts, we'll have a few images that will be screen shared that will also be ‑‑
[ Background noise ] 
>> Laura: I'm just going to make sure everybody is muted.  We'll ask that if you're not speaking that you do stay muted just to ensure sound quality.  So breakouts, screen sharing, and we'll also be doing a poll, so heads up.  All of those are coming.  If you need any assistance with anything, you want to share a link, your thoughts at any time, please feel free to use the chat box.  We'll also be keeping an eye on our general e‑mail, which is info@txdisabilities.org.  I'll drop that in the chat in case you need to see it there.  We are recording today's session ‑‑ now that I say that I am going to start, which we'll post later so you can review it or share it.  I forgot to do this on our launch last time.  We would love to take a picture, a group shot of everyone that we can share with our funders and other folks who might want to join a call to use in our promotion, just to show them what a great time we have on these calls.  So if you would like to be on the group photo, certainly it's optional, but I invite you to turn on your video and I'll count us off and we can have that moment and then we'll get going.  All right.  I see so many happy faces.  That's great.  All right.  I'll count us off.  Big smiles on three.  One, two, three. 
[ Taking photo ] 
>> Laura: Thanks, y'all.  After that, I will hand it on over to Dennis.  Take us away.
>> Dennis: Thanks, Laura.  I'm Dennis Borel with the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities.  I'm an Anglo male, got a lot of gray going on.  Gray on top of my head, gray in my beard, gray in my eyes.  I like to point out that's the only thing that was gray before I got old.  But wearing a dark blue shirt here.  Glad to be here.  Thank you all for joining us today.  This is a very important ‑‑ well, in my opinion, our top‑priority issue for this coming year and I'm very pleased to say we're going to have some additional help with us this year.  I'm going to take this opportunity to introduce our public policy fellow for the issues of community attendant services and dental services.  I'm going to kick it over to Joanne Canciglia and she'll introduce herself.
>> Joanne: Howdy, y'all.  My name is Joanne Canciglia.  I am tall and lanky.  I am white.  I have very short brown hair and large brown eyes.  I'm also wearing a red shirt and a black hoodie.  I also think that it's worth mentioning that I have multiple disabilities.  I have a history academically in working in the disability sphere.  I was originally going to go into research of the social experience of people with disabilities.  I later transitioned into working more on the surface side of things, heading a department at the Houston Center for Independent Living for Independent Living Services and now I'm at CTD in the legislative advocacy focusing on attendant care and dental benefits, as Dennis said, as well as a little bit of healthcare advocacy as well, like outside of that. 
>> Dennis: Thanks, Joanne.  Glad to have you with us.  And I want to thank the St. David's Foundation and the Episcopal Health Foundation who provided us with the grant funding to bring Joanne into our team.  Let's face it, folks.  We can always talk about how advocacy can be done with a lot of people but you really do have to have some people that are doing it 40 hours a week every week so we can coordinate all you wonderful self‑advocates who are going to push us over the top on this and other issues.  Our topic today, the community attendant workforce.  This has been our priority issue for some time, some time.  Why is that?  Number one, there are significant numbers of people with disabilities in Texas who rely on Medicaid community care in order to have a self‑directed life, in order to live independently, in order to maintain their health and to do all the things that we like to do in our lives.  Whether it's to hang out with family, get a job, as we have Medicaid beneficiaries working these in attendant care, or maybe it's to go to church and be a part of the faith community.  I know that's important to a lot of folks too.  Maybe to volunteer.  Maybe to just hang out, go have a cup of coffee with a friend or go to the local diner and have a cheeseburger.  That is what makes life.  But, do you know what?  You can't do any of those things unless you have reliable community attendant care.
So did things get better in the last few years and COVID?  Well, it didn't get better for anybody, but it got significantly worse. The COVID pandemic has made stuff worse for the attendant community workforce and we're seeing that in what we're calling the collapse of the community attendant workforce now.  I'm going to share a screen with you here.  We are releasing a report today called Crushing the Workforce 2.0.  We first did this five years ago.  We published our first Crushing the Workforce in which we predicted that the workforce for community attendants was in terrible shape and was only going to get worse.  I'm sad to say that those predictions have come true except our predictions fell short of how bad it's become.  Yes, part of that was the pandemic.  Part of it is true that the community attendants did not get extra pay, did not get hand sanitizers or PPE, personal protective equipment issued to them.  They didn't get any hazard pay as other direct care providers did that worked in hospitals or congregant settings.  They were kind of left out, if you will, in the wild, wild west.  But yet what did we find out in the pandemic?  We found out that one of the most important public health strategies during a pandemic was to keep people who are at high risk at home, not in congregant settings.  Keep them as healthy as possible so they don't have to go to a hospital or emergency room because of the decline in health where they would be exposed to people with COVID and suffer some pretty dire consequences.  And then what happened as society began to reopen?  Well, an interesting phenomenon.  It was predictable but more extreme than many expected.  Market wages for competing jobs have just skyrocketed.  And you know what I'm talking about.  If you get around the communities you're in, whether it's places you see that you think of, well, that's where high school students get their first jobs or that's where somebody can deliver pizzas or that's where somebody can start an entry‑level retail job or become a dishwasher at the restaurant or, in my case, man the taco stand around the corner of my house.  What are you seeing as far as market wages?  You're seeing $17, $18, $20 to deliver pizzas.  Yet, in Medicaid, it doesn't respond to the market situation.  It responds only to the appropriations set by our legislature.  So keep this in mind.  Appropriations set by our legislators.  They have done virtually nothing in the last 10 to 12 years to increase those wages.  You know, maybe 12 years ago ‑‑ the current base wage is $8.11 in most programs.  When I say most programs, I mean like the Star Plus, the Community Tenant Services, the Family Care, the priority healthcare, even class respite workers are all very, very low pay.  A few of the DB waivers are paid more but most are paid very low.  10, 12 years ago that might have been comparable to your job at the local fast-food joint but not anymore.  Not anymore at all.  In fact, those jobs are paying so much more, even double what the community attendant will earn.  And, you know, the community attendant doesn't have any benefits, to speak of.  Very, very few of any benefits.  That means no sick leave.  If you have a sick child and have to stay at home, you don't get paid.  If you take Christmas off to be with your family, you don't get paid.  And of course, no paid vacation, no health plan, no retirement.  Is it any wonder that this workforce is being crushed?  You'll see our little diagram here, our little cover of our crushing the workforce report, which we will send electronically to all of you later today, a link to get to that.  This in two panels says it all.  You know, sorry, we don't have any more attendants.  And the answer being but who's going to get me out of bed?  The answer is no one.  That's the answer.  No one.  Is that acceptable?  No, it's not acceptable.  Is it fixable?  Yes, it is.  What are other forces that are happening at this time?  Now, this one here.  This is a demographic showing the aging of the Texas population, okay?  It's more and more people, older people in our communities.  You know where people who are aging want to age?  At home.  They don't want to age in a nursing home or other facility and the younger people with disabilities are showing the same kind of upward arc.  There's more and more demand for these services.  But don't take my word for it, take the word of the Texas Workforce Commission.  That's the State of Texas' jobs agency.  They're predicting we're going to need 95,000 more attendants by 2028.  That's six years.  And those 95,000 attendants, that's on top of filling all the vacancies that exist in the workforce now.  We're seeing vacancy rates recorded as high as 30% or more.  Meanwhile, the turnover rate is ranging 50 to 100% and more.  I spoke with a major home health company last week and they reported that the year before their turnover rate competed 100%.  That means they had more people working for them, more than 100% of their total slots.  That means some people worked there all year but others only lasted three or four months before they got other jobs.  So the turnover rate ended up over 100%.  You're spending your Medicaid dollars on recruiting and training new people instead of care.  That can be calculated and that is calculated in crushing the workforce. 
And here it is even more startling.  This is what we're doing to our community attendant workforce.  This chart is called erosion of wage rates in 2022 U.S. dollars.  Some people say, $8.11 base wage, that's more than it was in the past but, yeah, it's never really been adjusted.  Never had a cost of living kind of situation.  So what you're seeing here is that over recent decades it's eroded by, oh my God, like 35%.  35%.  While still having no benefits.  Now, see that thing at the end where it's $8.11?  Now, your fast-food joint would be up here at the top, way over that $14 an hour.  Those market wages have reflected changes.  The Medicaid attendant rate has not.  So what's our solution to this?  I'm going to turn this over to you, Chase, in just a minute.  The solution is simply put:  It has to be a money solution.  You know, we're tired of the legislative directions or the agency directions that say solve the problem of recruitment and retention, except don't suggest we give anybody a raise.  That's what they've been telling us for years.  That's one of the reasons why most of the disability advocates resigned from the community task force at HHSC is because they weren't allowed to recommend they be paid more and we knew it was fruitless and it is fruitless.  What do you think we should be asking for?  Well, this is what we're asking for.  $15 in year one of the next biennium.  $17 in year two.  $15 and $17.  That's a lot of money.  I see my friend Marcia nodding her head because she deals with trying to recruit and retain attendants and Kathi over there is nodding her head too and she knows this too, and Nancy.  Y'all know this.  You deal with this.  Even $15 at year one is still not going to reach what your average Chick‑Fil‑A person making a chicken sandwich makes on their first day of work.  But we think that, believe it or not, that is reasonable.  I don't think any of these suggest otherwise.  $17 in year two because you can't be stagnant.  The second piece of advocacy is not just more money but to build a mechanism that these wages reflect market forces and demographic forces and go up over time.  Now, am I just dreaming?  You know, is this just a pie in the sky?  Well, in past sessions I would have said those were high targets but I am feeling more optimistic than I have in a long time.  I'm seeing things move.  I'm seeing the Speaker of the House identify the community attendant workforce and his charge as a major issue.  I'm having conservative, Republican legislators talk to me like this needs to be a need and recognize they haven't addressed it for a long time.  So will this happen by just good will?  No, it's going to be hard work.  So at this time I'm going to turn this over to Chase Bearden.  He's going to talk about what we have in mind.  Chase, take it away.
>> Chase: Thanks, Dennis.  First, I wanted to hand it over to Susie.  She had asked for a few seconds to speak.  Susie, if you want to go and I'll jump in and fill in from there.
>> Sorry.  I wanted to add one thing about protection during the pandemic.  If one of them even [Inaudible] and you get it because ‑‑ and they think they can take it, they take it.  And if you're only an attendant, you're stuck, and I was that way.  So maybe we can use this pandemic to get reinforced.
>> Chase: I think you're right, Susie.  Again, my name is Chase Bearden.  My audio description, I'm a white male with a beard that is definitely getting gray, not as gray as Dennis' yet but getting there.  It's the job, unfortunately but also, I have a photo of the front of CTD so that you don't have to see the messy room I'm sitting in behind me.  But thank y'all again for joining and I do want to take a second to thank St. David's and Episcopal Healthcare for the sponsorship that's helped us to gain an extra person on our team.  Joanne will be ‑‑ it's going to be so much easier for us to take on the bigger tasks that we want to do.  For the first time I think since I have been at CTD for over 15 years, we'll actually have five people able full‑time working in the Capitol building during a legislative session.  We have averaged at times no more than two trying to cover as many areas as we can and we've grown and having that extra help has allowed us to not just expand into other policy areas but for this session it's actually going to help us kind of restrict ourselves down a little bit.  And Dennis and I and others have talked about this, as part of our legislative plan.  So we've been working out what is the best route for us in working on a lot of this legislation.  Because, like Dennis said, this isn't going to be an easy lift.  This is almost $4 billion ‑‑ not million, billion dollars that we're asking in appropriation.  Even in a good year getting a tenth of that is hard for many of our programs.  So this is going to be a very big lift and to do that we recognize that we're going to have to kind of constrain how many areas we work in.  We're going to kind of focus our resources into this.  This is something we've worked on since before I joined CTD and it's a constant battle and our hope is that if we can take all of the group strength we have, all of the other advocates and then really donate and drill down our time to focusing on this, we can as a large group make it happen. 
So part of it too is we're not just looking for that appropriation because if we do that and we get it, that's great.  The problem is we don't want, in the next session and the session after that and within the next decade for those, you know, basic wages to freeze again.  We've never had a mechanism in place that helped every session for them to be able to say, you know, it's going to tick up with inflation.  Something like what you would see any state employee or anyone working getting a 3% type raise or something like that to help move that up so that we don't get stuck there again.  So that will be the other side of what we're working on with this is trying to find some kind of mechanism to make sure we don't end up doing that.  But with all of that being said, how are we going to get there?  It's going to be a mix of things and I think we have identified our biggest targets are going to be starting in the Senate.  It seems to be the hardest to convince the Senate so we want to start there and we really want to get as much support over there as we can from both sides, both parties, from leadership so that way it can carry over as we move into the House, which tends to be a little bit easier to work through.  But, at the same time, you never know.  One side might be easier the next time.  But our plan is starting in the Senate.  We also have a Senate finance hearing coming up next week that we'll be there to testify about.  You know, we have plans for action alerts going out for that one specifically.  I think it's going to go out tomorrow and we're going to ask that, you know, if each of you could sign on and you'll get that e‑mail tomorrow and forward that through on to the legislators.  But, you know, our focus right now in the interim is going to be meeting with as many of the senators as we can on the finance side and really explaining how attendant care affects the community and the whole and how it actually saves money and creates a stronger healthcare system for all of us and actually lowers the cost in the long run.  One of the problems a lot of times with any legislature is they tend to look at only in their budget cycles.  So for us it's a two‑year program.  We actually want them to look farther out.  We want to show them the savings actually do come.  But if we keep cutting it too close and not giving enough funds for that, we'll never get any of those savings or any of those quality-of-life improvements, all of which give you long‑term effects and help, you know, with a stable healthcare system.  So we're going to work on getting op‑eds published within certain districts, trying to get as much earned media as possible to inform the public of why this is actually a smart move.  We're working on getting an economic analysis done by a third party to really show the benefits of higher wages and trying to get us out of this kind of serious situation we're in.  Because as we see inflation increase, I can guarantee you we'll keep seeing attendants quit to move into other areas.  It's understandable.  If you can't afford your rent, you can't keep doing the job you're doing if you can get paid two to three times more in another market.  So we're going to really work on explaining that through the legislative session.  I can't believe I'm saying this but we're six months out from the start of the next session.  I feel like we just ended the last one, maybe because we possibly just did.  Hopefully we won't have any special sessions this next go around but right now is the most important time.  Decisions are being made.  You know, targets of where they want to head is where we're going, and we want to make sure they understand that this isn't something they can just look over and bypass because they have another emergency in some other area.  Let's face it, there's a lot of emergencies going on.  There have been for every session and a lot of times our programs get left out when they need to focus on those.  So we're going to do our best to really make sure it stays very public in that they understand and the way to do that is using the media, working with legislators, you know, trying to do not just op‑eds but getting joint op‑eds done with legislators.  You know, having y'all to tell your stories and helping target those.  We can work with you on writing those, if need be and helping you get in front of your legislator.  We want to try to bring people in this session to really explain those areas and work together all as one big advocacy team on how we can do that.  We'll be sharing more of a detailed plan as we go along and as we develop it out but this is going to be one of our biggest focuses this session.  So you will see us maybe scale back on some of the other things we used to do but I think if ever there was a time to do that, now's the time for us to dive in head first and really, you know, pour all of our resources into making sure the legislature hears us this go around and we don't pass the buck to the next session and that's going to include having to work with state agencies, getting their LARs, getting those requests put in, making sure they make that ask because let's face it, if the state agency doesn't ask for the money the legislature most of the time isn't going to look and say don't you think you need more over here?  So we have some steps we need to get in place first but we will be, you know, sending out information to y'all and asking for your help.  And we wanted to see where all of y'all stood.  I'm going to put up a poll.  If you have a chance, we'll leave it up for a while, feel free to mark it.  And it's actually if you could participate and help, what areas would you be able to and that way we can go back and see those and when we decide to do an op‑ed we'll see that maybe four of you would be willing, we can contact y'all.  Or if you just want to do action alerts.  So we have that up on the screen right now.  If you're not able to click on that, click the raise your hand button and we can do that or we'll send a follow‑up e‑mail this afternoon or by tomorrow you can always do it there and send it there.  And, with that, I will turn it back over to I think Dennis.  Is that who I'm supposed to be giving it back to?
>> Dennis: Thanks, Chase.  You know, this plan, it's not really CTD's plan.  This is our collective plan.  Frankly, we have been able to chase some more resources to try to focus more effort on it but think of this as not CTD's plan but think of this as all of ours, all of ours.  And we didn't get to this point by saying, well, we're going to make a big push this time without having years and years of advocacy, not just from CTD but from many others and, you know, I see folks like Kathi and Nancy and Bob who have been in the midst of this.  Susie, you have done it.  Marcia, you have.  Richard, all you guys have and other folks too but, you know, we're seeing a few other interesting folks.  I see my friend Carol Smith is here.  We have worked with her on stuff but now I see her trade association is wanting to get involved, as is Pax Tex, another trade association, even the Texas Association of Home Care and Hospice.  These folks, up until now, it has been most of the consumer advocates trying to make this happen and with a little bit of support but now it's everybody.  So don't think of this as CTD's plan, think of this as all of our plan.  So we're going to do some breakouts in just a minute and Laura is setting those up right now.  If you haven't done breakouts, what that means ‑‑ and she's going to give you a little description.  You won't be able to hide in the back of the classroom, folks, you'll be in a small group of maybe three or four and be answering some questions and having a discussion.  That means you can't be silent.  You have to speak.  But the first thing that's coming up, June 14th, Senate finance committee, interim hearing.  Long‑term services and supports.  Now, the focus of that on the Senate side, they've been asking stuff around the workforce and long‑term services and supports and they have a bunch of sub‑questions that have to do with nursing homes or other types of institutions.  And, yes, those people are staggering a little bit too, they are.  There's no question about it but we're focused on community attendants.  We're not there to advocate for the nursing home workforce but we think on June 14th this hearing, the interim charge is loose enough to allow for commentary about the community attendant workforce.  So we're going to be putting out an action alert later today, Chase touched on it.  It would be real easy for you ‑‑ there will be some can language.  You can adjust it and come up with your own.  It basically hit a couple of keystrokes and it will go to every member of the Senate Finance Committee and it can be stuff like, well, my name is Nancy C.  I was without an attendant for eight weeks because no one would take my lousy pay.  Sorry, Nancy, but since I have heard you say that to me before I think it's probably okay to tell that story.  There's been many, many stories like that.  So, in other words, rather than just saying, oh, that's not for us.  No, we think the language of that interim charge on the Senate side is enough, is enough.  And do you know what they need to understand?  If you take everybody on Medicaid that is in an institution, supported by Medicaid ‑‑ I'm doing a calculation in my head right now.  I think think it's maybe 60,000.  There are 300,000 Texans in community care Medicaid programs, so where are the long‑term services and supports in Texas?  Why, they're in the community.  Not a surprise.  That's where people want to live, that's where they want to continue to live, that's where they want to be part of the communities, their families, their friends.  You know, that's where they want to be and they're living it and they are resisting institutionalization.  They will not submit to being institutionalized just so they can get care.  Doesn't that speak well of their character?  I think it does and of their desire to live independently.  So, this breakout room that you'll be in, we're going to give you a prompt, okay?  And a prompt is where we throw out a question on the table and when you get in the breakout room, discuss it among yourself.  Laura will tell you some of the nice manners to use in the breakout room.  But the question we're going to say, well, what do you think you're going to say in your e‑mail to the members of the Senate Finance?  So with that, I'll turn it over to Laura to take us into the breakout rooms. 
>> Laura: Thanks, Dennis.  So I'm going to first end this poll.  If you would still like to give us any input on ways that you would be willing and able to be involved in advocating for wages this session, you can contact us in any way that you have our info, including when I send out the follow‑up e‑mail today or tomorrow, you can always reply to that.  That comes right back to us.  So, for our breakouts, here are the things.  You'll be put into your breakout rooms automatically.  You don't have to hit any buttons or anything.  One thing we recommend is to do a quick sound check to make sure that everybody has their mics turned on and can be heard.  Please do keep in mind that some folks might need an extra minute to turn their mics on or they may only be using the chat box to communicate, so keep an eye on that as well.  There is a help button if you need it.  And we'll be in there for about 15 minutes and you'll get a couple of warnings before you're yanked from your fruitful and intense and wonderful conversations back into the void of the main room.
[ Background noise ] 
>> Laura: I'm going to take that as a sign that we are all ready to go so I'm opening the rooms now.  Off you go. 
[ Breakout rooms ] 
>> Hello.  My name is Redge Westbrook. 
>> I'm John Wisenbaum.
>> I'm Lora Taylor. 
>> Good afternoon. 
>> Hi, my name is Andy. 
>> Hi, Andy. 
>> All I can say is there's no way to overstate this problem.  We've been having to obtain attendant care for the last six months or so and it's been outside the Medicaid program but however much you can pay it's almost impossible to find attendants.  And if you could only pay $8.12 an hour, it's just impossible. 
>> I would like to agree with that statement.  My daughter is not on the Medicaid program.  We have paid for that privately.  She's now 40 years old.  Last summer I spent ten hours a day the entire summer looking for attendant care for her.  We pay actually three times the amount that Medicaid is willing to pay and I spent ten hours a day trying to find someone to work for three times that amount.  I cannot imagine how difficult it would be if you were only paying $8.11 an hour.  Because finding any attendant care people is very, very difficult. 
>> We are trying to get ‑‑ we're going to have to get a reverse mortgage on our house just to cover the expenses or go on Medicaid A or B. 
>> Yeah, I'll just say I have been ‑‑ I help my sister who has a disability and have been struggling with all this too.  I echo Lora's experience of trying to find care at the private market rate and it's very challenging. 
>> I'll speak.  I'm an attendant and I work for two different families and part of the problem that we have is we are on the class program so we get cut off at 40 hours a week.  So then the families have to either privately pay, which is not something that they can necessarily afford, or the parents have to take over the care and one of the families I work for, you know, the father is in his 80s, mother is in her late 60s and it's not sustainable for them to be with their child for, you know, that many days with zero care.  So just finding other ways.  Maybe if it was a higher rate of pay we could hire more people.  I don't know.  It's complicated. 
>> I'll also jump in to say ‑‑ I'm turning 68 in a few weeks.  My husband is already 68.  Our daughter is a very, very complicated patient.  Very medically fragile, has no self‑skills whatsoever so it requires a lot of strength and [Lapse in Audio] lots of care.  And so we typically have done 100 of the 186 hours a week but we're getting to the age where we're wearing out.  We are literally wearing out.  But, again, finding someone that's qualified to come in, even at three times that $8.11 an hourly rate is very complicated, so this is a huge problem.  Do we have a mediator for our group?  Redge, is that you? 
>> I'm sorry?  I'm not necessarily the leader of this group.
>> Just wondered. 
>> Does anyone have any other comments on this subject? 
>> I'm curious if either of you or any of the three of you have had any experience interacting with legislative offices, either specifically for your families or testifying or writing letters, what that experience has been like.
>> I have had a great deal of experience with that.  Made hundreds and hundreds of visits to the legislative offices.  Have given testimony countless times and it's really not nearly as difficult as you would think.  You know, the key things are to be concise, to be certain that you're polite, that you have an appointment, that you communicate what it is that you want to ask specifically but then again have a personal story or how this affects your families because legislators are going to remember personal stories more than anything else.  And, again, you have to be able to show this is a critical need that we're facing right now. 
>> Yeah, I've been doing this for 20 or 30 or 40 years and that advice is the best advice.  If you go down there and have a personal story and be concise.
>> No, personally, I don't have any experience.  This is me stepping my toes in.  The families that I work for have had a lot of experience but, you know, obviously any voice can help so I'm trying to learn and participate more. 
>> That's great. 
>> And I would just like to say that not only CTD can be a help, I actually am a public policy director or chair for the Texas Committee on Developmental Disabilities, TCDD, and we will have a quarterly meeting the 4th through the 6th of August and you're certainly welcome, as members of the public to register.  You can come to Austin or you can certainly participate online but a lot of our training in August will be specifically on how to become an effective advocate.  A large portion of the meeting will be dedicated to that so I invite you to join us.  Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities.  Go to our website and check it out.  But our quarterly meeting will be August 4 through 6.  But, again, CTD has a ton of people and resources to help as well.  But it's really amazing the effect that you can have if you're willing to do the work.  Redge, any other ideas you've got for us?
>> No, ma'am.  Just do as much as you can when you can.  Everyone is not in a position to go down and testify but you can write letters, send e‑mails, whatever you can do, please do it. 
>> During the pandemic, we were in total isolation with my daughter so I did not make a single Capitol visit during the last session but I wrote countless letters, especially at the winter storm, I raised an enormous amount of heck at the Capitol because we had a very harrowing life‑threatening situation.  So, again, phone calls and letters are very effective. 
>> Also, I guess they'll send out information but the hearing that's coming up June 14th will be broadcast online as well so people can ‑‑ if you're not able to travel to the Capitol you can watch it live or you can even watch it taped later, because it's archived.
>> That's a good point. 
>> So I just want to ask the attendant on here.  I'm so sorry, I don't know your name but I can't see it on my screen.  Are you able to survive if you're being paid wages that are that low? 
>> Well, it's kind of a unique situation that I'm in.  So the two young men that I work for live like five days of the week on one side of the duplex and I am able to rent the back side of the duplex that's like my own personal place for when I'm not working, because I do do, you know, full‑time 24‑hour care, overnights and throughout the day and there's one other attendant right now, because of the cap on how many hours we can work.  Plus we had to reduce our staff because of COVID, trying to minimize the number of people coming in and out of the house every day.  But I, you know, if I wasn't able to rent this other part of the duplex at such an affordable rate, no, I do not think I could survive as a single person on one income living in Austin with the rent rates and things like that now.  So, you know, I'm lucky that I'm in the situation that I'm in but I count every single penny, you know, and I'm lucky that one of the two families that I work for can try to supplement my income a little bit but it's still not even what we're asking for, you know, what Dennis, the rates that he was talking about at the beginning of the meeting.  It's still not 17, 18, or $20 an hour.  You know, it's ‑‑ I don't know.  I know other families that are like you that can't even find people to work for their individual right now and I've been with both of my families for like 12 and 16 years so I'm committed for all kinds of reasons.  You know, I'm very invested in working with these guys but I wouldn't want to start this right now at the rates that they're paying and try to have any sort of life.  It would be hard as an attendant.  But, you know, I feel ‑‑ I don't know.  I'm advocating for myself but I want people to be able to get the care that they want, the quality of care that they want because, you know, you can't always hire quality people at low, low rates.  But some people are willing to work for low rates to do this type of work and, I don't know.  It's harder to find that kind of person these days. 
>> I just want to say thank you for being a remarkable person, for doing the care that you do.
>> Likewise. 
>> Yes.  In Austin a one‑bedroom apartment is renting for around $1400 a month so it's just impossible to rent one on these wages.
>> Yeah. 
[ Computer reading text ]
 
>> Well, thanks everybody for participating and I enjoyed getting to hear all of y'all's stories a little bit.
>> Yes, sir.  Nice to meet everyone.
>> Thank you, all.
>> Yes, thank you. 
>> I hope to work together again.
>> Yes, ma'am. 
>> Do I need to close my microphone?
>> Yeah, it's about to switch us over. 
[ End of breakout session ]
>> Laura: All right.  We've got some folks starting to come back.  We're waiting on a few others.  They only have a few more seconds and we'll wrap it up today. 
>> Dennis: Wow.  If y'all had the same kind of spirited discussions that we had in my breakout, you would probably ‑‑ the time flew by because it certainly did with us.  You know, I was with Ron, Andre and Jesse, two of whom were people who were consumers of attendant care and Jesse is a provider and Ron is of course a very, very well‑known advocate as well.  And the stuff we talked about is ‑‑ and Ron was just tying things together.  He said it's not about us just being scared, of being left without the attendant care we need, that there's a true case to be made that this is smart public policy and actually money‑saving, cost‑effective public policy.  You know, I once had a friend of mine at a foundation tell me they wanted to start working on public policy because they figured they couldn't grant their way out of the attendant care shortage.  Those were Ron's words.  Because no foundation is big enough to replace Texas Medicaid.  And, do you know what?  The money is there in Medicaid because they're spending it in places like emergency rooms and hospitals and nursing homes and other institutions that could have been avoided, could have been avoided.  So I'm doing the debriefing here.  We have a few minutes to go so if anybody wants to raise their hand and ‑‑ Susie, are you raising your hand?
>> Yeah.
>> Dennis: Go for it. 
>> In our group we were talking about minimum wage.  Did that $15 an hour ever get passed? 
>> Dennis: Okay.  I think I got that.  $15 an hour ‑‑ actually, that's not even really enough.  Is that what you're saying?
>> No, she wanted to know if it was passed.
>> Dennis: No, we're going to work on that in the next legislative session.
>> No, no, no.  For the general public.
>> Chase: Are you talking about the minimum wage for the general public when they talked about raising it to $15?  It never did pass.  What was the rate?
>> Dennis: I think it was $15.
>> Chase: No, it was like 7 something an hour.
>> Dennis: $7.25 is the current minimum wage.
>> Okay. 
>> Dennis: So Mike Weiss, I think you said you had some comment you would like to make? 
>> Yeah.  Yes.  We need to figure out how to pay these attendants and someone made a comment.  But I think it is an emergency and we need to let them know this.  But this is a big emergency, in my opinion because I'm lucky I have an attendant that's been with me ten years.  She's my neighbor and she's an angel and I just know one day she'll come and say, Mike, I'm sorry.  I need to leave you and go somewhere where I can make more money.  And that would be the day I die because if she ever leaves me, I don't know what I would do. 
>> Dennis: Mike, you're exactly right. 
>> Chase: It's an emergency that's been brewing for so long and if they don't take it seriously, it's going to affect a lot of our lives. 
>> Yes.  It's been since the late '80s and somebody said it has not changed any over the years. 
>> Dennis: That's very powerful.  Thanks, Mike.  Please write that e‑mail and that's the day you die.  That's powerful.  Glenda, you have your hand raised so I think we have time for Glenda and Susie has her hand raised.  Two more comments.  We promised everyone we would get done in an hour, so Glenda, take it away.
>> Okay.  The perspective that I went with, I have been in rehab for a long time, a lot of years and like has already been alluded to many times, it's an ongoing issue.  But I think I would write from the perspective of this is an economic benefit to provide living wages for caregivers, attendant care providers because they can provide care which may allow, if a recipient can work then both people are productive in the community.  Both people are able to, you know, participate, pay taxes, add to the community, those kinds of things.  And I told myself I know that's cold, but it's a fact legislators are probably going to listen to money and economic policy. 
>> Dennis: Thank you.  You know, it's interesting that all of us on this call seem to realize that this is smart economic policy so if all of us keep talking that way and then talk about the humanitarian angle, like Mike spoke about, do not think that this is impossible.  If we think that, we're defeating ourselves.  It is possible and there's enough buzz out there that's telling me this is the best chance in a decade.  Susie, you have the last comment and then I'll have a little wind up at the end.
>> What Glenda said but I want to add that we need to get across that our lives, even though we're disabled, are worth it because if they, by helping us with attendants, we can invest in society. 
>> Dennis: Thanks, Susie.  Yes, lives are worth investing into.  This has been an amazing conversation today.  It's only the start and our Raise Your Voice is coming up June 20.  The topic will be the waiting list.  And I know there's plenty of you interested in that as well.  We'll have a guest speaker, Ashley Ford from the Arc of Texas is always up to the elbows in trying to figure out these DB waiver wait lists which, by the way, if you put your name on the wait list today, a reputable calculation says that the current rate it will take you 27 years to get to the top.  And that reputable calculation was made by me.  So, again, we can't ‑‑ Raise Your Voice is always free to everybody.  You can invite and let people know about this, spread it around but the reason it's free to everybody is we have supporters that are sponsors of this, and those include Shield Healthcare, Gilead Sciences, We Work For Health, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Touch of Class, and our highest sponsor that we appreciate the most ‑‑ appreciate them all but like these guys even better, United Health Care and Superior Health Plan.  Laura has a reminder that there's another opportunity for a webinar with Larry Johnson and Kenneth Simeon so I'm going to kick this back to Laura and then take it from there, Laura.
>> Laura: Oh, sure.  Just wanted to mention that our, you know, friends, partners, supporters, CTD founders and leaders, Larry Johnson and Kenneth Simeon have been doing a series of calls, what to say to your legislator.  How to build a relationship with your representatives. They had a couple earlier this month. They're doing a follow‑up call on June 22.  I think they're doing one at 1:00 and then one at 7:30 p.m.  This is central time.  And you can e‑mail Larry to get the details and RSVP.  These are guys who really know the ropes at the Capitol so just wanted to let y'all know that that series is still going on. 
>> Dennis: Thank you, all.  See you in a couple of weeks.  The waiting list is another big issue.  You will be receiving an e‑mail and action alert as well as the full crushing workforce report and I just want to say again that this is a collaborative effort, okay?  And we're all in this together and that's the only way we'll win this.  And, do you know what?  This is a fight worth doing and it is one we can win.  Okay?  There are many emergencies in our state today, some really horrible but we need to also keep in mind that this particular issue is a very long‑standing, been a crisis for a long time and is now at the breaking point.  Thank you for your time today and thank you all for advocating for people with disabilities.  Take care.
>> Thank y'all. 
>> Dennis: Good‑bye. 
[ End of call ] 

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