CDCAN
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
DISABILITY RIGHTS NEWS REPORT
#062-2006  June 26, 2006 - Monday
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

California State Budget for 2006-2007
* Legislative Leaders Agree On Budget Deal - Vote Could Be Tuesday
* Flexibility In Budget Language for Work Activity & Day Program Funds
* Gov's Proposal for Children County Health Insurance Programs Out
* Follows Action by  Democrats Withdrawing Healthy Families Expansion

SACRAMENTO -  Assembly and State Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced today (June 26)  a tentative agreement on the State budget for 2006-2007 saying it "reflects the values of both parties and moves our State forward"  The agreement clears the way for a likely vote - and passage of the spending plan on Tuesday in both houses.   Though it is not absolutely certain which house will vote on the budget plan first, the Assembly is looking at voting on the proposed budget Tuesday early evening. 

The statement by the four legislative leaders spelled out no specifics, but it is known that the plan, revised in last few days to meet the demands of Republican legislative leaders, will not include nearly $23 million to fund county health care programs for children as proposed by the Governor, or $1.8 million proposed by the Democrats to begin steps to expand coverage of the Healthy Families program for children of low income families.  Republican legislative leaders said legislative Republicans would refuse to support any budget proposal that would provide for funding of new programs that cover children or adults who are undocumented immigrants.  While some details could change before the budget proposal is brought to a vote on Tuesday, these two proposals were seen as the major roadblocks toward passage of a State budget. 

Though the Legislature missed the state constitutional deadline of June 15 to pass a budget, the real deadline is the end of the budget year, which is June 30.  Legislative budget staff in both houses were working on finalizing final drafting of legislative budget related language that will be amended into bills that are part of the State Budget - referred to as "budget trailer bills" this evening (Monday).

Governor Says Budget Deal "Great Compromise"
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with the four leaders, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (Democrat - Los Angeles, 46th District), Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (Democrat - Oakland, 9th District), Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia (Republican - San Diego, 75th District) and Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman (Republican - Irvine, 33rd District) in the Governor's office in the State Capitol, after the deal was announced and called it a "great compromise" that sets aside a "significant: amount of money toward paying down loans the State borrowed to bridge the enormous budget  shortfalls in previous years. 
 
Expansion of Healthcare for Low Income Children Out of the Budget
* Earlier in May, Assembly Democrats had proposed adding $2 million to the 2006-07 State budget to expand Healthy Families, a health care program to include children of low income parents who make up to 300% above the federal poverty line (The current cutoff is 250% at or below the federal poverty level). Democrats wanted the program expanded by 2008 which would have included children from low income families who are also immigrants not documented. 
* The Governor opposed the plan, but did propose a much more scaled down proposal, to reimburse counties $23 million for about 87,000 children they now provide health care coverage for, including many who might be children who are immigrants without documentation. 
* Legislative Republicans  strongly opposed both measures in the final Budget Conference Committee meeting held on June 10 and vowed to block any budget that included either proposal.
* Democrats withdrew their Healthy Families expansion last Monday, and the Governor's proposal for funding of county health care programs for children was also taken out of the budget late last week.

Republicans Raise Other Issues - But Undocumented Immigrants A Deal Breaker
* Republicans in the Legislature have raised other issues in the budget, including using $1 billion in new tax revenues to pay down loans the State borrowed rather than put the extra funding in a special reserve account in the budget as Legislative Democrats have proposed. 
* However, unlike the expansion of healthcare for children that included children who may not be documented immigrants, those issues were not "deal breakers" for Republicans in either house, according to statements made last week by Republican leaders in the Assembly and Senate. 

Funding of Programs for Persons With Disabilities Doesn't Hold Up Vote On Budget
* Funding issues impacting people with disabilities and seniors were not issues holding up a vote on the budget by Republicans (or Democrats), though the issue of additional funding for work activity and day programs above the 3% increase proposed by the Governor, was the subject of discussion by legislators known as the "Family Caucus" whose efforts helped to change the budget related legislative language that added flexibility on which programs could be eligible for the increased funding (see below).
*  The "Family Caucus" is the name of four legislators who are parents or siblings of a person with developmental disabilities in their family.  Those legislators are:  Assemblymembers Barbara Matthews (Democrat - Tracy, 17th District), Fran Pavley (Democrat - Agoura Hills, 41st District) both who are parents of adults sons with developmental disabilities; Assemblymember Russ Bogh (Republican - Beaumont, 65th District), who has a brother with developmental disabilities; and Betty Karnette (Democrat - Long Beach,  54th District), who has a daughter with developmental disabilities. 
* Bogh, Matthews, Pavley are termed out of the legislature at the end of the 2006 session - and Karnette is eligible to serve until 2008. 

New Budget Related Language for Additional Work Activity & Day Program Funding
The budget agreement includes some changes to the budget related legislative (trailer bill) language that now would give regional centers more flexibility to determine which work activity or day programs are eligible to receive additional funding beyond the Governor's proposed 3% rate increase, to "enhance" worker wages.  Proposed language - referred to as "budget trailer bill" language - that originally was passed June 10 by the Budget Conference Committee, had strictly limited the additional funding to only those work activity and day programs that were fully integrated and non-site based, or those programs that were already transitioning to non-site based programs or work activity programs converting to a supported work program.

No other major changes impacting people with disabilities and seniors,  were made to the budget proposal as passed out of the Budget Conference Committee, which included restoration of the federal cost of living increase due January 2007  for SSI/SSP recipients, additional funding for supported employment programs, increased funding for certain work activity and day programs who meet specific requirements, 3% rate increase for several regional center funded community-based programs, and more. [see CDCAN Report #64-2006  for more details on the specific budget issues impacting people with disabilities and seniors]
Some budget items of interest:

SSI/SSP (Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment)
* Proposed budget to be voted on would repeal last year's budget action that withholds the federal cost of living increase for three months in 2007 (January through March) that is due to SSI/SSP recipients.  The proposed budget to be voted on restores the funding ($42,291,000) to allow the federal cost of living increase to be passed on to the SSI/SSP.  Previously the both houses rejected the Governor's proposal to extend the withholding an additional 15 months beginning April 2007 -  a proposal he subsequently withdrew.

Supported Employment Program Funding Increase
Proposed budget to be voted on includes major increase in funding for supported employment programs of $23 million ($16.7 million of that State funds - see wages and rate increases for some regional center funded programs below) far above what the Governor proposed in January and May to do the following:
* Job placement fee -  provides for a doubling of the job placement fee (from $1,000 to $2,000)
* Increase by 26% the rates paid for job coaching for Supported Employment Programs within the Department of Rehabilitation
* Increase by 26% the rates paid in Supported Employment Programs within the Department of Developmental Services
* Budget related legislative (trailer bill) language that makes technical changes to existing law to allow for this increases.

Wages and Rates Increases for Some Regional Center Funded Programs
* Proposed State Budget to be voted on includes additional funding (part of the same package of issues that included supported employment program above) of $30 million (all State funds) in addition to the 3% the Governor proposed, and also revised budget related legislative language that was originally approved on June 10 by the Budget Conference Committee. 
* The $30 million includes $16.7 million in state funds for supported employment programs (see above) and the emaining funds for the Department of Developmental Services to provide a rate increase for the purpose of increasing or "enhancing" wages for direct care staff in Day programs and Work Activity Programs that meet specific criteria but allows flexibility for regional centers to determine which day or work activity programs are eligible to receive the additional funding beyond the 3% proposed by the Governor.  The original budget related language - since revised to allow for more flexibility - originally  limited the additional funding only to those programs that meant the following conditions.  Details of the language are not yet available:
* Day and Work Activity Programs that provides services and supports in a community integrated, non-site based setting or
* Site-based Day Programs that are converting to a community integrated, non-site based setting or
* Work Activity Programs that are converting to a Supported Work Program. 

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.