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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6560
AN ACT CONCERNING TIMELY PAYMENTS AND TRAINING FOR
PERSONAL CARE ATTENDANTS.
SUMMARY
The bill requires fiscal intermediaries (i.e., payroll service providers)
to provide timely payments (i.e., on a regular payment date or within
48 hours after resolving any issue delaying payment) to personal care
attendants (PCAs) employed by a consumer under the following state-
funded programs:
Medicaid Acquired Brain Injury Waiver Program;
Medicaid PCA Waiver Program for adults with disabilities;
Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders;
Connecticut Home Care Program for Disabled Adults Pilot
Program;
Individual, Family Support, and Comprehensive Medicaid
waivers programs administered by DDS; and
any other state-funded program that provides PCA services.
It requires a fiscal intermediary to provide clear and timely
communication to PCAs about payment discrepancies, payment
confirmation, or a change in consumer (i.e., client) status that may
affect timely payment to them, including:
1. sufficient notice to allow a PCA to address any issue with
submitted time records to receive correct payment on his or her
regular payment date;
2. a specific and accessible means to address an issue that may 2021HB-06560-R000307-BA.DOCX
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affect payment in time to receive the correct payment on the
PCA’s regular payment date; and
3. a method for a PCA to receive the correct payment within 48
hours after a payment discrepancy has been resolved.
The bill subjects a fiscal intermediary that fails to make timely
payments to a PCA in violation of the bill’s provisions to a fine (by the
state agency administering the program) of $25 for each day timely
wage payment was delayed. To the extent this provision of the bill
applies to existing contracts, it may implicate the Contracts Clause of
the U.S. Constitution (see BACKGROUND).
By law, the state and the union representing state-funded PCAs
may contract directly with a non-profit labor management trust to
provide PCA training and related services at cost. The training contract
must be authorized under the collective bargaining agreement
between the state and the PCA union and the trust providing the
services must be authorized to receive payments from an employer
under federal labor law. The bill replaces this authorization by instead
allowing the Personal Care Attendant Workforce Council to solicit
proposals for PCA training and related services.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except the contracting provision
is effective July 1, 2021.
BACKGROUND
Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution
The Contracts Clause (Article I, Section 10) bars states from passing
laws that impair the obligation of contracts. When analyzing an
alleged contracts clause violation, the threshold inquiry for a court is
whether a state law has substantially impaired a contractual
relationship. If so, in deciding whether to uphold the law at issue, the
court must determine whether the (1) law has a legitimate and
important public purpose and (2) adjustment of the rights of the
parties to the contractual relationship was reasonable and appropriate
in light of that purpose (Energy Reserves Group, Inc. v. Kansas Power & 2021HB-06560-R000307-BA.DOCX
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Light Co., 459 U.S. 400, 411-413 (1983)).
Related Bills
sSB 942 (File 219), favorably reported by the Labor and Public
Employees Committee, similarly requires fiscal intermediaries to
provide PCAs with a way to address pay discrepancies and receive
their pay, but imposes a fine of $100 per violation, per day, until the
violation is corrected.
SB 1075, favorably reported by the Government Administration and
Elections Committee, imposes similar requirements on responders to a
request for proposals for the provision of PCA payroll services.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Human Services Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 19 Nay 0 (03/18/2021)