March 17, 2026 · Community Revitalization Committee · 12,880 words · 11 speakers · 115 segments
Speaking of the House Community Revitalization Committee to order, will the clerk please call the roll. Chair Click? Here. Vice Chair Mullins? Here. Ranking Member Brewer excused. Representative Brownlee? Here. Representative Fowler-Arthur? Representative Gross? Here. Representative Hoops? Representative Humphrey? Here. Representative Lawson-Rowe excused. Representative Newman? Representative Salvo? Here. Representative Swearingen? Representative Tesco? Here. I do believe Representative Hoops checked in. we have a quorum present and we will proceed as a full committee the minutes from the previous meeting are on your iPads please review the minutes are there any objections to the minutes without objection the minutes are approved we will stand now and offer our prayer and our pledge today and the prayer will be offered by Representative Humphrey and the pledge by Representative Mullen
Prayer first. Father God, we come to you as soon as we know how, thanking you for yet another day that you've allowed us to see. Father, we thank you for gathering us all here today to do your work and work on behalf of your people. Now, God, I ask that you get us through this committee. We ask that you help us to ask insightful and thoughtful questions to ensure that we are getting legislation out of this committee that will further help Ohioans. And so, Father God, we thank you. We love you. In all these things, we do pray. Amen.
Amen. I pray for the citizens to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.
So as a reminder, initial testimony is five minutes, and then in the question and answer period we would ask our representatives to keep your questions to one minute and the answers to three minutes. And that way we can proceed. We have a number of folks who would like to testify today, and we want to make sure that that everyone has their chance and their opportunity to speak their heart and to share what's important to them today. I now call forward House Bill 585 for its second hearing. Please note there are several pieces of written testimony on your iPads. And I now call Critty Buenconsejo and Regina, Jim, and Carrie Paschal to provide proponent testimony, and you all may notify me if I got any of your names incorrectly.
you may begin when you're ready good afternoon chairman click distinguished members of the community revitalization committee thank you for taking the time to hear testimony on House bill 585 I am Gina gem and I'm here with my colleagues from two other housing corporations but representing three that are nine counties of Ohio we're grateful for the efforts of representatives Oseos Odeoso and led in sponsoring this legislation. As of November of 2024, 108,000 people with developmental disabilities were served in Ohio. 74% of these individuals currently live with family members, and of those, 25% of them live with aging caregivers. Ohio also faces a significant housing deficit. Across the state, there's a gap in housing for individuals at 30 of area median income of over 250 units As a result the supply of affordable and accessible housing and the demand from individuals with developmental disabilities is in significant conflict The opportunities created by this legislation are essential for expanding the range of housing options available. Current rules limit eligible housing types to single-family homes, duplexes, and four-unit buildings, and prohibit more than one structure on a site or adjacent sites. These limitations restrict housing options for people with disabilities in ways that other Ohioans do not experience. The housing needs and preferences of individuals served by our county boards are just as varied as those in the general population. Although people with developmental disabilities want the same types of housing as others, the way they access housing often requires additional supports. Many individuals have representative payees or guardians who assist in financial management and decision-making. This can create barriers when applying for affordable housing as application processes are administratively complex and often open for a very short period of time. Community capital assistance funds allow units to be set aside so individuals with developmental disabilities have a fair opportunity to access affordable housing. While the CCA rule has accomplished a great deal in expanding housing access, the current structure can unintentionally limit community integration. Single-family homes in Ohio are often located further from public transportation and neighborhood amenities. When a three- or four-bedroom home is accessible, it may have several individuals who use motorized wheelchairs. This can make community participation more difficult, as it is challenging to find transportation that accommodates multiple power wheelchairs. Additionally, some individuals experience disabilities that create significant social or sensory challenges and require substantial support. For these individuals, having a caregiver physically present at all times can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Remote support technology offers an important alternative, allowing assistance to be provided without needing constant in-person supervision. For many people, an accessory dwelling unit located behind an existing supported home would be an ideal housing solution. However, current restrictions prohibiting more than one structure on a single site prevent us from offering this type of housing. The legislation would allow more creative housing solutions, including accessory dwelling units and apartments within larger communities where certain units and apartments are set aside for people with disabilities. The opportunity to live in housing that is affordable, accessible, and designed to support independence and community participation can have a profound impact on quality of life. These funds can also be combined with other financing tools, such as low-income housing tax credits, allowing us to stretch CCA dollars and create additional housing opportunities for people with disabilities. When CCA funds are used to set aside units within larger developments, they can also support the overall viability of affordable housing projects. This can benefit caregivers as well, including aging caregivers and direct service professionals whose incomes are often below 80% of AMI. We are seeking greater flexibility in how these funds can be used, including the ability to support a wider range of housing types and to layer funding sources when available. We are not requesting additional funding, only the ability to use these existing funds in ways that align with local zoning and in partnership with our county boards. Thank you for your time and attention and we would be happy to answer any questions after Critty speaks Thank you for your testimony and that is wonderful timing there
So did you have additional spoken testimonies? Okay. Okay, I'm going to ask you, I will give you the opportunity to do that usually because you're there together. And as one, it normally would be like five minutes per group, but that's okay. But if you can just, if you can summarize this, because we have a lot of people to get through, but I do want to give you the opportunity to speak. And if you will pardon me for one moment, ranking member Brewer is not with us today. He's excused. And so I need to appoint Representative Humphrey as the ranking member. Representative Humphrey, do you accept? She accepts. It's a good thing because she already signed the paperwork. And so with that piece of business done and now in our notes, please continue. Go ahead.
Chairman Cleck, Vice Chair Mullins, and ranking member Humphrey. And distinguished members of the House Community Revitalization Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 585. My name is Critty Boyn-Cincejo, and I am here today on behalf of Creative Housing located in central Ohio to support this legislation. Together with Gina Gemm of Inclusive Housing Resources, Chris West of North Coast Community Homes, and Carrie Paschal of Inclusive Neighborhoods Housing Corporation, we're grateful for the efforts of Representatives Odioso and Lent on this legislation, which addresses a critical bottleneck in housing for Ohioans with developmental disabilities. In order to expedite a little bit, I'm just going to highlight that Gina's prior testimony highlighted data on the Ohio housing shortage, our challenges of folks with developmental disabilities accessing affordable housing in the community, and some limitations of DODD's CCA funds. So I'd just like to focus on the accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and neighboring units on adjacent sites. So supporting living housing providers find themselves competing for scarce, limited, affordable housing funding and available land. As noted in prior testimony, CCA dollars have provided some wonderful housing opportunities, but in limited fashion. Supporting ADUs, think of granny flats, HB 585 would allow organizations like ours to increase their housing inventory without the need of acquiring new land. So specific to our portfolio, 74% of our properties could support an ADU on existing properties. So that equates to a common sense, cost-effective housing option for an additional 249 people. Easy peasy. Additionally, supported living housing providers play a part in how efficiently state dollars are used for home and community-based services. Smart housing development can support cost-effective services helping to stabilize county board budgets, which promotes the sustainability of DD services by maximizing the reach of every dollar. By allowing CCA dollars to support community housing for properties that neighbor each other, HB 585 would support fiscally responsible, cost-effective care and prevent institutionalization for people who choose to live next to each other and share in their home and community-based supports. In summary, House Bill 585 is a common-sense solution that transforms a rigid funding stream into a flexible tool for independence. By passing this legislation, you are ensuring that Ohioans with developmental disabilities have access to a true variety of housing options, including ADUs and other innovative models. We urge you to favorably pass the House Bill 585. Thank you for your time and commitment to all Ohio citizens and happy to answer any questions you might have.
Ms Pascal would you like three minutes to cover whatever they left out Question support Question support Wonderful We be able to handle all the questions with all of us up here Very good Well, thank you for your testimony. I appreciate that. Are there any questions from the committee? Is there anything? I will just ask this open-ended question. Is there anything that you, what questions should we have asked you that we didn't ask you that you would like to answer?
I just think that the big piece here is that this promotes flexibility. It allows for greater creation of units by stretching dollars, by coupling dollars, by giving people choice in where they want to live and promoting not just the wellness of the individual, but then also of those who are below AMI who are supporting the individuals who are receiving services. A lot of our caregivers also don't make more than 80% of AMI, and it would be helpful for them to also have access to affordable housing that's created in concert with us.
The chair recognizes Representative Salvo for a question.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you for your testimony. You know what might be helpful, because this makes a lot of sense, but what does it look like in operation now as far as housing, lack of flexibility? lack of ability to really create the housing that's needed.
Sure. Well, one of the examples, I'm sorry. Mr. Chair, Representative Salvo, one of the examples I was prepared to share with you is that we have a single family home that currently sits on 2.5 acres. It was developed with the intent to be a way to be farther off from typical communities because we're housing folks who are harder to serve in close-knit communities. But with that 2.5 acres, if we were able to put an ADU on that acre, we're already able to increase our ability to serve one more person who is not necessarily a great fit for a closer-knit community. Right now we have that land and we have the resource to put the ADU on there, but we don't have the ability to because of the limits within the rule.
Would you, just one more time for clarification, would you define what an ADU is for us?
It's an accessory dwelling unit. Some people might think of them as mother-in-law suites, some small, tiny homes, things like that. They usually share a common plot with, say, a residential home that's already there. So you have a single-family home, and in the back, you have a home there as well, usually less than 500 square feet, typically within some sort of zoning definition as well for your community. Thank you.
The chair recognizes Representative Gross for a question.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, ladies, for being here. Just a couple of kind of administrative questions. One, zoning in the local area would still be through the local community. Okay, thank you. And then if you would, Chair. And then when you build these, if you use capital funds to build these dwellings, who then is responsible for upkeep? Are you going to come back to the state and ask for upkeep and management in the funding of that?
Chairman Click to Representative Gross.
The beauty of some of these funding sources are that they require the buildup of reserves to ensure that ongoing maintenance and operations of those sites.
Follow? Follow? So where do those funds come from? Where are you, is it coming out of your general revenue fund, appropriations in the general budget, and then so then you're getting building money and then you're getting GRF. Where is the money actually coming from for long-term maintenance and continued quality of access and quality dwellings and all of that? Or are you going to come back to the state for more money to manage those?
Chairman Click to Representative Gross, we currently use our funds that we are getting through rental subsidies to do a lot of that work.
There are some capital funds currently that are used for upkeep, for capital replacements or for accessibility modifications. But if we are able to expand the way that this is used, if we, say, use it in a low-income housing tax credit development, then the process of developing that actually forces the creation of, like, an operating reserve from the construction process. And then also annually they require those projects to put aside ongoing replacement reserves so that those funds are then available for replacement needs as needed.
One more follow-up. Thank you for that. So my next question is, how do you how will you determine in each county who I guess what I would like to see is that the areas that achieve this are taking care of the people in the local area that belong? For instance, I'm in Butler County, so I would like Butler County to service the people in the DD community in Butler County. How do we, because we have some really good programs in Ohio, and I know that a lot of people come to Ohio to get our services. How are we sure that the people that we are serving with this money are only taking care of the local people in each county and that each county isn't attracting other people to come into that county to use their services? Does that make sense?
Yes. Okay.
Chairman Click to Representative Gross. We currently the way that structured we're not asking for a change to and that is that these funds are actually managed through the county boards that application for these funds that wouldn't change in order to access those funds.
they have to have a contract with us to provide housing services. And as far as I'm aware, every one of those contracts has the right for referral so that anybody who's coming into those specific units are coming through the County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
Great. Thank you very much.
Are there any other questions for the witnesses? Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you.
The chair now recognizes Belinda Spinozzi to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 585. You may begin when you're ready.
We need a bigger committee room.
Yes, we do.
Committee, thank you very kindly for this opportunity to speak before you. Chairman, Vice Chair, my representative, Ranking Member Humphreys. My name is Belinda Spinozzi. I am a disability advocate from Columbus. I absolutely honor my colleagues that are here today talking about housing. I think it's been very brave of them and with a lot of ingenuity on how to navigate housing in the current system. I am a supporter of 585 except for I asking you to expand the language to also allow some of the funds to be used for apartments We right now still have a great number of individuals who are institutionalized as adults living with their parents that need desperately to have a free life of their own. We had... Olmstead was in 1999 that required deinstitutionalization across the nation. And then Massachusetts, who said... Both states said it was less expensive for the state to institutionalize people than to ask them to live on their own. Here in Ohio, we have Ball versus first Kasich, then DeWine. And that was settled verbally in 2020. The paper was finalized after an argument about it in 2022. But the plan in that was above the Medicaid wait list slots. and I'm sure some of you remember the Medicaid wait list. I worked on that 20 years ago when we first developed it. That we were going to add, this is Ball versus DeWine, an increase of 700 waiver slots on top of what already Medicaid wait list was doing. But during the pandemic, the Medicaid wait list disappeared. So now we have no accountability truly of what the status is of housing. So I'm first asking you to increase the funding so that we can move people immediately out. They're still waiting. We've got some people that have all had all their paperwork done for 10 years, 10 years, and are still waiting to get out the door. On top of that, I'm a, as a disability advocate, my specialty is solving problems. So I've dug into this because I have an interest in it for many decades. And what I want to say to you is that I want you to add to this also language, asking the Board of Building Standards under the Department of Commerce to develop accessible housing code. We do not have it in Ohio. And that's what we're all waiting on, is this ingenuity to work around and not offend anyone. But as an advocate, I'm free to say the truth. No one will be retaliated against here, but I'm willing to do the work and help you through this. I spoke to the Board of Building Standards. They had a stakeholder meeting just a couple weeks ago because they're also writing existing building code to try to get them out of the Fair Housing Act, to take it back to March 13, 1991, and exempt themselves because they know this conversation is coming forward, that this hearing today is here. We're all talking about the need for accessible housing. The Board of Building Standards says that it is not their fault, that it is the Residential Construction Advisory Committee who writes all the rules, and you have given them, the Board of Building Standards, option of approving and rejecting, but they're approving everything. You also have given permission for the Board of Building Standards to come and report to you about if there's any problems, such as the Fair Housing Act. And they have not done that to you with you as well. And the Board of Building Standards was very clear with me. They are not going to write any accessible housing code. They say that you have not given them authority. I say, well, why didn't they ask you? If you knew you were putting out all these economic offsets, buildings that you're building, institutions you building all the professionals that support us all these decades why would it not be smart to go ahead and build accessible housing and put people out into the regular market And let me tell you why. The residential construction community does not want us in their communities. They've intentionally built their buildings to not do our work, and they've worked against us very seriously. But I think now you're coming up with all these issues. The population's growing. You've had lawsuits. This is the time. And I and my colleagues here are all willing to work with you. But this is something we have to do. We have to build accessible housing code. Thank you for your testimony.
Are there any questions from the committee? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony today.
Mr. Chairman, is there some way that we can, as a community, work with you to start the work on these rules? This is a very, very difficult time for us, and you seem to be the way forward. We need your help.
Feel free to reach out to my office and my assistant, Janae. We'll certainly make sure to set up an appointment with you.
I appreciate it very much. Thank you for all your time.
And I'll call on Michael Denlinger II to provide proponent testimony for House Bill 585.
Thank you. I don't know how I can get to the mic.
Okay. I think they can bring the mic to you, sir. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Chairman Clay and distinguished members of the Community Revitalization Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to give testimony, and thank you for hearing testimony on House Bill 585. My name is Michael Denlinger. I am an advocate and someone who regularly benefits from affordable and accessible housing. I am here to testify in support of House Bill 585, which would improve the flexibility of community capital assistance funds. Ohio faces a severe shortage of affordable housing, and the shortage of affordable and accessible housing is even more significant. The Community Capital Assistance Fund was created to help address the gap for individuals served by county boards of developmental disabilities. while these funds have done a great deal of good over the past several decades. The needs and preferences of those surviving county boards have evolved and the rules governing the use of these funds should evolve as well. Individuals with disabilities are as diverse as anyone else and their housing needs and preferences vary widely Currently, community capital assistance funds are limited to single-family homes, duplexes, and quadriplexes. I hope I pronounced that right. However, some individuals may prefer to live in larger developments such as townhome or apartment communities where they can live alongside others with and without disabilities. These settings can help foster stronger community connections, particularly for individuals who face barriers to transportation. House Bill 585 would also allow funds to be blended with other affordable housing resources. This flexibility could lead to the development of more affordable housing units for people with disabilities. In short, increasing the flexibility of the community capital assistance funds will make it possible to create more housing units and a wider variety of housing options. It will encourage innovative solutions that better reflect the diverse needs and preferences of people with disabilities across Ohio's counties. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Dinlinger. Are there any questions from the committee? Yes, Representative Salvo is recognized for a question.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Michael. I appreciate your testimony. A question, what kind of housing do you have at this point?
I live in an apartment with a roommate and I have a housing choice voucher in the community in Cincinnati, Ohio
Would it be your desire if you had some other options such as an AUD, that single housing Is that something that would be a preference?
Well, it wouldn't be a preference. Well, for example, in my case, sorry, Gina, sorry. In my case, my roommate and I have lived together in the community for over 20 years. And we've reached a point where with the rising cost of living in the country and everything, and the struggles that people with disabilities are facing. We've reached a point where we'd like to add, we'd like the ability to be able to add another roommate to make it easier on all of us and to help with finances and things. But as most units, when they aren't built these days, they usually build a single bedroom of apartments or homes, and there's rarely two bedrooms these days, but we would like to see options where there might be units available for at least three or more in some cases because my fear is that we're going to see a lot more of that in the coming years if things don't continue, if things don't improve with the cost of living and things. so we might really need to be looking at more units that have more than two bedrooms if we're all going to survive too. So I hope that answers your question.
Are there any other questions for Mr. Denlinger? Mr. Denlinger, thank you so much for providing your personal experience and your testimony for us today. I want you to know that this committee is here to listen to you and to hear your advocacy today and to pay very close attention.
Thank you so much, Chairman Quick and members of the committee. It is my honor to be here.
Chair now calls on Roy Lowenstein to provide proponent testimony for House Bill 585.
Mr. Chair, Ranking Member Humphrey, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I'm Roy Lowenstein. I'm an affordable housing consultant. I've been a lifelong practitioner for the development and financing of housing for many target populations, including developmentally disabled adults. I started my career, I know I don't look quite that old, but I did start my career in the late 1970s, right after the legislature changed the laws to allow institutionalized people who are not dangerous to themselves or others. to find community housing. Unfortunately, we never came close to fulfilling the promise of that reform because within about five years, the state operating funding for that housing began to be reduced. And capital funding from HUD helped for a while, but Congress reduced that substantially. Now, 50 years later, we remain essentially in the same place with thousands of people with developmental disabilities needing an apartment that meets their needs. It kind of drives me crazy that when I was 25, I would hear from parents when I was working on my first job who had a developmentally disabled young adult still living at home who were worrying, what going to happen when I can take care of Johnny or Sally anymore And it just drives me crazy that we still have that situation I still hear those things 50 years later Well even without an increase in Department of Developmental Disabilities capital funding the changes proposed in this legislation would really help. Most of my work since the 1990s has involved the use of the low-income housing tax credit, And I have worked on about 150 transactions in that field. Many of the developers who work in this niche would welcome the opportunity to incorporate a percentage of individuals with developmental disabilities or other disabilities into their projects if that allowed them access to an appropriate amount of capital funds. Now, I'm not saying what the right number is. We're not at that point necessarily. But the inability to incorporate such funding into larger projects of that kind is really very unfortunate. Similarly, better use of Ohio Housing Finance Agency's housing development gap financing could be made if OFA's state and national housing trust funds could be merged with Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities Community Capital Assistance Funds. HDGF, as that program is known, allows up to 24 apartments per project. Developing an HDGF project with only four apartments per site is almost as much work as developing a tax credit project. I've worked on both of them, and I'll tell you, it's an enormous amount of work. But if we were able to incorporate folks with developmental disabilities into larger projects that were more of a vanilla type, It would allow for housing a greater number of individuals with disabilities and also a more integrated setting in which that could be done. We need to eliminate unnecessary restrictions and allow the creativity and energy of developers in this field to create some of this integrated housing, which is so desperately needed. Thank you for considering such changes to the legislation.
Thank you for your testimony. Can you elaborate on just how this greater flexibility would create more opportunities for folks with disabilities?
Sure. Well, if we just focus on the tax credit program, those are typically projects of 50 units and up. And, you know, there are dozens of them being developed around the state every year, about 25 using the competitive 9% program, another 10 or so using the 4% tax credit program with Ohio tax credits, which is a program that's expiring, and I hope it gets renewed by the legislature. And then there's several dozen non-competitive projects. So there's a lot of different projects being developed. If the state is willing to, that is the housing finance agency, is willing to consider integrating up to 20, 25% of all of the apartments in projects like that for people with various disabilities And so what I would love to see happen is the opportunity where some of the developers who are in the room who are experts at developing housing for people with developmental disabilities, maybe they could joint venture with developers whose names you've probably heard, like Woda Cooper or NRP or Homeport here in town or others who do this work that could joint venture with them in order to incorporate some individuals. I personally worked, when I was doing consulting work for Homeport here in town, I personally worked on doing exactly that with Creative Housing, and they were able to bring money to the table from the local county board. But that's not a source of funding that's available statewide.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Representative Sabo for a question. Okay. The chair does not recognize the person of Salvo. Are there any other questions for the witness? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Bonstein, for your testimony. The chair recognizes Troy Hunter to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 585.
TROY HUNTER, Director of Health and Health and Health Good afternoon. Chair Click, Vice Chair Mullins, Ranking Member Humphrey, thank you, and members of the House Community Revitalization, which is probably one of the harder committees to say when reading testimony out loud. Thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony today on House Bill 585. My name is Troy Hunter, and I serve as the President and CEO of Elevated, a statewide advocacy organization that works alongside of people with developmental disabilities and their families. And through our network of community partnerships, we regularly hear from individuals and families navigating Ohio's systems of care, including the challenge of finding safe, affordable, and accessible housing. Access to safe, affordable, and accessible housing remains a significant challenge for many Ohioans with developmental disabilities. Many individuals rely on supplemental security income, which at the federal level provides just under $1,000 per month in 2026, making it extremely difficult to afford market-race housing. At the same time, Ohio faces a shortage of approximately 202,000 affordable housing units for very low-income individuals. Because of these barriers, many people with developmental disabilities have limited options for independent living. Data from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities shows that about 58.3% of individuals receiving waiver services live with family members today, even though many express interest in living more independently in their communities. The Community Capital Assistance Program has been an important tool in addressing this need. Since the early 1990s, this program has helped develop more than 2,000 homes and renovate over 2,400 homes across Ohio to increase accessible community-based housing. However, current rules limit the types of housing that can be developed. House Bill 585 modernizes the program, allowing CCA funds to support a broader range of housing models and permitting those funds to be combined with other financing sources when appropriate. These changes will allow communities to better leverage existing resources and expand housing options while maintaining oversight and ensuring individuals have meaningful input in where they live. Importantly, this bill does not request additional funding. Instead, it strengthens Ohio's ability to use existing resources more effectively to address housing needs. Access to housing is closely tied to health, stability, and community inclusion. Expanding flexible housing options also supports the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead decision, which affirm the right of people with disabilities to live and integrated community settings Housing is more than a roof over someone head It a key social determinant of health stability and opportunity And when individuals with developmental disabilities have access to safe accessible housing in their communities, they are better able to maintain employment, build relationships, and live full and meaningful lives. House Bill 585 is a thoughtful step towards expanding housing opportunities and strengthening Ohio's commitment to community living. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you for your testimony. The chair recognizes Representative Humphrey for a question.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your testimony. One of the things I like to do is when folks come in to provide testimony, just to kind of reiterate back exactly what they mean. So you said something really important in this bill that I think should be highlighted. It says, this bill does not request additional funding. Instead, it strengthens Ohio's ability to use existing resources more effectively to address housing needs. For the folks at home, can you elaborate exactly what you mean with regard to that line?
Because I think that's important. Yes, thank you. Through the chair, Rep. Humphrey, Ranking Member Humphrey. I think that there's members here today that are able to speak more to how those systems work. We believe in listening to individuals with disabilities and the systems that help serve them and thinking about how the funds are currently used with CCA. So how do we think about current existing funding sources that might have a barrier, whether it be the way that something's written in the law or a restriction that keeps us from using funds in a way that actually serves people with disabilities in the way that they say they want to be served or where they want to live. So as we think about different solutions, being able to find areas for increased funding, but also how do we use our funding more effectively and promote opportunities for independence and choice within our system. So working alongside of the county boards and the other partners in this room who make those things accessible and happen for people with disabilities and those around them, listening to them and hearing how can we be creative, I think this bill helps do that. Thank you.
Are there any other questions for the witness? Seeing none, thank you so much for your testimony today.
Thank you.
I now call on Jacob Dowling to provide proponent testimony.
Good afternoon. Chairman Click, Vice Chair Mullins, Ranking Member Humphrey, and members of the House Community Revitalization Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on House Bill 585, which would better align the Community Capital Assistance Program with the evolving housing needs and lived experiences of Ohioans with developmental disabilities. Ohio's 88 county boards were founded by families in 1967 to ensure that those with intellectual and developmental disabilities have access to the services and supports that they need to live safe, healthy, and independent lives in their communities. Today, county boards continue that mission through early intervention services, service and support administration, crisis response, and connections to home and community-based services for more than 117,000 Ohioans and their families. As Ohio continues to promote inclusive community-based living, the CCA program must reflect the diversity of a person's preferences, the realities of today's housing market, and the innovations that many counties and housing partners are eager to implement. Because of this, we are supportive of House Bill 585's goal of expanding the use of CCA funds for additional housing options. Those with developmental disabilities deserve access to housing options that reflect how people of all abilities live. Enabling CCA funds to support the development of multi-unit properties where a portion of units are reserved for people with disabilities promotes both accessibility and integration. Similarly, flexibility to develop on more than one structure or adjacent parcel, when appropriate, allows for thoughtful, inclusive, community-based models. Additional flexibility is needed to expand the use of CCA resources to be blended with compatible funding streams such as low-income housing tax credits and other housing development tools. Leveraging CCA funds in this way has the potential to expand development of high-quality, universally designed housing and increase the capacity of accessible housing needed for people with disabilities served by county boards. House Bill 585 is important because it continues to reinforce the importance of involving people with disabilities in decisions about where and how they live. This includes clear expectations that those receiving services have meaningful opportunities to participate in choosing their future homes. Ohio's service system benefits when the built environment supports autonomy, cost-effective care, and social inclusion. By embracing a wider range of allowable structures such as accessory dwelling units, ADUs, or separate buildings on a shared parcel, House Bill 585 can support creative opportunities for individualized supports while addressing challenges such as aging caregivers, co-housing preferences, and proximity-based service delivery. Additionally, House Bill 585 creates a pathway for the Director of the Department of Developmental Disabilities to consider time-limited or project-specific waivers that will enable promising proposals that reflect local needs to move forward without requiring wholesale changes. This flexibility is especially important as housing innovation evolves and service delivery models continue to shift. The changes made in House Bill 585 would help ensure that the Community Capital Assistance Program continues to advance the work to support people with disabilities and living meaningful lives in the community. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of House Bill 585, and thank you to the bill sponsors for introducing this great bill. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions? Seeing none, thank you so much. And now call on Carmen Shelton to provide proponent testimony.
Take your time. If it's easier for you to remain seated, we can accommodate you. I think we can manage this. That's great. Just a little bit if you can. Screw it up a little. Okay.
Chairman Click, Vice Chair Mullins, and Ranking Member Humphrey and members of the House Revitalization Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on House Bill 585 that will increase funding for community capital assistance funds. This will expand housing options for individuals with developmental disabilities receiving supported living services. My name is Carmen Shelton, and I am a member of the Public Policy Advisory Committee for the Ohio Association of County Boards. The Policy Committee provides feedback to the association on public policy that promotes independence and inclusion for people with developmental disabilities. Independence is a fundamental right for individuals with developmental disabilities. In a 2025 study by Empower Me Living, LLC, a real estate developer, 77,000 Ohioans with developmental disabilities live with aging caregivers. Expanding how CCA funding can be used is critical to increasing housing options for individuals with developmental disabilities so they can live their best life I have lived independently in an apartment complex for almost 25 years and living independently has provided many opportunities for me that at one time I didn think I would have Living independently has made me resilient, increased my faith, and my confidence. I am able to be involved in my church, work remotely, and be involved in my community by volunteering to help the homeless and advocate for policies that promote independence and inclusion. I can make choices and decisions throughout my day and allow me to live my best life. Housing opportunities like this are exactly what Community Capital Assistance Funds can help create by allowing county boards to acquire or develop homes where people with developmental disabilities can live with the supports they need. I ask this committee to support House Bill 585 to expand housing options for individuals with developmental disabilities. I am available to take questions. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. And the chair recognizes Representative Brunley for a question.
Through the chair, thank you. And thank you for your testimony. You've been living in independent living for some time now. Can you just give us a little bit of color to the story about people who you know in the DD community who have not been able to access their own independent housing? And has it changed over the last 25 years, or do you feel like people are having more access now, less? What does that look like?
Chairman Click, Representative Brownlee, thank you for the question. I think that a lot more work is needed for accessible housing. Does that answer your question? Especially in apartment complexes, there needs to be more accessibility, for sure. People need to have more housing options. because as this study that I indicated that I talked about or in my testimony mentioned, a lot of people with disabilities are living with aging caregivers and they don't know what they're going to do. So there's definitely a need for more housing options and accessibility options. Did that answer your question, ma'am? Thank you very much.
Are there any other questions for the witness? Seeing none, thank you so much for your testimony today.
Thank you, sir.
I now recognize Nick Comstock and Jacob Dowling for proponent testimony.
Give me a minute here. You all just take your time. Thank you. I think you should be good. Perfect. As close as we can. Thank you. Yes.
Good afternoon, Chairman Click, members of the committee. Thank you for this time today. I consider it an honor to be able to give this testimony. My name is Nick Comstock. I've been living on my own successfully for eight years. I started living on my own in 2018. I call that my liberation day, my Independence Day, and a day that I will never forget. I started living with roommates, and it was fun at times, but because we weren't on the same level, cognitively speaking, it made it sometimes very challenging. In 2021, in May, I was able to receive my own apartment through a HUD voucher, through Creative Housing, And I now know through CCA funds I was not aware of the fund until I joined a committee through DODD back in November 2025 to help with the current housing issues which we are talking about today So with this bill, with its potential to be passed, I ask that we also expand it to let people with disabilities know that this option is available. because when I moved to Ohio 11 years ago, I was told that I would have to live with roommates to be able to move out on my own simply because the state and the county did not want to pay for 24-hour staffing, let alone a housing voucher for someone to live on their own without the need for roommates.
Want to continue? Yeah, so do you have more to say or do you want me to ask you some of these?
Yeah, I have a little bit more to say. I've also been involved in different advocacy. I've been involved in Bridge to Equality, working to bridge the gap. I spoke on the Ohio State steps. I've also been involved in the Richland County HRC committee for four years and several different other things. So I'm looking forward to these questions that Jake is going to ask me and then answering any of your questions as well.
Well, you did a great job of answering a lot of them. So I just have a couple. So, you know, what has independence meant to you and some of your passions? I know you have a certain thing you might want to share with them that you host.
So, yeah, independence has meant a lot to me because potentially everyone that I grew up with said that it would never happen. They told me that I would never move out on my own, never have a romantic relationship, never be able to manage my own finances. And I've done all those things. I'm not doing so well in the romance department, but everything else I've done pretty good. Back in 2024, I was blessed to start my own podcast called Nick Speaks, the podcast dedicated to the disabled community where we speak up, speak out, and speak loud about the issues that matter to the disabled the most. It airs every Tuesday at 7 a.m. on all your major podcast platforms, and we actually cover this very topic in this morning's episode.
Nice. And then to wrap up, can you explain why the availability of housing opportunities in the community makes such a difference for people with disabilities?
Well, one of the things that I say all the time is that the caregivers and parents that take care of folks like myself are not always going to be here. My parents' favorite phrase was, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. My issue was I didn't want to get to that bridge and be alone and have to figure it out. So with the statistics that other witnesses have stated, it's very important that this funding is not only expanded, but it is let know to every county board and every person that has a developmental disability in the state of Ohio.
Thank you I think Nick will answer any questions I don want to speak for you but We look kind of mean I legally blind so I can see you anyway
You're the most fortunate person in this room. Thank you, Mr. Comstock. I love a sense of humor, and I believe I have caught your podcast, and thank you for doing that. Thank you. Mr. Comstock, you mentioned Liberation Day. was that day that you got your independence. But you just, yeah, I think that's something that many of us take for granted. Can you expound on that for us and what that means to have that independence and why you call that Liberation Day?
I call it Liberation Day because my family and everyone around me said it wouldn't happen. And I think they were shocked when it did. I knew I wasn't because I knew when I was 18, I was ready to hit the door. But God had other plans, as he often does. You've heard, tell God your plans and watch him laugh. Well, so I had to wait until 2018. But it just feels great to be able to, you know, go where I want when I need to go and have transportation, which is often another barrier that people with disabilities face when we get out on our own. Even sometimes when we're in family homes, we don't always have the proper transportation we need. But when we do, it is unlike anything. I remember when I moved out on my home for the first time and I was able to get on a shower bench and take a shower instead of a bed bath. That is something I will never forget. And I tell people all the time that my favorite part of my day is taking a shower because it's a lot. It's what people, it's the small things that people take for granted.
So let me just follow up on that just briefly. Describe what was going through your mind those first 24 hours of independence.
The first 24 hours of independence was I did it. Now what? Three weeks later, I ended up in the hospital with kidney stones. So I was like, is this a bad Oma? A week later after that, my roommates got in their first big fight that I had a chance to witness. And I was like, did I really move out of my family home or did I just move somewhere else? So, yeah.
Wonderful. Thank you. Are there any other questions from the committee? Mr. Comstock, thank you for sharing your personal life experiences and what this bill means to you. I appreciate that. Thank you. The chair now recognizes Emily L. Kendall to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 585.
Chair Click, Vice Chair Mullins, Ranking Member Humphrey, members of the committee, thank you so much for having me here today. It's an honor to testify in support of House Bill 585. I'm Emily Kendall. I'm the co-founder of Empower Me Living and the Empower Me Center for Housing Innovation, two organizations dedicated to solving the housing crisis facing adults with intellectual and or developmental disabilities, IDD. Most importantly, I'm a mom and two of my children, Luke and Grace, have developmental disabilities. My grandfather, Jack Bechtold, served for three terms in this house and he was a World War II prisoner of war and lived out his core value in service to others. it is a full circle moment for my family that I get to be here today advocating on behalf of his great-grandchildren. I'm asking you to advance House Bill 585 so Ohioans with IDD can live with dignity in housing that meets their needs and preferences. You've heard from other witnesses this afternoon about the reality that 77,000 adults with IDD in our state live with caregivers over the age of 60. Mr. Hunter shared what the Community Capital Assistance Fund has been able to accomplish, and that's in the low thousands. Stack that up against 77,000, and that's what happens when results get sacrificed on the altar of rules, regulations, and procedures. We recently surveyed adults with IDD and their families, over 150 of them in the greater Cincinnati area. They told us very clearly that people want and need real choices. For example, 57% prefer to live in an apartment. 49% are interested in living in a townhome. 35% accessory dwelling units, those granny flats, those cottages on an adjacent property. 54% want to live in mixed-use, neuro-inclusive communities designed for people with developmental disabilities and without. 45% want to live without roommates. You heard some of Nick's roommate stories. Across the board, they asked for universal design features, security and safety, easy-to-clean features, and supportive amenities like benefits counseling, community navigation, meal service, and transportation. House Bill 585 modernizes CCA to better align with these expressed needs and preferences. More sobering, our research shows that the top fear of adults with developmental disabilities is forced placement in a group home or adult foster care, followed by homelessness. Without taking these steps to modernize CCA as it currently exists, those fears could become a reality. It's estimated in our country that 30 to 40 percent of our homeless population has a developmental disability. Loss of caregiver is the primary contributing factor. The cost of inaction is staggering. 12,000 of the 77,000 adults are concentrated in Greater Cincinnati. Even if 30% of those individuals ended up homeless, and we assume a public system cost of $35,000 per year, over 10 years, that represents a stack of dollar bills 19 miles high. That's three times higher than a commercial airline flies. Think about that the next time you on an airplane I understand that this is a lame duck session and the instinct might be to wait But like my grandfather, you are here because you are called in service of something greater. Unfortunately, he died unexpectedly at the age of 54. So he would tell you, do not wait. The 77,000 families would ask you, please do not wait. My grandpa is not here to carry on his legacy, but I am. And I am asking you, please do not wait. If you take one thing away from my testimony, let it be this. The need will never be smaller than it is right now. Tomorrow, more caregivers will age out. More sons and daughters will lose their support. So now is the time that we need to act for Ohioans that face a clock that they cannot control. For parents like me, whose greatest fear is not dying, but what happens to my loved one after I die. Now is the time that we can modernize CCA through House Bill 585, which is the catalyst to how we can do supportive housing in this state. And I believe that you can propel Ohio to be the leader in supportive housing across the country and build systems worthy of every resident in this state. I am happy to answer questions.
Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. And I think your grandfather would be very proud of what you're doing right now. And we honor him and his service to our country and his service in the legislature. And my question might be a little tricky. Okay. But if your grandfather was sitting here in my chair, what question do you think he would ask you?
That's a great question. I wish I was. I wish I wish. Well, he's with us in spirit. Right. So I think that he would probably ask about the cost of inaction and what that means. Like, what does it mean if we do nothing? and probably what I mean by modernizing this bill as a catalyst to unlock other things system-wide. One of the things, as we talk about things like universal design features and more accessibility, they benefit not just people with developmental disabilities, and that's one of my biggest points. If we can get creative with a solution like House Bill 585, it benefits more Ohioans than just this specific population. And I think he would want me to say that he wants to make sure that his great-grandson, Luke in particular, who has an intellectual and developmental disability, has Down syndrome, has a great place to be able to live safely on his own. And you heard from Nick about what independence means. But it's scary, the families that get ready to face this bridge, and right now it's more of a cliff. Thank you for that.
the chair recognizes Representative Humphrey, ranking member Representative Humphrey for a question.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for your testimony and your vulnerability. You talked a little bit about in your testimony, or not even, I guess in your response to the chair, you said that your grandfather, which I also believe I've heard a lot about him, you said your grandfather would ask, what's the cost of inaction? And so I'm going to pose the question that I pose to, I believe it's Troy. If I'm messing up on your name, I apologize, wherever he went.
But do you have the same interpretation of the bill that this is not going to be additional funding Do you have that same understanding as well of this bill Chairman Clipp to Representative Humphrey yes I do This is not—this piece of this bill is just making it more flexible so we can deliver more use cases. You heard testimony from Critty about being able to put ADUs on a property, and we can build those effectively. we, Gina and I are working on a project in Butler County that takes a smaller single family home concept. Those are cost effective. They can be built quickly and that unlocks 259 extra homes. So this, this doesn't increase the funding. It allows for more flexibility, which gets us more units. And then I think we can look across supportive housing for other populations and see what we can do to get creative, to create more options that don't necessarily take more funding. And then you heard about being able to unlock LIHTC with CCA in apartment communities. That's huge because that's when we're talking about real volume. So no more additional funding. That's my interpretation of this bill.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate that. And one follow-up question, and this is just my brain going as you were talking, especially about your project you have going on or you're planning or working on in Butler County. But what you all have going on as far as this new project that you have with like ADUs or whatever, would that be sort of similar to like tiny homes as well? Am I thinking about that correctly? Chairman Click to Representative Humphrey,
thank you for that question. We've developed a micro home concept. They're bigger than tiny homes, universal design, slab on grade entry. A lot of modular homes are actually built up to great innovation, and we need to be looking at that, but they're built up, so then you need steps and ramps. So they're about 500 to 900 square feet, one- and two-bedroom. And so those are universal design, not tiny homes, not on wheels. These are permanent stick-built structures. Think a smaller single-family home.
Thank you. Are there any other questions for the witness? Seeing none, thank you so much for your testimony. Thank you all very much. Is there anyone else here to present testimony on House Bill 585? Seeing none, this concludes our second hearing on House Bill 585. And now I'll bring forward House Bill 701 for its second hearing. Please note the written testimony on your iPads. Is there anyone here that would like to present proponent testimony for House Bill 701? Seeing none, this concludes the second hearing on House Bill 701. I now bring forward House Bill 718 for its first hearing, and I call on Representative Salvo and Brownlee to provide sponsor testimony. And as you all are exiting, thank you so much for your testimonies, and thank you so much for being here. You may begin when you are ready. Good afternoon.
Can you all hear me? Chair Click, Vice Chair Mullins, and Ranking Member Humphreys,
and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsor testimony on House Bill 718. House Bill 718 strengthens Ohio behavioral health workforce by establishing a standardized certification framework for professionals who are already providing essential support services in community health settings In many ways, this legislation removes administrative barriers while strengthening professional standards. At a time when communities across Ohio continue to face significant shortages of mental health and addiction professionals, strengthening and supporting the broader behavioral health workforce is critically important. Community mental health and addiction treatment providers rely on team-based approaches to care. While licensed clinicians play a crucial role, many services are supported by professionals such as community mental health specialists and other behavioral health support professionals who work directly with individuals and families to help them build skills, access resources, and maintain stability in their daily lives. House Bill 718 also updates the name of the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professional Board to the Ohio Behavioral Health Professional Board, reflecting the broader scope of behavioral health professions the board oversees. The board already administers a broad continuum of credentials in behavioral health, including assistant-level credentials, professional certifications, such as prevention specialists and peer recovery supporters, and licensure for chemical dependency counselors at multiple levels of practice. Because of this experience, the board is well positioned to oversee standardized certification for additional behavioral health workforce roles. The bill directs the board to establish certification standards, trainings, ethic requirements, and registry of certified professionals so credentials can be consistently verified across employees. These professionals are already serving within Ohio behavioral health systems today. However, credential verification is often handled at the individual agency level, which can create inconsistencies across organizations. When professionals move between behavioral health providers, the verification process often begins again, even though the individuals may already be performing the same work elsewhere. Establishing a state-recognized credential that can be consistently verified across employers helps reduce administrative delays when providers onboard new staff. A statewide credential also allows professionals to carry their certification across employers, reducing retraining requirements, improving workforce mobility across the behavioral health system. Creating a recognized credential also helps establish a clear entry point into the behavioral health field, supporting workforce development efforts such as career technical education programs, apprenticeships, and other training pathways that help individuals begin careers in the mental health services. I want to be clear about this bill, what it does and does not do. House Bill 17 does not expand scope of practice and does not create a new clinical license. Qualified mental health specialists will continue operating under the same supervision structures that exist today. The purpose of the bill is simply to standardize credentialing and ensure consistent education, ethics, consumer protection, and professional standards across the workforce. In developing this legislation, conversations occurred with both the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board and the Counselor Social Work and Marriage and Family Therapist Board to determine the most appropriate regulatory home for this credential. Given the chemical dependency see professional board experience overseeing credentials for prevention specialists and peer recovery supporters, both boards agreed the structure would provide the most appropriate oversight. At a time when communities across Ohio are working to address growing mental health and addiction needs, strengthening the behavioral health workforce and creating clear pathways into this field, help ensure Ohioans can access the care and support they need. At the end of the day, this bill is about recognizing the professionals who are already doing the important work in our behavioral health system, ensuring they have consistent standards, clear expectations, and appropriate oversight as they continue serving Ohioans. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony, and I'd be happy to answer any questions after my joint sponsor.
You must have practiced that because you came very close to five minutes. I will try to keep it in the bill. It is a big bill.
We'll try to keep it simple. Chair Click, Vice Chair Mullins, Ranking Member Humphrey, and members of the House Community Revitalization Committee, thank you for allowing us to provide sponsored testimony on House Bill 718. This is a bill that would take necessary steps to provide credentials for qualified mental health specialists. And I'll just try to give some more context to what Rep Salvo said with my testimony. qualified mental health specialists are better known to many of you as case managers, care coordinators, peer support workers, and intervention specialists in the behavioral health field. They make up an incredible workforce of caring people who are able to focus on barriers to positive mental health outcomes, and they're often key to making sure Ohioans receiving these services have success that are engaging in mental health services. I worked in collaboration with many QMHS providers in the course of my work as a therapist with children and families. These QMHSs worked with my clients, their parents, school staff, and community organizations to ensure that clients received the supports they needed to make progress in therapy. Several families I worked with needed interventions outside of mental health therapy, including medical supports for developmental disabilities, like some of the people we saw earlier, kids with autism, kids with ADHD, speech disorders, sensory processing disorder, sometimes even seizure disorders. Sometimes they needed financial supports, such as utility bill or food programs, to help families make ends meet and to reduce the overall family stress. And also time outside of session to practice coping skills that we would work on in therapy in the real world. So kids would learn, you know, coping skills in therapy sessions, but then they needed support to enact those coping skills in the classroom. So QMHSs, they do all of this work and more, yet they work without formal professional recognition. HB 718 will fix that. House Bill 718 will revise the chemical dependency board to include QMH providers, to rename itself as the behavioral health professionals board, and to give a formalized pathway for these case managers, these care coordinators, to be credentialed have formalized training requirements and work under the same ethics guidelines and oversight as their licensed colleagues in the behavioral health field like myself and Rep Salvo who are both social workers licensed social workers Again, this bill does not expand the scope of practice of qualified mental health specialists or peer supporters. Instead, it addresses three major areas, credentialing for, well, it actually addresses so many more areas, but I'm just going to stick with three. Credentialing for service reimbursement. QMHSs must currently get credentialed to bill for services under the name of the agency for which they work. So it often takes up to three months for Medicaid to approve credentials for QMHSs, which creates billing delays for the agencies. And then, on top of that, if a QMH provider wishes to take on new employment, their credential is not portable, so they have to start that process over again at their new place of work. House Bill 718 would give QMHS a pathway to maintain their credential under their own personal certification, under a licensing board, just like any other medical or mental health professional. Secondly, it offers consumer protection. The certification framework under our bill creates consumer protection for clients utilizing services from a QMHS. The certification process in the bill establishes and formalizes training requirements, ethical standards of practice, and defines the scope of practice. It also establishes that QMHSs and peer supporters will be under the supervision of licensed practitioners or mental health providers, which is better for their development as a QMHS provider, as well as giving an additional layer of skill development. And protection for clients, I know I'm over. Last but not least, workforce retention and growth. House Bill 718 creates a pathway for QMHSs to expand their skills and capacity and support workforce retention. It allows them, it formalizes their training, it gives them educational opportunity and experience milestones, and it honors those case managers and care coordinators who want to stay in the field and grow within the field. So, to reemphasize, this bill is about strengthening our workforce and increasing consumer protection for mental health services. The QMH credentials creates a visible career pathway into the mental health sector in Ohio at a time in which we are facing major barriers to access and gaps in services, and this bill will bridge that gap. Thank you to all the committee members. We're happy to take questions.
Thank you for your testimony today. So I'll start with the first question.
It seems, if I'm understanding correctly, there are inconsistencies in the credentialing across Ohio. You're trying to standardize that as part of what you're doing in this bill. Can you describe the barriers that those inconsistencies create?
I would say the barriers are, you know, depending where you're servicing in the social service, behavioral health field. We have some that have certifications. Clearly, we have licensure, but we have some areas that say in prevention services or peer support or recovery support where we already have credentialing. But this is an area where it's our viable workforce. These are who we depend on to further the work in our communities. And I will say I'm from a rural district community, in particular in rural areas. So I think the inconsistencies happen is when you have certification you have a standard So if you coming from a clinical standpoint we had four or six eight years of formal education where we're learning about ethics, we're learning about boundaries, we are learning the skills we need to move forward. So when we have a workforce that's coming in that's necessary, that's the boots on the ground work, it is important that we have, you know, a consistent training. Consumer protection, I think, is super helpful because a lot of times as we're trying to grow the behavioral health workforce, a lot of times we're growing it right now from people that have received services. So then you step into this field, and I will tell you, boundaries, they can be rough at best for someone that has gone through many years of training and licensure. So I just think it's very important that we honor the people that are doing the work already. We ensure that there's consistent training, that we also ensure there's consumer protection. And I think there's areas in our field that we can look at to say, hey, where do we have opportunities for improvement? Because we also want people to know that when they're doing this work, we value you, you know, and to have a certification says, hey, you have something that no one's going to take away from you, and that you can move from employer to employer. So I think just kind of looking around and saying, you know, some areas we already have credentialing and some areas we don't. So I think it would be very helpful. If I may add, I served as clinical trainer in my community behavioral health agency that I served at prior to coming to the state house. It is not consistent at all. It really depends on the agency and how they want to treat and provide training for their QMHSs. So it varies widely. I did the intake, the orientation for our providers, and there was just a very wide variety of experiences. Some had had very significant focus training. Some said they were handed a laptop and told to go see clients. So we want to create a system in which everybody has those basic fundamental foundations of providing service for QMHS. Okay, thank you.
Are there any other questions? The chair recognizes Representative Tesco.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will talk offline because I think this is extremely challenging to understand. But I have a quick question here. In your testimony, Rep. Brownlee, you talk about getting credentialed to bill for your services under Medicaid. My question would be, have you looked at this bill or spoken to people from Medicaid to make sure that this bill would provide the requirements or the guidelines that they are asking for? In other words, do these two pieces of, you know, that agency and this bill, do they line up together to make it easier in that process? Thanks, Jeff.
Through the chair. Thank you, Ress Piteska. They are already, agencies are already billing for this work. Where this is helpful is if someone's going from agency to agency, if that credential isn't following them, then the agency has to re-credential, and sometimes it takes multiple. It takes three months. So these are services they come to an agency they get credentialed but then they leave that agency they have to get recredentialed So it would create a system in which this credentialing their own certification would be portable with them so they don't have to get recredentialed as a new provider if they go to a new agency. So it would actually create efficiency for Medicaid.
Follow-up. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So if I'm understanding correctly, then is we're just standardizing everything. Then currently, though, let's just say you go from one agency or one job to another and you are a QMHS. Is that requiring then let's take one of one of you ladies specifically. Would that mean that you then have to go and get more training? You have to pay for an additional license. Is there out-of-pocket costs? Or is it just basically saying, I'm trying to go from one agency or one job to another, and you guys are making it very, very difficult. And say one of you have had like 20-plus years of experience. It's kind of getting rid of that barrier. Am I understanding this correct?
If I may, through the chair to RepTesca. That's exactly – it's the latter. So this would create efficiency, and it would allow for agency. If you have somebody who's 20 years into this service, they've been doing that, you don't have to wait three months to bill for them. That's exactly right. Yep.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions for the witnesses or for the sponsors?
Yes. Thank you, Chair. I don't know. I have a little bit to understand this, okay? The deep need for it, I guess. I hear what you're saying, but I'm looking at what about all of the treatment that's been? I mean, I believe in forward thinking. I really do. And I can see that this is, and you're wanting to help this so much. But what are we going to say to those who have been in this for 20 years? How long is it going to take them, and maybe you said it, to get their certificate or whatever so that they become what it has to be right now?
Through the chair. Thank you, Rep. Mullins. I think one of the things that we need to understand is the Ohio Chemical Professional Dependency Board. They are very skilled in credentialing. So when they're creating this credential, it's going to take in how many hours have you already worked. You know, that basic education that you would need into that space. So I think for someone that's been working in the field, it's going to be a matter of applying for that certification. But for to kind of loop in Rep Tesca's question, right now we need all boots on the ground to strengthen our behavioral health system. So if you're going three months without payment reimbursement in an agency, that's problematic. So I think the why this is important, it strengthens our workforce. People that are already doing it are going to get a stamp, and I think they're going to appreciate that we're professionalizing the work that they already do because they value it.
Go ahead. Okay, so it will enhance what they already do.
Through the chair, to Vice Chair Mullins, this should not be a barrier for people with a lot of experience. Most of them, if you have stayed in this field, what happens the majority of the time with QMHS provision, service provision, is that people stay for a while, they decide they want to stay in the field, and then there's nowhere for them to go within that field. So they get their social work license, they get their counseling license, they move into a different area. What it doesn't do is honor those people who love the specific work that QMHSs do. And most of those people, if they do stay in the field, they often get lots of training, additional education, and of course tons of experience in the field. So they should be able to carry that with them towards this credentialing. This is not intended in any way to penalize anybody who's already doing that work. But I appreciate that question very much.
Okay, thank you. So would it be correct to say this, and I think you've already used this word, it creates more portability and flexibility for our social workers.
Yes. And if I may Chair efficiency for billing Thank you Chair recognizes Representative Teska for a question Thank you Mr Chair Forgive me for not knowing this but I not familiar with social work
Are you guys, are social workers or QMHSs, are they required to do continuing education through the state like X amount of hours each year in order to maintain their license?
That'll be the beauty of the certification. So, yes, social workers do, counselors, but this case management role, currently now, they would probably be getting their CEUs based on what their work requires them to do. The certification would absolutely formalize what that education looks like.
Are there any more questions for the sponsors? None. Would anyone like to call in from the Ohio channel and ask questions? Seeing none, thank you so much for your testimony. This concludes the first hearing on House Bill 718. Is there any other further business to be brought before the committee today? Seeing none, the committee stands adjourned.