S 3211

Introduced

Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act

To require the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals, and for other purposes.

Introduced Nov 19, 2025

Latest action (Nov 19, 2025) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Referred to

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Policy area

Labor and Employment

Issues

Labor & Wages

Summary

The bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to consider creating a separate occupational code in the Standard Occupational Classification system for direct support professionals who provide care and support to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Establishing this separate category would help the government better identify and analyze the labor shortage in this field, where turnover rates are reported to be high. If the OMB decides not to establish the separate code, it must report to Congress explaining its decision. No additional funds are authorized to carry out the bill.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH] (D-NH)

10 cosponsors

Sen. Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE] (D-DE)
Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME] (R-ME)
Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE)
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] (D-NY)
Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME)
Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK)
Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD)

Actions (2)

Nov 19, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
Nov 19, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Business meeting to consider an original resolution regarding Contempt of Congress, S.2732, to strengthen employee cost savings suggestions programs within the Federal Government, S.2733, to require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives, S.252, to increase access to agency guidance documents, S.164, to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for en bloc consideration in resolutions of disapproval for "midnight rules", H.R.5235, to amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit minimum educational requirements for proposed contractor personnel in certain contract solicitations, S.3175, to establish a pilot program for ZIP Code boundary changes, S.4505, to require the United States Postal Service to designate ZIP Codes for certain communities, S.1735, to require certain agencies to include a page on the website of the agency relating to permit applications, S.5163, to amend title 39, United States Code, to prevent the awarding of bonuses to the Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General for a fiscal year in which the United States Postal Service does not meet or exceed each on-time mail delivery target, S.2542, to direct the Director of the Federal Protective Service to establish guidance relating to emergency protocols for buildings, S.3211, to require the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals, S.4079, to establish in U.S. Customs and Border Protection a pilot program to adopt dogs from local animal shelters to be trained as support dogs, S.3296, to amend chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, to cover, for purposes of workers' compensation under such chapter, services by physician assistants and nurse practitioners provided to injured Federal workers, S.388, to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act with respect to the implementation of building codes, S.3226, to provide for the creation of the missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel Records Collection at the National Archives, to require the expeditious public transmission to the Archivist and public disclosure of missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, S.24, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 154 First Avenue East in Jerome, Idaho, as the "Representative Maxine Bell Post Office", S.58, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 107 North Hoyne Avenue in Fritch, Texas, as the "Chief Zeb Smith Post Office", S.829, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 840 Front Street in Casselton, North Dakota, as the "Commander Delbert Austin Olson Post Office", S.917, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 620 East Pecan Boulevard in McAllen, Texas, as the "Agent Raul H. Gonzalez Jr. Memorial Post Office", S.2394, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 505 East 9th Avenue in Amarillo, Texas, as the "Mayor Jerry H. Hodge Post Office Building", S.2432, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6444 San Fernando Road in Glendale, California, as the "Paul Ignatius Post Office", S.3270 and H.R.6310, bills to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3570 Olney Laytonsville Road in Olney, Maryland, as the "Edward L. Ramsey Olney Post Office Building", S.3294 and H.R.6332, bills to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax, Virginia, as the "Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Post Office Building", S.3331, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 50 East 100 North in Moab, Utah, as the "2nd Lieutenant Mitch Williams Post Office", S.3373, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14855 South Van Dyke Road in Plainfield, Illinois, as the "Staff Sergeant Jose Duenez Jr. Post Office Building", S.3444, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service at 1300 East Northwest Highway in Palatine, Illinois, as the "Bernie Bluestein Post Office Building", S.3630, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 46164 Westlake Drive in Sterling, Virginia, as the "Firefighter Trevor Brown Post Office Building", S.3835, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10 East Main Street in Mahaffey, Pennsylvania, as the "Robert Allen Bishop, Sr., Post Office Building", S.4052, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 203 North Clay Street in Marshfield, Missouri, shall be known and designated as the "Edwin P. Hubble Post Office", S.4523, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 111 SouHomeland Security and Governmental Affairs CommitteeAug 6, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

November 19, 2025

Ms. Hassan (for herself, Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. King, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act”.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Direct support professionals play a critical role in the care provided to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing a wide range of supportive services on a day-to-day basis to promote independence, including—

(A) enhancing independence and community inclusion of these individuals, including through travel and recreation, visiting friends and family, shopping, or socializing;

(B) coaching and supporting individuals in communicating needs, achieving self-expression, pursuing personal goals, living independently, and participating actively in employment or voluntary roles in the community;

(C) providing assistance with activities of independent daily living (such as feeding, bathing, toileting, and ambulation) and with tasks such as meal preparation, shopping, light housekeeping, laundry, and home management; or

(D) supporting individuals at home, work, school, or any other community setting.

(2) Through the support of direct support professionals, individuals are able to lead self-directed lives within their own communities.

(3) Providers of home- and community-based services are experiencing difficulty hiring and retaining direct support professionals, with a national turnover rate of 39 percent, as identified in a 2023 study by the National Core Indicators.

(4) High turnover rates can lead to instability for individuals receiving services, and this may result in individuals not receiving enough personalized care to help them reach their goals for independent living.

(5) A discrete occupational category for direct support professionals will help States and the Federal Government—

(A) better interpret the shortage in the labor market of direct support professionals; and

(B) collect data on the high turnover rate of direct support professionals.

(6) The Standard Occupational Classification system is designed and maintained solely for statistical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data.

(7) Occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification system are classified based on work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or training needed to perform the work.

(8) Establishing a discrete occupational category for direct support professionals will—

(A) correct an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occupational Classification system;

(B) recognize these professionals for the critical and often overlooked work that they perform for the disabled community, which work is different than the work of a home health aide or a personal care aide; and

SEC. 3. REVISION OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, as part of the first revision of the Standard Occupational Classification system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals as a healthcare support occupation.

SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

If, after carrying out section 3, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget decides not to establish a separate code for direct support professionals in the Standard Occupational Classification system, the Director shall, by not later than 30 days after the first revision of the Standard Occupational Classification system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives explaining the Office of Management and Budget’s decision.

SEC. 5. NO NEW FUNDS.

No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. <all>

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Summary

Sponsor (1)

Actions (2)

Related bills (1)

Similar bills (6)

Committee action

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Full text

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