HB5372, titled the “Demonstrating that Empowerment Makes Opportunities Act” or the “DEMO Act,” would amend section 2008 of the Social Security Act to create a new grant program for demonstration projects that help people with arrest or conviction records enter health profession career pathways. The projects are intended to provide education, training, credentialing support, and employment assistance for occupations in health care that are expected to face labor shortages or high demand.
The bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of Labor and Education and the Attorney General, to award grants to eligible entities such as workforce boards, states, tribes, colleges, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, federally qualified health centers, nonprofits, labor organizations, and opioid treatment programs. Projects must run at least three years and include required legal assistance for participants, with optional emergency financial support and other services to remove barriers tied to arrest or conviction records. The bill also requires technical assistance from the federal government and rigorous evaluations of project outcomes, including credential attainment, job placement, retention, and whether the projects help fill in-demand health care jobs.
The bill would add a new subsection to section 2008 of the Social Security Act and authorize $10 million for fiscal year 2026 to fund these demonstration grants. It would not broadly change criminal record laws, but it would interact with state and local licensing and credentialing policies by requiring projects to operate in states that already allow certain allied health and behavioral health credentials to be awarded to people with certain arrest or conviction records, including appeals or rehabilitation processes. The measure would primarily affect low-income individuals with arrest or conviction records, workforce development entities, and health care employers and training providers involved in building pathways into shortage occupations.
The available record shows no committee transcript and no vote history, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to gauge support or opposition. Based on the bill text, the measure is framed positively as a workforce and reentry initiative, emphasizing opportunity, rehabilitation, and filling labor shortages in health care. Its structure suggests an intent to attract support from workforce, health care, and reentry advocates, while also incorporating evaluation and eligibility limits to address program accountability.
The main policy tension appears to be between expanding access to health care careers for people with arrest or conviction records and ensuring that participants can meet licensing, credentialing, and workforce standards. The bill addresses this by limiting projects to states with existing credentialing pathways and by requiring legal assistance, but that same requirement may be seen as narrowing the program’s reach. Another possible point of contention is the use of federal grant funds for a targeted population and whether the $10 million appropriation is sufficient to produce measurable workforce outcomes. Because there are no recorded discussions or votes, specific objections or supporters are not identified in the available materials.