Joint Budget Committee

Monday, February 2, 2026·2h 54m·▶ Watch / Listen

Key Actions

·No Bill – IDD Medicaid 56-Hour Caregiver Cap & Rate CutsNo Vote

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Controversies

IDD Medicaid cuts: family caregivers vs. HCPF characterization and proposed rate cuts

Nicole Villis directly challenged HCPF's characterization of family caregivers as equivalent to host homes, stating she had been up all night caring for her seizing 20-year-old son before coming to testify, and that family caregivers cannot choose their members, combine members' funding, or deny overnight care the way host homes can. Casey Barrett challenged HCPF's stated rationale for the 56-hour cap, saying he did not believe the agency's claim that the cap was about caregiver burnout rather than budget.

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Notable Quotes

“I sat there after having been up all night with a seizing 20 year old who is 130lbs peeling urine soaked clothes off of him, cleaning up diarrhea that had gone all the way down his legs, all over the bathroom in the middle of the night, washing all of his sheets, steam cleaning the carpet and then I've tube fed him, packed up his supplies, packed up his oxygen tank, dropped him at a backup caregiver and came here and watched hic puff say these family caregivers are the same as host homes and we are not.”
Nicole Villis, family caregiver, testifying on IDD Medicaid waiver cuts — Villis was opposing HCPF's proposal to reduce the reimbursement rate for IRSS family caregivers to the lower IRSS host home rate, arguing that family caregivers perform far more intensive care than host homes.

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TranscriptPreview

Test, test. It's. And so I. And we are going to take testimony first from folks who are here in person and then we'll move on to remote testimony. Each person will have two minutes and then we'll offer. If folks have questions, I'll call people up in panels and each of you will have two minutes. And then when your panel is complete, if folks on the committee have questions, we can ask them, but that will be the general process for the day. So we will start our first panel. I have. Oh, okay. Nicole Mendoza. Nicole Maglori. I'm so sorry if I butchered your name. And Esau Lorenzo Lozano. And I'm sorry, this is very, very small print. Come on up. So there will be a button on your microphone, right on the mic. Yep. So when it's your turn to speak, if you want to turn it on, you can start and just turn on your mic. You'll have two minutes. Introduce yourself and who you represent, if any organization, and then you can begin with your testimony. Good afternoon, chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name…

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