California Disability Community
Action Network Disability Rights News goes out to over 45,000 people
with disabilities, mental health needs, seniors, their families,
workers, community organizations, including those in Asian/Pacific
Islander, Latino, African American communities, policy makers and others
across California.
REMEMBERING JOAN LEE
1927-2008 - Memorial Service August 15th
California Budget Crisis - Day 35
* GOVERNOR PROPOSES 1 CENT SALES TAX INCREASE
* INCREASE TIED TO CONTROLLING BUDGET SPENDING
* ISSUE OF REVENUES HAS MAJOR IMPACT ON SPENDING
* Important Hearing On Budget Related Bill SB 434
- Aug 5th
Disability & Senior Advocates Worry About Spending Caps
On Critical Programs and Services - Budget Delay Impact Will Soon Hit
Hard on Community-Based Services and Supports As Providers Go Without
Any Payment from State
SACRAMENTO
(CDCAN) - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured left)
proposed to legislative leaders on Sunday, a temporary sales tax
increase of 1 cent that would raise about $5 billion per year
to help close the State's $15.2 billion budget gap in exchange for major
budget reform proposals to control spending and new authority to cut
spending in future years. The proposal calls for the State's sale
tax increase to be in place for 3 to 4 years, followed by a gradual
decrease in that tax to a point below what it is now (7.25%).
California is now 35 days without a State budget.
The issues and debate on raising new revenues is critical because at
stake - depending on which proposals to raise revenues are adopted - are
billions of dollars in spending for programs and services that impact
hundreds of thousands of children and adults with
disabilities, mental health needs, low income seniors, and low
income families.
Hearing Tuesday in Assembly Health on Important Medi-Cal Bill
Meanwhile, a hearing on SB 434 by Sen. Gloria Romero (Democrat - Los
Angeles) that deals with an important budget related issue involving
nursing facilities,worker wages, quality of care and
continuation of a special fee that allows for higher reimbursement
rates, will be heard Tuesday afternoon, August 5, at 1:30 PM before the
Assembly Health Committee, at the State Capitol in Room 4202. Persons
should check with the Assembly Health Committee office at 916-319-2197
to see if the bill is still on the hearing schedule (see below for
details).
Governor Wants Budget Reforms
Schwarzenegger Administration officials have declined to provide
publicly further details on the proposal - but the proposal is similar
to one he offered in January when he proposed a temporary sales tax
increase tied to leasing of the state lottery should the sale be held
up by lawsuits or other problems. The Governor has refused to
propose any new increases in income taxes however.
Schwarzenegger spokesperson Matt David told the Los Angeles Times that
"This compromise must include budget reform that prevents our
state from being in this position. The governor is pushing Republicans
and Democrats to come to the table immediately and reach a compromise
because of the looming cash crisis we face."
The Governor, in a radio broadcast August 2, said he would not sign a
budget without significant and long term budget reforms.
"While I am frustrated that the legislature hasn't reached an
agreement, I am very encouraged that all four legislative leaders
recognize the need to reform our broken budget system. And as I have
said before, I will not sign a budget without substantive and
long-term budget reform.The people elected me to bring sanity and
stability to our state's finances.They wanted Sacramento to end the
reckless spending and to finally live within its means" the
Governor said.
Talks With Governor and Legislative Leaders Will Continue
Both the Governor and legislative leaders - Assembly Speaker Karen
Bass (Democrat - Los Angeles), Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata
(Democrat - Oakland), Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill
(Republican - Fresno) and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines
(Republican - Clovis) say they will continue talks.
No budget deal appears to be near however - though Bass said
today that she was still hopeful that a budget could be passed by
the end of the month.
Bass and Cogdill are new this year to the high level budget
discussions - with Bass replacing former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez
and Cogdill replacing Sen. Dick Ackerman - both members being forced
out of office this year due to term limits. Perata, who also is
being forced out of office this year due to term limits, will remain
as Senate President for probably the rest of this month, though Sen.
Darrell Steinberg (Democrat - Sacramento) is scheduled to officially
be elected as his replacement later this month.
Republicans Oppose Plan - While Democrats Concerned About
Reforms
Legislative Republicans have strongly opposed any increases in taxes
or fees and said they oppose the Governor's proposal, saying the
problem is not revenues, but spending. Senate
Republican Leader Dave Cogdill (Republican - Fresno) said yesterday that
Senate Republicans were also opposed to raising taxes in a time
when the economy is bad.
Democratic legislative leaders have previously opposed the Governor's
budget reforms that would cap spending on critical programs and
give authority to a governor for automatic spending cuts.
Democrats also have strong reservations about only raising revenues by
temporarily increasing sales tax, which some feel would unfairly target middle
and lower income Californians. Others have raised concerns about the
proposal's temporary increase - wondering what happens to the spending
versus revenue gap after the increase ends.
The Governor's proposal to temporarily raise the sales tax appears to
propose replacing some of the Democratic plan to raise revenues
(meaning the $5 billion in new revenues resulting from the temporary
increase of the sales tax would not be on top of the $8 billion or
more in new revenues coming from new taxes, fees, etc proposed by the
Democrats).
Budget Delay Hits Hard On Community-Based Services for People
With Disabilities and Seniors
While the Governor's executive order rolling back State employee wages
and laying off temporary workers has drawn wide spread public
attention, the impact of the budget delay will soon grow even worse
for community-based services, programs and supports for tens of
thousands of children and adults with disabilities, mental health needs,
low income seniors as providers go another month without any payments
from the State.
Small community-based providers are especially hard hit, many who
provide critical services in the home or programs including those for
seniors with Alzheimer's, who are desperate now to meet payroll and
other costs.
While larger agencies can take out short term loans to bridge the gap -
many smaller agencies and providers don't have that ability.
Providers note that the costs of taking out loans to make up for the
lack of State reimbursements for services already provided, are not
reimbursed by the State.
Advocates say that the impact of the budget delay makes worse cuts
already previously approved last February, including a 10%
reduction in payments to Medi-Cal providers, including many
community-based providers such as Adult Day Health Centers, that already
went into effect July 1.
The 10% Medi-Cal provider cut is the subject of two different lawsuits
pending in state and federal courts, which have refused so far to
intervene and stop the cut from taking place.
The Democratic budget proposal as passed by both the Assembly and Senate
Budget Committees in June would restore most of the Medi-Cal 10% rate
reduction - but that budget plan also calls for about $8 billion in new
revenues, including new taxes and fees - which legislative Republicans
and the Governor so far have refused to support.
Other cuts - including elimination of the 2008-2009 State cost of living
money owed to the lowest income persons with disabilities, the blind and
low income seniors who receive SSI/SSP (Supplement Security Income/State
Supplemental Payment) also was previously approved in February and has
already gone into effect. A proposal, in both the Republican and
Democratic budget plans, would extend that cut to cover the State cost
of living money due June 1, 2009 through May 31, 2010 for SSI/SSP, the
15th time in 19 years that the State has cut that funding.
Advocates Worry About Governor's Proposal for Spending Caps and
Cuts
Disability, senior, mental health and low income advocates have
raised concerns about the Governor's proposed constitutional amendment,
called the "Budget Stabilization Act" that he says will
put in place needed budget reforms patterned after a similar
constitutional amendment in Arkansas. It appears the Governor is
linking his budget reform proposal to any increase in the sales tax.
That proposal, which the Governor made as part of his January budget,
would establish priorities and caps in spending in programs, create a
budget "rainy day" reserve fund, and give authority for a
governor to make automatic (pre-approved) spending cuts and reductions.
The Governor has not formally advanced his budget reform proposal
through legislation or through signature gathering to place it on the
ballot, though in May and early June held a series of townhalls across
the State urging approval of his proposal.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen has said that the Legislature has until
the middle of August to place initiatives on the ballot in time for the
November 2008 election.
Advocates are also fear additional cuts to services and programs
for children and adults with disabilities, mental health needs and
seniors as the price for any budget deal. The Governor and other
supporters of the budget reform plan say spending caps, priorities and
reserves are needed in order to fix the ongoing State budget problems
that will protect vital services and programs. Many advocates
dispute that however.
SENATE PANEL REVIEWS GOVERNOR'S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON STATE
WORKERS
While the regular Assembly and Senate Budget Committees have completed
its regular budget hearings in mid-June, the Senate Governmental
Organization Committee, chaired by Sen. Dean Florez (Democrat -
Shafer), held an informational hearing on the impact of the Governor's
Executive Order that would temporarily reduce state worker wages back
to the federal minimum wage until a budget is passed, and also lay off
about 10,000 temporary State workers.
The Governor said last week he was forced to issue the executive
order because the State will not have the cash on hand to pay
employees until a State budget is in place and also pay its other
bills.
State Controller John Chiang, a Democrat who is the independent
State elected official that oversees the agency that cuts State
worker checks, told the committee that the Governor's order was not
necessary at this time and disputed the Governor's claim, saying the
State will have enough cash on hand to pay employees their full
wages through the end of September and its other bills.
The Senate committee took no action.
ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE MEETS AUGUST 5TH ON SB 434
Meanwhile, an important bill dealing with continuing a higher
level of Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for nursing homes tied to
increasing quality of care, that is linked to the budget, is
scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Health Committee, Tuesday
afternoon at 1:30 PM at the State Capitol in Room 4202.
The bill has raised concerns from advocates for people with
disabilities, seniors, nursing home workers, unions and nursing home
providers.
The Assembly on Monday re-referred the bill to the Assembly Health
Committee and also Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 434, by Sen. Gloria Romero (Democrat - Los Angeles) would
require a stakeholder workgroup to be convened by the Department of
Health Care Services to look at compliance and quality issues
connected to a nursing home receiving a higher reimbursement rate in
exchange for paying what some call a "provider tax" or
"quality assurance fee" that in turn is matched with
increased federal Medicaid money and returned to the State. The
State in turn gives some of that increased funding back to the
provider that is meant for increased worker wages and quality of
care. New amendments to the bill are expected to be proposed
during the hearing.
Some advocates have raised major concerns about how the State is
monitoring and enforcing quality of care issues for those nursing
facilities receiving higher reimbursement money.
Details of Quality Assurance Fee Program in AB 1629 (2004)
The details of the "quality assurance fee" for
nursing facilities were contained in previous legislation, AB
1629 by then Assemblymember Dario Frommer (Democrat - Los Angeles),
passed and signed into law in 2004. The provisions of that
bill became inoperative as of July 1, 2008 and needs to be extended
by new legislation. The Budget Conference Committee in late
June ended up approving language for a budget related bill (called a
budget trailer bill) that extended the quality assurance fee and
established other provisions regarding stakeholder meetings.
However that entire budget proposal approved by the Democrats is the
budget plan that remains stalled in both houses. It is not
clear yet how SB 434 will impact the budget related language already
approved.
REMEMBER JOAN LEE - MEMORIAL
SERVICE AUGUST 15th IN SACRAMENTO
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The memorial service for Joan B. Lee is scheduled for August 15, 2008,
Friday morning at 11:00 AM in Sacramento.
Unitarian
Universalist Society of
Sacramento
2425 Sierra
Boulevard
Sacramento
,
CA
95825
(the location is
in the area bordered by Arden Way, Fulton/Munroe Street and Howe
Avenues and Fair Oaks Blvd in Sacramento. The nearest cross street to
Sierra Boulevard is Howe Avenue and also Fulton Avenue (which turns
into Munroe Street when it reaches Fair Oaks Boulevard)
As previously
reported, Joan Lee, (pictured left in a 2007 photo) a
beloved and admired advocate for seniors and people with disabilities
and a leader of the Sacramento Gray Panthers died Saturday evening at
around 7:30 PM (July 26, 2008) at Kaiser Hospital in Sacramento,
surrounded by pictures of her family, cards and flowers sent by
family and friends. She was 81 years old. Her husband of
28 years, Arnie Godmintz, who helped Joan in many of her advocacy
efforts, was with her at Kaiser Hospital constantly from the date she
was admitted (July 4th) to the night of her death.
Her death was caused
by complications resulting from lung cancer that had spread rapidly to
the bones and her liver . She was admitted to Kaiser
Hospital on Friday, July 4th, though it wasn't until over 16 days
later that a diagnosis of cancer was made.
Her passing sadden
advocates, policymakers, family and friends across California.
CDCAN will be issuing a special tribute - if you interested in adding
a comment to be included about Joan Lee, please send to Marty Omoto at
martyomoto@rcip.com
PLEASE
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DISABILITY
RIGHTS NEWS REPORT