The session has finally ended… or has it?

Although the 2009 legislative session wrapped up on time on Sunday, April 26^th, it was a contentious ending that saw them leave without passing some controversial bills that are deemed “Necessary To Implement the Budget”. One bill on deporting immigrant criminal offenders could save $8 million a year and a bill on school levies is also considered very important. This means the legislature will likely be called back for a special session at a cost of about $20,000 a day to tax payers.

Though legislators were budget focused, some important bills made it through.

The bills that made it through the session have now been delivered to the Governor. The Children’s Intensive In-home Behavior Supports bill has already been signed into law. Go to http://capwiz.com/arcwa/issues/?style=D& to see which bills made it. For such a difficult budget session, this many bills being passed for those with developmental disabilities was really quite an accomplishment. Thank you to everyone who made phone calls, wrote letters and emails and visited legislators and their staff to help get these bills passed.

So what’s in the budget… or not in it??

A good thing that the legislature did was provide residential supports services for 60 clients who are at risk of institutionalization, these would be slots on the CORE Waiver. Another 32 new slots were provided in the Community Protection Waiver. This was about the only good news for residential services for people with developmental disabilities, as residential services took the worst cuts. When a client leaves a community residential slot, it must be kept vacant. Vendor rates for supported living, group homes and adult family homes were all cut by about 3%. Adult day health services will no longer be provided for those in residential supports, only for in-home clients. The state does not consider community residential placements as the person’s “home”.

For clients living in-home they will see a reduction in Medicaid Personal Care hours, which will be based on acuity levels. Although Medicare Part D had been targeted in an earlier budget proposal, no cuts were made in the final budget. Vision and hearing services escaped the chopping block, but according to the Agency Detail budget book, dental provider rates get rolled back to the 2007 rates (we think). The actual bill language says to provide an adult dental benefit that is at least equivalent to the benefit provided in the 2003-05 biennium. We will have to see where that ends up.

About three years ago the state got a “New Freedom” demonstration waiver. It is only available for King County residents age 65 and older or residents age 18 and older with a physical disability. The menu of services is narrower than on DD waivers, but it allows clients more freedom on how the funds are spent. It would only apply to a handful of individuals with developmental disabilities and would not be the best choice for most. It somehow ended up in the DD budget, though no one is sure why, and it has caused confusion to clients and providers, as well as the DDD administration.

Employment fared well, in that those currently receiving state only employment services will be transferred to a waiver and get to continue their services. There is no additional funding for about 1,400 graduates this biennium though. There is a cut to employment services, but counties are to do this through vendor rates and overhead reductions. There will be a JLARC (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee) study on county administered services such as employment day and child development services. The report, due September 1, 2010, must provide a description of how funds are used and the rates paid to vendors, and a recommendation on best practices the agency may use for the development of a consistent, outcome-based contract for services provided under contract with the counties. DDD must develop and implement the use of a consistent, statewide outcome-based vendor contracts for employment and day services by April 1, 2011. The rates paid to vendors under this contract must also be made consistent.

Though advocates tried hard to educate legislators about the inequity of cutting services in the community, but not in state DD institutions, by asking them to close Yakima Valley RHC, that did not happen in the final budget. Instead, legislators directed the Office of Financial Management to do a study of closing RHCs by contracting with consultants with expertise in this area. They need to consider alternate facilities, the cost of operating the facility, impact of the facility on the local economy and alternative uses for a facility recommended for closure. They will also look at the impact on clients in the facility and their families. OFM has to submit a final report by November 1, 2009. The report must provide a recommendation and a plan to eliminate 250 funded beds in the residential habilitation centers through closure or consolidation of facilities.

There was a DD set-aside for the Housing Trust Fund of $3 million. This will be helpful to individuals wanting to live in the community. HB 1373, the Children’s Mental Health bill was funded, as was HB 2078 that creates a screening tool for DD in jails and correctional facilities.

Overall, it looks like DD community services took a cut between 3-4%, less than what some other agencies got hit with. There are still many questions of how some of these cuts will impact services, but your advocacy made the difference. Without your calls, emails and visits, the outcome for DD community services could have been much more painful.

to see the newest episode. In Episode 9, the final episode for this legislative session, Olympia Insiders Sue Elliott and Ed Holen revisit the wins and losses of the 2009 Legislative Session with clips from the advocates who fought the good fight. And there is still more to do! Check www.arcwa.org for updates.

Only eight months until the next legislative session. Thank you so much for all your efforts this year. Next year will also be a challenge and we will do lots of work during the interim to prepare. Remember, change was made by you because you showed up!