June 12, 2026
The Honorable Josh Shapiro
Governor of Pennsylvania
The Honorable Valerie A. Arkoosh, MD, MPH
Secretary
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services
Honorable Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
RE: Support for House Bill 1939 — Sustainable Investment in Pennsylvania’s Intellectual Disability and Autism Community System
Dear Governor Shapiro, Secretary Arkoosh, and Members of the General Assembly:
We, the undersigned self-advocates, family members, Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), provider organizations, advocacy groups, community partners, and other stakeholders, write in strong support of House Bill 1939, bipartisan legislation that would establish a predictable and sustainable framework for maintaining reimbursement rates within Pennsylvania’s intellectual disability and autism (ID/A) service system.
Pennsylvania’s community ID/A system supports tens of thousands of children and adults with intellectual disabilities and autism to live, work, and participate in their communities with dignity, independence, safety, and meaningful choice. These services depend on a stable network of community providers and, most importantly, the Direct Support Professionals and frontline staff whose daily work makes community life possible.
Today, that system is under significant strain.
For too long, reimbursement increases have been inconsistent, delayed, and insufficient to keep pace with inflation, workforce pressures, and the rising cost of delivering essential services. The consequences are increasingly visible across the Commonwealth:
- Persistent workforce shortages, including an 18.2% vacancy factor and 41% annual turnover rate in 2025 among Direct Support Professionals, creating instability for individuals, families, and providers
- Growing difficulty recruiting and retaining the workforce needed to provide safe, high-quality community supports
- Service reductions, provider capacity constraints, and limited access to needed services
- Program closures and geographic service gaps, particularly in rural and underserved communities
- Disruptions in continuity of care and trusted support relationships
- Increased strain on family caregivers when formal supports are unavailable or unstable
Recent Pennsylvania workforce data reinforce what individuals, families, providers, and advocates already know: the current funding structure is not keeping pace with economic reality. Pennsylvania’s ID/A service system is operating with an 18.2% Direct Support Professional vacancy rate and 41% annual turnover, clear indicators of a workforce under extraordinary strain.
House Bill 1939 offers a practical and responsible solution.
By creating a regular and predictable mechanism to align reimbursement rates with inflationary conditions, this legislation would help Pennsylvania move away from a reactive, crisis-driven funding model and toward a more sustainable approach that supports workforce stability, continuity of services, and long-term system planning.
Predictability matters.
Providers cannot responsibly recruit, retain, train, and invest in staff when funding adjustments are uncertain or years behind actual economic conditions. Direct Support Professionals cannot be expected to remain in essential frontline careers when compensation consistently lags behind competing sectors. Families cannot depend on a system marked by chronic instability. Self-advocates cannot fully exercise meaningful choice and community inclusion when provider capacity continues to erode.
Passage of HB 1939 would help Pennsylvania:
- Strengthen and stabilize the Direct Support Professional workforce
- Support the Shapiro Administration’s Multi-Year Program Growth Strategy by ensuring that Pennsylvania has the workforce and provider infrastructure necessary to serve individuals moving off the adult emergency waiting list
- Improve provider sustainability and operational planning
- Reduce service disruptions and protect continuity of services
- Preserve community-based options that align with Pennsylvania’s commitment to inclusion, independence, and person-centered services
- Reduce pressure on families increasingly forced to fill service gaps
- Promote better outcomes for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism
House Bill 1939 is not about discretionary spending. It is about responsible stewardship necessary to preserve access to essential community services.
Failing to maintain the purchasing power of reimbursement rates creates preventable instability, workforce loss, diminished access, and greater long-term human and financial costs. Predictable investment is sound public policy and essential to preserving Pennsylvania’s community support infrastructure.
Pennsylvania has made an important commitment to community living, independence, and opportunity for people with disabilities. That commitment must be matched by a funding framework capable of sustaining the system that makes those values real.
We respectfully urge the General Assembly to advance House Bill 1939 and ask Governor Shapiro’s administration to implement supporting policies and practices that ensure regular, predictable, and sustainable investment in Pennsylvania’s ID/A community system.
Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism, their families, and the workforce that supports them deserve a system built for stability—not uncertainty.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned Stakeholders Supporting Pennsylvania's Intellectual Disability and Autism Community