Monday, May 4, 2009

Session Wrap Up


The session has finally ended. or has it?

Although the 2009 legislative session wrapped up on time on Sunday,
April 26th, 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
<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.

The Olympia Insider video podcast is a concise preview and review of
what's happening with developmental disability advocacy in Washington's
capitol city. Go to http://www.arcwapodcast.org/ 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!

Diana Stadden

Arc of Washington State
Policy and Advocacy Coordinator