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A Decade at the Same Price
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Rates for Washington DDA Individual Employment and Community Inclusion services were set roughly ten years ago and have not been permanently increased since — the only relief was a temporary pandemic-era bump that has expired. SB 5790, highlighted in the Washington State DD Council's 2026 community impact work, would raise those rates and index future increases to the Consumer Price Index.
If you provide employment services, none of this is news — you've been living the math. If you're a family wondering why it's hard to find an employment provider, this article explains the mechanism.
What These Services Are
Two DDA services are at issue:
- Individual Employment — job coaching, job development, and the ongoing support that helps a person with a developmental disability find and keep competitive employment
- Community Inclusion — support for participating in community activities for people who aren't currently pursuing employment
Both sit inside Washington's waiver system (our DDA waivers guide covers where they fit), and both pay providers on rates the state last set when gas cost $2.60 a gallon.
The Math of a Ten-Year Freeze
Here's what a frozen rate means in real terms. Cumulative inflation over the past decade runs roughly 35%. A rate that paid a provider $100 of 2016 purchasing power buys about $65 of the same services today — while everything the provider purchases moved the other direction:
| Cost input | Ten-year trend |
|---|---|
| Washington minimum wage | Up more than 40% |
| Commercial auto insurance (job coaches drive) | Up sharply statewide |
| Liability insurance | Up |
| Rent for office/training space | Up |
| Reimbursement rate | Flat |
Providers don't absorb that spread. They exit. Every year at the same rate is another year in which agencies quietly stop offering employment services, narrow their service areas, or cap their employment caseloads — and every exit means a person with a disability who wants to work loses the support to do it.
This is the same dynamic we documented in the DSP wage crisis: when rates freeze, wages freeze, and the workforce leaves for jobs that don't require a certification.
What SB 5790 Would Do
The bill, discussed in the DD Council's 2026 legislative work, has two parts:
- A rate increase for Individual Employment and Community Inclusion services — catching rates up from their mid-2010s baseline
- CPI indexing — automatic annual adjustments going forward, so rates never silently decay for a decade again
The second part matters more than the first. One-time increases erode from the day they pass; indexing changes the structure. It's the difference between refilling a leaking bucket and patching it.
Worth stating plainly: as of this writing, SB 5790 is proposed legislation, not law. Bills change, sessions end, budgets intervene. What doesn't change is the underlying arithmetic — no permanent adjustment in about ten years — which will need an answer from some bill, this one or the next.
Why Employment Services Are Worth Fighting For
Washington has one of the strongest employment-first traditions in the country for people with developmental disabilities. The economics work, too:
- People earning wages rely less on paid supports over time
- Employment outcomes are among the clearest quality signals a service system can produce
- Every JLARC and legislative review of DD services ultimately asks the same question — are people living fuller lives? — and a paycheck is hard evidence
You can see the scale of public investment in DD services yourself: our provider funding analysis breaks down fiscal.wa.gov spending data by agency, and our live data page tracks it across the state.
What Providers Can Do Now
Testify with your numbers. Legislators respond to specifics: your fully loaded hourly cost to deliver a job-coaching hour versus the rate. If you don't know that number precisely, that's the first fix — agencies that track service delivery costs in real time can produce it in minutes.
Track your employment outcomes. Placement counts, retention at 90 days, average wages. When rate advocacy reaches a hearing, providers with outcome data get quoted; providers with anecdotes get thanked.
Stay findable. Families searching for employment providers check our directory for who serves their county and who's accepting clients. Fewer employment providers means the ones remaining matter more.
Watch the session. The DD Council (ddc.wa.gov) publishes legislative updates, and its 2026–2031 state plan comment process is one of the few places this issue gets formal public input.
FAQ
When were Washington's DDA employment service rates last increased?
The rates for Individual Employment and Community Inclusion services were set roughly a decade ago. Aside from a temporary pandemic-related increase, they have not been permanently raised since.
What is SB 5790?
A Washington bill that would increase rates for DDA Individual Employment and Community Inclusion services and index future increases to the Consumer Price Index, so rates adjust automatically with inflation.
Why does CPI indexing matter more than a one-time increase?
A one-time increase starts eroding immediately as costs rise. Indexing adjusts rates every year automatically, preventing another decade-long freeze.
How do frozen rates affect families?
Providers exit services that pay below cost. Families feel it as fewer employment providers, longer waits, smaller service areas, and job coaches with too many clients to support any of them well.
Where can I see what Washington spends on DD services?
fiscal.wa.gov publishes public spending data. Our funding analysis and data page break it down by provider and trend.
CareCade helps DDA providers track service hours, costs, and outcomes — the numbers that win rate cases. See the platform.