House Committee Passes Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act

The Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act, H.R. 2941, has made significant progress by passing out of the House Education and Workforce Committee with a unanimous vote of 42-0. This bill urges the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create a unique Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code specifically for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs).

Currently, Direct Support Professionals are not recognized in SOC classification system with a unique SOC. As a result, DSPs are often inaccurately and inconsistently incorporated into various SOCs that do not capture their full spectrum of work activities.

Creating this classification is vital to enabling comprehensive and accurate data collection. By providing policymakers with better insights into the direct support workforce, the SOC for DSPs will facilitate more effective policy responses to address the workforce crisis.

This bill has made great progress, from passing unanimously in the Senate to now passing through the House committee. The next step is passage by the full House. ANCOR encourages its members and supporters to take action by utilizing ANCOR’s action alert to reach out to their respective Members of Congress and ask them to vote for H.R. 2941.