Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act

Gives direct support professionals a distinct occupational code in the Standard Occupational Classification. The bill would direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the SOC to add a separate code for direct support professionals as a health care support occupation and to include that consideration in the first SOC revision after enactment. If the Director declines to establish the code, the bill would require a report to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce within one month of that revision. The bill’s findings note DSPs help with daily living, promote independence, support community inclusion, and face a 39 percent turnover rate in a 2023 study, and argue a discrete code would improve interpretation of labor shortages and data collection. No new funds are authorized.