CDCAN
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY
COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
DISABILITY RIGHTS
NEWS REPORT
#050-2006 June 2, 2006 - Friday
morning
Advocacy Without Borders:
Connecting people with disabilities & seniors to rights and unified
action
IN MEMORY OF WARREN A. MATTINGLY WHO PASSED AWAY MAY
24
1225 8th
Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814 916/446-0013 Fax:
916/446-0026
To Respond to THIS email report reply to: martyomoto@rcip.com
CDCAN website: www.cdcan.us
Budget Conference
Committee
* No Action Yet On Major Issues
Impacting People with Disabilities & Seniors
* Conference Committee
Scheduled To Meet Again Friday (June 2) at 4
PM
SACRAMENTO
- The joint legislative committee working to resolve differences in budget
actions taken by the State Senate and the Assembly in April and May, took no
action on most of the major issues impacting people with disabilities and
seniors in two days of hearings held May 31 and June 1. The joint
committee - called a "conference committee" and chaired by Sen. Wes Chesbro
(Democrat - Arcata, 2nd District) is scheduled to resume meeting today (Friday,
June 2) at 4:00 PM, in the State Capitol. in Room 4203.
The
conference committee has almost completed making a first pass going through the
entire 290 page agenda, and will then go back and look at taking action on
issues left "open" (passed over for further discussion or information) -
including major budget issues impacting people with disabilities and seniors
either today, possibly over the weekend or Monday. The committee convened
at 10 AM on Thursday, and after recessing the hearing, met through the early
evening.
The State Legislature leaders - barring an unforeseen events -
are pushing to pass a State Budget on or close to the state constitutional
deadline of June 15 for the first time in nearly 20 years. The budget
conference committee is scheduled to meet daily through the next several days
before sending the budget package for what legislative leaders hope will be
final votes on the floor of each house. No public testimony is allowed during
the hearings of the conference committee, though the meetings are open to the
public and televised (available on the California Channel).
Meanwhile the controversial proposal that would require in certain areas
of the State, people with disabilities and seniors who receive Medi-Cal
services to be enrolled into Medi-Cal managed care health plans (rather than
"fee-for-service" plans where the person selects their own private doctor), is
moving forward in separate legislation, with related budget issues pending
before the conference committee. The issue will be part of a upcoming
CDCAN Disability Rights Townhall Telemeeting within the next two weeks.
Action Taken By Conference Committee impacting regional center funded
services:
* Community Program
Development and Start-Ups
Both houses in April and May voted to reject the
Governor's proposal to continue the freeze but differed on the amount of funding
for start-ups and development of new community programs for children and
adults with developmental disabilities. The conference committee voted 4-2
to adopt the Senate action, which increased funding by $3,000,000 with budget
related legislative language (trailer bill) that focused program development on
integrated living options, employment and integrated social activities.
Voting Yes: Sens. Chesbro and
Ducheny and Assemblymembers Laird and Chu (all Democrats)
Voting No: Sen.
Hollingsworth and Assemblymember Keene (both
Republicans)
* Regional Center New
Contract Language
Both houses earlier in April and May voted to reject the
Governor's proposal for new contract language for the 21 non-profit regional
centers that advocates claimed would significantly restrict and reduce services
for persons with developmental disabilities. However the Assembly also
included budget related legislative (called a "trailer bill") language that
expressly prohibited the State from doing that. The conference committee voted
4-2 yesterday in conference committee that the Assembly legislative language was
not necessary because existing State law already would prohibit the State from
making such contract language changes with the impact of limiting, reducing or
restricting services for people with developmental disabilities.
Voting Yes: Sens. Chesbro and Ducheny and Assemblymembers Laird and
Chu (all Democrats)
Voting No: Sen. Hollingsworth and Assemblymember Keene
(both Republicans)
* Supported
Employment Program and Work Activity Program Report (Senate voted in May
to adopt specific language in the actual budget bill to require the Department
of Rehabilitation and the Department of Developmental Services to report to the
Legislature by April 1, 2007 on the flow of persons with developmental
disabilities in Supported Employment Programs and Work Activity Programs between
the two departments. The Assembly took no similar action). The
conference committee voted 6-0 to approve this issue (this issue has no impact
on the proposal adopted by the Assembly and still pending in the conference
committee on increasing funding for Supported Employment Program, and also
additional funding increases for other programs)
Voting Yes: Sens. Chesbro and
Ducheny and Assemblymembers Laird and Chu (all Democrats) and
Sen. Hollingsworth and Assemblymember
Keene (both Republicans)
Voting No: -none-
Also approved by the conference committee:
Note: see
separate CDCAN report for actions regarding Medi-Cal, Transportation, and
special education.
* Vocational Rehabilitation Cooperative Program
Funding (Assembly in May approved the Governor's May Revised budget proposal
calling for $1,050,000 in federal funds to be allocated for the Vocational
Rehabilitation Cooperative programs while the Senate took no similar
action). The conference committee voted 6-0 to approve this
issue.
Voting Yes: Sens. Chesbro and
Ducheny and Assemblymembers Laird and Chu (all Democrats) and
Sen. Hollingsworth and Assemblymember
Keene (both Republicans)
Voting No: -none-
Issues left "open" for
later action include:
Note: see
separate CDCAN report for actions regarding Medi-Cal, Transportation, and
special education.
* Supported
employment program funding increases - held open (Assembly voted in May
for significantly larger increases for the employment program - while the Senate
approved smaller increases - though both actions were above the 3% increase
proposed by the Governor. See CDCAN Action Alert on this issue)
* Rate
Increases and Cost Containment of Regional Center funded community-based
services - held open (Assembly voted in May to end cost containment (including
rate freezes) on regional center funded community-based programs implemented in
previous State budgets, including ending the change in eligibility for those
services, which was narrowed in 2003 and also provided for larger funding
increases to community based programs than the 3% one time increase proposed by
the Governor. The Senate voted in April and May to continue the on-going
cost containment measures including rate freezes except for startups of new
community programs, and did not provide for an increase in funding beyond what
the Governor proposed. See CDCAN Action Alert on this issue)
* Regional
Center Case Manager funding increase - held open (Assembly earlier in April-May
voted an additional $26.6 million to adjust the regional center case manager to
consumer ratio from 1 to 66 persons back to 1 to 62 persons. The Senate
voted earlier in April-May for a smaller increase above what the Governor
proposed, of $3.2 million to hire case managers and staff to ensure compliance
with federal requirements regarding the Medicaid Home and Community-based
waiver.
* AB 3632 Implementation (Department of Mental Health) items were
held open
* SSI/SSP Withholding of Federal Cost of Living Increase for
SSI/SSP Recipients for January-March 2007 (Assembly took action earlier to
repeal this action which was passed last year as part of the 2005-2006 State
Budget while the Senate took no similar action). Issue left open by
conference committee.
* Most of the major Medi-Cal issues impacting people
with disabilities and seniors in conference conference committee were left open
(see more detailed report later today)
Members of the Budget
Conference Committee
The 6 member special joint budget committee - called
a "conference committee" is composed of two Democrats and one Republican members
from each house and is chaired this year by Sen. Wes Chesbro (Democrat - Arcata,
2nd District) who is the chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review
Committee. The other Conference Committee members are:
* Sen. Denise
Ducheny (Democrat - San Diego, 40th District)
* Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth
(Republican - Murrieta, 36th District), Senate Budget & Fiscal Review
Committee vice chair
* Assemblymember John Laird (Democrat - Santa Cruz, 27th
District), and Assembly Budget Committee chair.
* Assemblymember Judy Chu
(Democrat - Monterey Park, 49th District), Assembly Appropriations Committee
chair
* Assemblymember Rick Keene (Republican - Chico, 3rd District),
Assembly Budget Committee vice chai
A CDCAN Alert was issued Wednesday,
May 31 and a CDCAN Disability Rights Townhall Telemeeting was held on June 1
to focus on the issue of supported employment program funding - and also
employment of persons with disabilities. See CDCAN Alert or go to the CDCAN
website at www.cdcan.us
CDCAN Capitol News
Reports and Alerts
These CDCAN Reports are partially funded by a small grant from
the USC UCEDD, Grant #90DD0540 from the Administration on Developmental
Disabilities. The opinions expressed or content in these reports do not
necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the USC UCEDD.
The California
Disability Community Action Network is a non-partisan link to tens of thousands
of Californians in every community, including people of color, people of every
type of disability, including people with physical disabilities, people with
developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic brain and other
injures, people with mental health needs, seniors, people with MS, Alzheimer's
and others, and all of 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 but not necessary). We're all in this together!
MANY
THANKS to Training Toward Self Reliance, UCP, California NAELA, Californians for
Disability Rights, Inc (CDR), CHANCE Inc, Parents Helping Parents, Arriba,
Strategies Toward Empowering People, Parents Helping Parents, Asian American
parents groups, Resources for Independent Living and many other Independent
Living Centers, several regional centers, People First chapters, IHSS workers,
other self advocacy and family support groups, developmental center families,
and hundreds of individuals. Thanks also to partnerships and the good
people with the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, and also the
Department of Health Services, the Department of Developmental Services,
Department of Social Services and the CA Health and Human Services Agency and
other agencies, and the State Legislature and staff, the Legislative Analyst
Office. Good people who do good things can make a difference
together.