More than 150 advocates for the disability community bearing "keep the promise" buttons rallied in Annapolis Monday to seek higher pay for the often grueling jobs of caring for people with disabilities.
The advocates hope to reverse budget trims made by Gov. Larry Hogan and former Gov. Martin O'Malley that reduced the size of raises promised to direct care workers over the next few years.
Laura Howell, executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Services, said that the challenge of hiring direct care workers will grow steeper if organizations can not pay enough to make the job worth it.
The rate the state reimburses workers has not grown with inflation, nor with changes to minimum wage. Last year, advocates successfully hung up O'Malley's proposed minimum wage hike by demanding workers in the disability community got a pay raise, too.
Then, advocates had a powerful ally in Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas "Mac" Middleton. They argued that without such an increase, the direct care jobs would pay just as much as a less stressful minimum wage gig.
Lawmakers passed a law calling for a series of raises for direct care workers that meant they would always make about 30 percent more than minimum wage.
Then Maryland had budget troubles. In January, then-Gov. O'Malley cut in half the expected increase for the current budget. Gov. Larry Hogan cut next year's expected increase in half again as he tries to limit future increases to the state budget.
Instead of earning 30 percent more than minimum wage, direct care workers would earn 16 percent more when the full miminum wage increase takes effect in the summer of 2018.
A spokeswoman for Hogan said the governor's budget included a pay increase for direct care workers, even if it wasn't as big of an increase as advocates had wanted.
"Governor Hogan is committed to supporting the invaluable work that direct care workers do in our Maryland communities," Hogan spokeswoman Erin Montgomery said in a statement. "Ensuring that we fairly compensate those who care for our disabled will always be a top priority."