CDCAN
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY
COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
DISABILITY RIGHTS
NEWS REPORT
#0013-2006 January 26, 2006 Thursday
Advocacy Without Borders:
Connecting
people with disabilities & seniors to rights and unified
action
1225 8th
Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814 916/446-0013 Fax:
916/446-0026
Marty Omoto - director email: martyomoto@rcip.com
website: www.cdcan.us
State Legislature
* Senate Budget
Committee Reject SSI/SSP Cut
* Chesbro: Governor's Proposal "Dead On
Arrival"
* Assembly Budget Committee Likely To Follow
* Over 1 Million
Disabled, Blind & Seniors
Impacted
SACRAMENTO - The State Senate Budget Committee
Democrats rejected Thursday (January 26) on a party-line vote of 7-4 Gov.
Schwarzenegger's budget proposal to withhold for an additional 15 months
beginning in April 2007, federal money meant for cash grants for the State's
lowest income people with disabilities, seniors, and the blind,
alled SSI/SSP (Supplemental Security
Income/State Supplemental Payment).
While the action by State Senate Democrats was not a surprise, the timing
of the action was unusual because normally no actions are taken at the first
meeting of either legislative budget committee, which is largely held to hear
reports on the Governor's proposed budget by his Department of Finance and the
independent non-partisan Legislative Analyst.
What The Governor
Proposed
Under the Governor’s July
2006-June 2007 state budget proposal which he released on January 10, the
Governor proposes to withhold the federal cost of living adjustment (COLA) for
SSI due on April 2007,(instead of January 2007 which was part of last
year's budget agreement.) for another 15 months. As a result, the SSI/SSP
grant would remain at the April 2006 level, which is scheduled to be $836
for individuals and $1,472 for a couple..
* The 2007 federal COLA
proposed for a 15 month delay would have increased the maximum grant on April
2007 for an individual by approximately $16, to $852 per month, and would
have increased by $24 the maximum grant for a couple to $1,496 per
month.
* The Senate Budget Committee took no other action on any other
budget proposal, including no action yet on the Governor's budget proposal that
extends the "deeming period" by five years for persons with disabilities who are eligible for the Cash
Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI)
Senate Action First
Step In Long Budget Process
The
action by the Senate Democrats is the first step in a long budget process that
will continue until at least June, but Senate Budget Committee Chair, Sen. Wes
Chesbro (D-Arcata) said that the Senate needed to send a "strong signal" to the
Governor that his proposal was "dead on arrival".
The Senate Budget Committee action still
requires full approval of the State Senate, and also by the Assembly Budget
Committee and full Assembly - actions expected in the coming months.
Sen. Chesbro said at the
beginning of the 2 hour hearing that he wanted "no part " of the Governor's
SSI/SSP budget proposal, saying that "I think, the most egregious of all [budget
proposals] to me is proposed delay in the SSI/SSP cost of living increase
for 15 months. It's unconscionable with all the additional revenue that is
coming into the state, with the increases in funding elsewhere in the budget,
that the Administration does not apparently view the provision of the [SSI]
COLA as a priority and that the State would further erode the purchasing
power of the very limited amounts of money that we provide to seniors, and the
blind and and to the disabled residents of the state by withholding a COLA that
is intended to help them simply get by. Because that is all we are talking
about, we are talking about well below a $1,000 for folks to survive on per
month. So to be absolutely clear, I intend to have no part of this proposal and
that's a signal we will send early, often and
consistently."
Sen. Ducheny
Says Governor's Proposal "Steals" Federal Money From Seniors and
Disabled
The motion to actually
reject the Governor's proposal was made by Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego),
who chairs the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, which
covers many of the programs and services impacting people with disabilities and
seniors.
Ducheny said that the SSI cost of living adjustment
are "...federal funds specifically for
the purpose of providing a COLA [cost of living adjustment] for SSI recipients.
So I view this one as stealing money. It's not the same as general fund
expenditures. Its not the same as the state COLAs - which I am not happy
with [the action by the Legislature to suspend it], but we already agreed to
delay. This is the federal funds portion only. And basically what we [the
State] are proposing to do is to take those federal funds, as little as
they are, from the senior citizens they were designed to
support."
Sen. Tom McClintock
(R-Thousand Oaks) wondered how the budget could absorb the costs without
making other spending cuts. He attempted to amend Ducheny's motion by
adding an additional proposal to eliminate thousands of new positions and
force the Administration to justify each position one by one. Senate Budget
Committee Democrats opposed the McClintock motion, preferring to deal with the
proposed new state employee positions during the regular budget subcommittee
hearing process that will likely begin in March.
Governor's
Budget Proposal Hit Poor and SSI/SSP Recipients
Hardest
* Last year's budget
suspended for two years (January 2006 and January 2007) the state cost of living
increase to the SSP portion of the grant, and delayed passing the federal
increase to recipients until April of both years.
* That reduction to
the program was the largest single budget cut impacting people with disabilities
and seniors in the 2005-2006 budget. The Governor proposed that the federal cost of living adjustment (or
"COLA) due in January 2007 but delayed until April 2007 by the budget
passed last year be delayed further, by another year and three months - until
July 1, 2008.
* The delay would result in a reduction (or savings to
the state) to the SSI/SSP program budget of $48 million in the July 2006 - June
2007 budget, and another $185 million in the July 2007 - June 2008 budget.
Senate Democrats Say SSI
Proposal "Unconscionable"
While committee
Republicans didn't debate with the Democrats on the proposal, as previously
reported, Sen. McClintock wanted to amend Ducheny's motion to include also
rejecting about 2,000 new state positions proposed in the Governor's budget as a
means of "balancing the ledger".
Sen. Ducheny, clearly troubled by
the Governor's SSI/SSP proposal said at the hearing that "with great
reluctance last year as I recall, we agreed to delay the federal COLAs [cost
of living adjustments] until April for both the current year and now what
would be the budget year...it seems to me it was already a two year deal - we
didn't want to that in the first place. We can argue about it the rest of the
year when these revenues come in about whether we should allow the federal COLAs
back in January. But it seems highly inappropriate to change that deal in the
middle of it. You can argue about 07-08 [budget year] next year -
but you're [looking at the Governor's Department of Finance] really
proposing things about 07-08 and to change what we did last year. If you need
space to find how to replace it, I suggest the first thousand new positions that
you proposed in this budget in Health and Human Services would be places that we
can eliminate and start from scratch if we need to find replacement revenue
right away. I think we all enter this process understanding the COLA [delay
of the federal cost of living adjustment] right now is April 06 and April 07
and that we then take the budget with that as the understanding as try to find
the savings that are necessary and deal with some of the issues like unallocated
cuts and current laws and expansions. In a form of a motion, I move that
we deny the proposal to delay the [SSI/SSP] COLA for an additional
15 months."
Sen. McClintock while conceding the motion had "obvious"
support, but that the Governor's proposed budget already calls for major
increases in spending saying that "now we are already going to spend $5.9
billion more than we take in. We're looking at 8.3% one year increase in
spending - which is an increase in spending substantially faster than what we
saw under the Davis Administration. Could I get an indication from the
majority [Senate Budget Committee Democrats] how much more we will be
adding to this budget before we are done?"
Chesbro however was not
persuaded by McClintock's point, responding that "I think this lays down a
serious challenge on how to finance this. I think singling out the most
vulnerable portion of our population to bear to bear a highly
disproportionate share of the burden is wrong."
Sen. Sheila Kuehl
(D-Santa Monica) felt the arguments about finding funds to offset the cost of
restoring funding for SSI was wrong, telling the committee that "I think that
taking the Governor's proposal about stealing the federal money that was
allocated specifically for this purpose and holding that as the argument to be
refuted by saying: how are you going to replace that money? kind of turns
the question on its head from my point of view, and I speak in support of the
motion. The question is why are we taking federal funds specifically designated
for poor, and blind and disabled people and using that to fill a budget gap, and
not to fill it very much. It's a great big budget gap, and you take $48 million
from the budget year we're considering [the amount of the SSI federal COLA]
and say, well we're going to throw this in a very big bucket, when it
hurts people much, much more then it helps the State.by taking that particular
money. So I think the question is not how shall we replace this little bit, but
how shall we solve the larger problem, which I think has been asked by both
sides of the aisle, to solve the structural [state budget]
problem"
Before the final vote was taken, Senate Budget Committee
Vice Chair Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Temecula, 36th District) said "Mr.
Chairman, before we take a vote on that [Ducheny motion to reject the
Governor's SSI proposal] lest the public watching think that California is
being stingy and the Governor's proposal is being stingy , I want to point out
that in comparison to other states, that the next closest state on this [SSI/SSP
grants] is $1,000, and we are at $1,500 per couple, $1,700 for blind and
1,008 for New York, for the next closest - and all the rest is far below
that - keeping things in perspective."
Sen. Chesbro however disagreed
with the perspective, saying that "Well my response is, I challenge
anybody in this [hearing] room to try to get by with that amount of money
anywhere in the State of California."
Earlier in the hearing, the
Governor's Department of Finance Deputy Director Vince Brown gave an update of
the proposed budget to the committee, and said that it would
"fully fund the transfer
of $1.4 billion as I mentioned, we are proposing $920 million to prepay a
portion of the loan, and we also propose a constitutional amendment to protect
Prop 42 [transportation initiative] from future
suspensions."
Sen Kuehl, in later
exchange just before the vote on the Ducheny motion was taken, with Sen.
Hollingsworth, referred back to Brown's budget overview on that point linking it
to the Governor's SSI proposal.
Sen. Kuehl: "It's still federal
money, right?"
Sen. Chesbro: "Yes."
Sen. Kuehl: "They [federal
government] proposed it to the State for a COLA for this purpose? Is that
correct?"
Sen. Chesbro: "Correct."
Sen. Hollingsworth:
"However we did talk about the [State] general fund impact, of $48
million this year and over $180 million next year."
Sen. Kueh (voice
sounding sharp): "Well, take the Prop 42 [transportation initiative]
money and spend it for anything you want. I mean You can argue one way or
another, but not both."
BACKGROUND OF SSI/SSP
* The SSI/SSP program is
administered by the federal Social Security Administration.
* The Social
Security Administration determines eligibility, computes grants, and disburses
monthly payments to recipients. The state establishes the level of (SSP) State
Supplementary Payment support for individuals and contributes state money
for this portion of the program.
* The
SSI/SSP program provides cash grants to persons who are elderly, blind and/or
with disabilities, and unable to work and who meet the program’s federal income
and resource requirements. The total proposed budget (state and federal funds)
for the SSI/SSP program is $3.6 billion.
* Individuals who receive
SSI/SSP are eligible for the Aged, Blind or Disabled Medi-Cal Program with no
share of costs, for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program and may be
eligible for other programs designed to help people remain in the
community.
* Currently about 1,212,000
Californians receive SSI/SSP in 2005-2006, with that number expected to grow to
1,241,000. Of that number about 700,000 are persons with developmental or
other disabilities, about 300,000 low income seniors and about 2% persons who
are blind, 8% percent of SSI/SSP
recipients are under age 18, 49% of the SSI/SSP recipients are between ages 18
to 64, and 43% are age 65 and older [Department of Social Services and
Senate Budget Committee figures]
*
SSI/SSP grant levels vary based on a person's living arrangement, marital
status, minor status and whether she or he is a senior, blind or a person with
disabilities.
* As of April 2006, the maximum grant will be $836 per
month for a senior or person with disabilities, living independently and $1,472
per month for an aged or disabled couple living independently.
* The Governor and the Legislature
previously passed and enacted as part of previous state budgets, suspensions of
State cost of living adjustment (COLAS0 for January 2004, January 2006 and
January 2007 that impact the SSP portion of the SSI/SSP grant. The
Governor and Legislature also approved holding the federal increase to SSI
by delaying that COLA to SSI recipients for three months (recipients will
receive the federal increase on April 2006 and April 2007 instead of January of
both years. The Governor's July 2006-June 2007 budget proposal would have
extended the delay from April 2007 for another 15 months.
* SSI/SSP
recipients are not eligible in California for Food Stamps.
* The Cash
Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) is similar to the SSI/SSP program and
was established in 1997 to provide cash benefits to seniors, blind and persons
with disabilities who are also legal immigrants who became ineligible for SSI as
a result of welfare reform. This state-funded only program is overseen by the
Department of Social Services and locally by the counties. CAPI grants are $10
less than SSI/SSP grants for individuals and $20 less than SSI/SSP grants for
couples. older. The caseload is projected to decrease by 2.8% to about
7,817 persons per month (on average) or in 2006-07. The Senate
Budget Committee took no action on the Governor's proposal impacting this
program which includes extending the deeming period from ten to
fifteen years for immigrants who entered the country on or after August 22,
1996. During the deeming period, the income and resources of the person
sponsoring the noncitizen are taken into account when determining benefit
eligibility.
CDCAN VOTE RECORD
REPORT
Where: Senate Budget Committee
Action 01/26/06:
Rejected Governor's proposal to extend for another 15 months (from April 2007)
the withholding of the federal cost of living adjustment for SSI/SSP recipients
who are low income persons with developmental and other disabilities, seniors,
the blind and very poor and restored funding for that COLA.
Vote: 7-4
Next: Full Senate, and also the Assembly Budget
Committee and the full Assembly must also approve this action - which is
likely.
AYES Votes - 7
Democrats Voting Aye (7):
Chesbro, Duchney, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Machado, and
Scott
Republicans Voting
Aye (0): - none -
NO Votes - 4
Democrats Voting No
(0): -none-
Republicans Voting No (4): Hollingsworth, Dutton,
Margett, and McClintock,
ABSENT, ABSTAINING OR NOT VOTING-
2
Democrats (1): Simitian
Republicans (1):
Runner
NEXT STEPS
State Senate
Full Senate eventually
has to give final approval of any action taken by the Senate Budget Committee,
though given the early strong vote by the Democrats - who hold the majority in
the Senate, rejection of the Governor's proposal to withhold for an additional
15 months federal cost of living adjustments for SSI/SSP is highly
likely.
Assembly
The Assembly Budget Committee and the full
Assembly, both controlled by the Democrats, will also need to take similar
action - which is expected.
Governor
If the Legislature rejects
his proposal the Governor cannot implement his proposal. He can attempt to
ask that the Legislature reconsider its action - though it is not likely that
the Senate will do so.
US Congress
On February 1, 2006, the US
House of Representatives is expected to vote on the 2006 federal budget already
approved by theUS Senate. This package, called the "Deficit Reduction Act
of 2005", would:
* :Limit retroactive lump-sum SSI/SSP payments to three
months’ worth of benefits, and payments for any additional retroactive benefits
would be spread out over a year.
* Require more frequent redeterminations
for SSI/SSP eligibility, which could potentially result in persons losing
eligiblity, possibly saving the State (and federal government) funds (or mean a
reduction to the overall state SSI/SSP budget)
CDCAN Alert
CDCAN
will be issuing another alert urging people with disabilities and seniors,
families, workers and other advocates to write letters to the Assembly urging
them to also reject the Governor's proposal regarding SSI/SSP and other cuts
impacting people with disabilities and seniors and also an alert regarding the
pending federal budget vote in the US House of Representatives.
How To Receive
CDCAN Capitol News Reports and Alerts
The California
Disability Community Action Network is a non-partisan link to thousands of
Californians with developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic
brain and other injures, seniors and their families, community organizations and
providers, direct care and other workers, and other advocates. These action
alerts and news reports is for all of them. If you would like to get
on this distribution (and conversely, get off of it) please send an email
with that request to: martyomoto@rcip.com OR sign up via the NEW
CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us Sharing information is part of
our organizing effort. Please feel free to forward or copy this
(attribution is nice). We're all in this together!