Legislative Reception

The Community of People with Disabilities of Washington State

Invites You to Attend The 30th Annual

Legislative Reception

WHERE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT REPRESENT THEM
MEET WITH LEGISLATORS TO DISCUSS ISSUES CRITICAL TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
5:30 – 7:30
in the Legislative Building’s Columbia Room

HOSTED BY
The Washington State Developmental Disabilities Council,
The Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment, The State Independent Living Council, Parkview Services &
The Washington State Rehabilitation Council

ACCOMMODATIONS
Contact Debbie Himes at dhimes@esd.wa.gov or
1-360-438-3246 by December 20th 2008
360 438 3167 TTY
CONTRIBUTIONS GO TO
Kellie Anabel at kellie@parkviewservices.org or
1-206-542-6644
OTHER QUESTIONS
David Maltman at davidm@cted.wa.gov
or 1-800-634-4473

DRAFT Report- Study of closure of state institutions

STATE OF WASHINGTON

OFFICE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Insurance Building, PO Box 43113  Olympia, Washington 98504-3113  (360) 902-0555

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 14, 2009
CONTACT: Kate Lykins Brown, 360-902-0619

Consultant draft report delivered on facilities recommendations
Public comment invited; final report due Nov. 1

OLYMPIA – Consultant Christopher Murray & Associates delivered its draft report to the Office of Financial Management today on which state facilities could be closed or consolidated. The Legislature directed OFM in the state operating budget (House Bill 1244) to hire a contractor to provide recommendations for closing or consolidating institutions in the Department of Corrections, and in the Department of Social and Health Services’ Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration and Division of Developmental Disabilities programs.

The legislation requires the report to recommend reducing 1,580 beds in DOC, 235 beds in JRA and 250 beds in DDD. These reductions were to consider capital costs, economic impacts on communities, impacts on facility staff, projected savings and availability of alternative services for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Savings were assumed in the 2009–11 budget of $12 million for DOC and $12 million for JRA for closures. No savings were included in the budget for residential habilitation center beds in DDD.

The consultant’s draft report recommendations are as follows:

Department of Corrections

 Close the old main institution (the original prison behind the concrete walls built in the late 1800s, but not any of the additions, including North Close, the intensive management unit, the minimum-security unit and administration buildings) at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Total beds reduced in this option is 1,653, which includes the closure of Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima and half of Larch Corrections Center in Yacolt. Three close/medium custody units at the Penitentiary could be closed if changes are made to state sentencing policy.
OR
 Downsize McNeil Island to a minimum-security facility. Total beds reduced in this option is 1,618, which includes the closure of Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima. All of Larch Corrections Center in Yacolt and two close/medium custody units at the Penitentiary could be closed if changes are made to state sentencing policy.
If $41 million in capital funding is appropriated to build a medium-security unit and a close-custody unit, and to expand the kitchen, all at the Penitentiary, then the consultant’s recommendation is to choose the option to close the old main institution at the Penitentiary.
The 100 elderly, medically fragile offenders at Ahtanum View would transfer to a minimum-security unit at the Monroe Corrections Complex.
Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration

 Close Maple Lane School in Rochester, which would result in the proviso-mandated reduction of 235 beds.

Developmental Disabilities Division (residential rehabilitation centers)

 Close all beds for intermediate-care facilities at all facilities over an eight-year period.
 Close, in phases, Francis Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton by 2013.
 Close, in phases, Rainier School in Buckley by 2017.
 Keep open Fircrest, Lakeland Village and Yakima Valley with a small number of skilled nursing facility beds.

The budget proviso requiring the study did not identify a savings target for the 250-bed reduction in the residential habilitation centers, which would be achieved by 2013. The consultant’s recommendations would cost the state in the first year of implementation before savings begin.

Residents from the closed facilities would be moved into either smaller state-run facilities or private community-care settings. The aim of the recommendation, though not required in the budget proviso, is to close all residential habilitation centers within an eight-year period, except for the skilled nursing facility beds.

Fiscal analysis for the recommendations by the consultant has not been completed, but will be available by Nov. 1.
The initial report is posted in three parts, one for each subject area, on OFM’s Web site at http://www.ofm.wa.gov/ . Fiscal analysis will be posted as it becomes available. Comments on each part of the draft report may be made through the Web site through Oct. 21. The final report is due to the governor and Legislature Nov. 1.
Christopher Murray & Associates of Olympia was selected as the primary contractor following a competitive bidding process conducted in the spring. The contract totaled $463,000; OFM was appropriated $500,000 to contract for the study.

AUTISM AWARENESS RALLY

AUTISM AWARENESS RALLY
Sponsored by the Autism Society of Washington
Wednesday, Jan 20, ‘10
11:30 a.m.
Capitol Rotunda

Autism is the fastest growing disability in children in the world. It is now known that 1 in 150 will be diagnosed with autism. Early diagnosis and treatment is the best hope for those affected by autism. However, particularly in Washington State, professionals who provide diagnosis have waiting lists months long, and once diagnosed, services and intervention support are hard to find. Come to the Awareness Rally in Olympia… Bring your children affected by autism or Asperger and share your story with your Legislator…..

To find out more information about the Autism Rally in Olympia, call Patty Gee, ASW Executive Director, at 888-ASW 4 YOU, or email info@autismsocietyofwa.org
www.autismsocietyofwa.org


Mailing Address:
Autism Society of Washington
1101 Eastside St SE Suite B
Olympia WA 98501

Initiative 1033 will hurt kids

When you open your ballot this fall, you'll be asked to vote on Tim Eyman's latest bad idea: Statewide Initiative 1033. You may find yourself tempted to check the yes box - the way it's written it looks enticing. But I-1033 is a very bad idea, such a bad idea that we at the Children's Alliance have joined a broad coalition to fight and defeat it.

If passed, initiative 1033 will hurt kids in Washington State for years to come.

This year Washington faced a devastating budget deficit in the middle of a terrible recession. Right now across the state, teachers are getting laid off, soaring numbers of adults are losing health insurance, and little kids are waiting for early learning programs while their preschool years pass them by. If I-1033 passes this slashed budget will be locked in as the baseline, and force future cuts.

I-1033 limits the growth in revenue each year for state, county, and city general funds. It sets an arbitrary formula based on the cost of inflation plus population growth. It will leave no room to cover unanticipated costs like natural disasters. You can read great coverage of the damaging potential of I-1033 on Schmudget, the blog of the Washington Budget and Policy Center.

The most vulnerable people will suffer the most if I-1033 passes, but everyone will feel the pain. Just read the box to the right to learn a little of what happened when a similar initiative passed in Colorado.

We're all counting on our state climbing out of this recession. If I-1033 passes, we'll have a much, much, steeper climb. The worst of times in Washington would become the best that we can hope for, and kids will suffer.

Together we can and we will defeat I-1033. Here's what you can do.

1.
Send this message to 10 people you know. Recent polls show that most people don't know much about Initiative 1033, but that when they hear that it's sponsored by Tim Eyman, and learn how it will affect education, health care and the state budget, they decide to vote no.

2.
Sign the pledge to vote no at the No on Initiative 1033 website.

3.
Vote no on I-1033 in the November election.

You can make the difference in this campaign. Please share this message today. Thank you for speaking up for kids.

Sincerely,

Jon Gould, Deputy Director
800.854.KIDS x19



Dear Jamie,

Initiative 1033 is a proven failure. A similar initiative passed in Colorado in 1992. Here's what happened:

* Funding for K-12 education plummeted, dropping Colorado to 49th in the nation in education funding.

* The proportion of low-income children who lack health insurance in Colorado doubled, as it declined nationwide.

* At one point Colorado had to suspend the requirement
that children had to be fully immunized before enrolling in school, because there were not enough state funds to buy vaccine.

The situation was so bad that in 2005 voters put the law on hold so their state could recover. Dozens of other states have defeated similar initiatives at the ballot - because it's a bad idea. Learn more.

Second Podcast in "Guardianships & Alternatives to Guardianship" Series

Second Podcast in "Guardianships & Alternatives to Guardianship" Series

Today the Informing Families Building Trust is releasing the second in its three-part series on Guardianship and Alternatives to Guardianship.

Guardianship is an important issue that needs to be addressed, but often families assume (incorrectly) that total guardianship is their only available option.

This segment of the series provides more information about the many options to full guardianship that individuals and families may want to consider instead of total guardianship.

The third segment in this series will focus on the guardianship process.

If you missed the first part in the series, you can still view it from our website or go directly to the videos at YouTube.

Washington’s $9 billion balancing act

Washington’s $9 billion balancing act

How the Legislature closed a historic budget shortfall—without raising taxes

As vice chairman of the budget writing Ways and Means Committee, I had the dubious honor this session of playing the point for the Senate in the Legislature’s efforts to write a new, two-year operating budget. It amounted to being awarded a front row seat to a game with no winners.

Before it was over we found ourselves plugging a void in our state budget larger than any the state has seen since at least the Great Depression. We did so in large part by cutting government services deeper than any of us wanted to. And, defying past practices during such downturns, we balanced the budget without raising taxes.

This is the story of how we got into this mess and

how we started to pull ourselves out of it.

An economic storm blows in

Some will argue the investments we’ve made in recent years to bolster early learning, support the beginnings of all-day kindergarten and provide health insurance for poor children drove our budget shortfall. But the record shows something far different.

Thanks in part to a prolonged housing boom, Washington’s economy outlasted much of the rest of the country allowing the state to enjoy healthy budget surpluses well into 2008. But the economic storm that would ultimately shower red ink across 45 other states finally began creeping across our borders.

Credit markets froze nationally. Consumer spending slowed to a crawl. Unemployment began to creep up, then leap up. Home foreclosures climbed to historic highs.

The drop in consumer spending proved particularly damaging in Washington, a state that derives a little more than half (52%) its revenue from the retail sales tax. In September, the state’s forecast of anticipated tax collections plummeted by more than $500 million. In November it fell again — this time by a whopping $1.9 billion.

At the same time, demand for state services was climbing. In December more than 90,000 Washington residents applied for unemployment benefits, an all time record.

That month the governor unveiled a cuts-laden budget proposal to close what was then a $6.1 billion budget shortfall. In time, these would come to be referred to as the good old days.

Legislature convenes dreary session

There was nothing happy about the new year that dawned for lawmakers when the Legislature convened its 105 day session on Jan. 12. We were acutely aware that many tough decisions lie ahead, that many of us would have to support tearing down a standard of service that we’d spent legislative careers building. But the worst was yet to come.

I immediately began meeting three nights a week with a small group of select budget staffers and, sometimes, a fellow senator or two to pour over the budget. After a full day of legislative meetings, hearings and floor sessions we’d retreat to a conference room on the third floor of the Senate office building for three hours or more. At first we reviewed each functional area of the budget in detail. Later we graduated to deciding upon actual cuts.

On Feb. 13, just one month and one day after the Legislature convened, the Senate approved a series of administrative cuts to come up with our first $735 million in savings.

When it was sent to the governor’s desk five days later it was the earliest any Washington Legislature had approved steep budget cuts in modern history.

It was a good thing, too, because a month later a new forecast of tax collections added another $2.9 billion to our budget shortfall, pushing it to a previously unthinkable $9 billion, or about a quarter of our operating budget. Incredibly, in a span of just four months, $4.8 billion in anticipated tax revenue had evaporated into thin air, burned off by a flaming recession.

This proved particularly challenging for myself and budget writers in the House because close to half our budget was either legally or practically off limits for cuts. About 7 percent of our operating budget is dedicated to paying off construction debt for university buildings, schools, prisons and facilities at other state institutions. Those payments can’t be skipped.

Also untouchable was funding to support core education programs protected by our state constitution. And there was funding for other unprotected education programs and some medical programs that draw federal matching dollars that no one was eager to cut.

This would mean that what was left of the budget would have to shoulder a massive burden.

Solving the problem

To our great fortune, the Obama administration stepped up and provided $3 billion in stimulus dollars that greatly helped mitigate the cuts we had to make to state services. The budget we sent to the governor’s desk also assumed $1.5 billion in use of reserves and fund shifts — most notably one from our state’s construction budget that left us with fewer construction projects funded for the next two years.

But by far the single largest component to our budget balancing strategy was $4.3 billion in deep cuts to valued government services. Individual cuts are far too numerous to list. In the health care and mental health component of our budget alone there were 39 cuts of at least $1 million. But consider some of our biggest cuts.

• As many as 8,000 public employees, including some teachers, will lose their jobs. Management employees will have their salaries frozen and $449 million was saved by reducing pension contributions.

• Suspending two voter approved initiatives to reduce class sizes and provide teachers with a cost-of-living pay raise saved almost $1 billion.

• Some $557 million was saved by slashing state college and university budgets by 17 percent. Some of that will be made up with tuition increases ranging from 7 percent at community colleges to 14 percent at Washington State University and the University of Washington in each of the next two years. But the cuts required will eliminate 9,000 enrollment slots statewide from our colleges and universities.

• More than $255 million was saved by removing subsidized health insurance for 40,000 among the working poor. To save hundreds of millions more we slashed funding for hospitals, nursing homes and local health districts and assistance to those who are unemployable due to a physical or mental disability.

Again, these are just a sampling of some of the biggest cuts. In truth, virtually every functional area of state government took a hit.

But as much as there is to dislike about this budget, I can say that our approach was judicious and forward thinking.

We focused on saving prevention programs, such as some health care programs, that can head off higher costs in an emergency room at a later date.

We also favored programs that appear to be most sustainable well into the future. We maintained a safety net, albeit a smaller one, to provide for our most vulnerable citizens. And we left a healthy budget reserve — about $750 million — to help us weather any aftershocks of the economic earthquake that has rattled our state and nation.

Let’s hope our economy continues to improve, so that we never have to make this

level of cuts to such core, vital services again.

NCD wants your input

NCD Wants Input on Issues Affecting Lives of People with Disabilities

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is gathering public input for a study of emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of people with disabilities. Information gathered will be used in the development of NCD's next annual progress report to the President and Congress, National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, which is required by Section 401(b) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Please send your input by September 15, 2009. Comments can be emailed to ncd@ncd.gov. Type "Emerging Trends" in the subject line. This link opens a Word document.

The National Council on Disability recently released a 500 page report titled “Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities.” The report contains an Executive Summary and a Summary of Key Findings. The report was submitted to the President and can be found here