Action Alerts   

May 19, 2010

 

URGENT ACTION ALERT!!!

 

Assembly/Senate Schedule Hearings on Governor’s May Revise


   We have a short time to do some urgent work!

 

Both the Assembly Budget Sub-Committee #1 and the Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Sub-Committee #3 have scheduled hearings THIS WEEK! on various issues relating to DDS.

 

The first hearing in the Assembly is tomorrow, THURSDAY, MAY 20th sometime after 11 am in Room 4202 of the Capitol.  The Senate hearing is scheduled for the following day, FRIDAY, MAY 21st sometime after 9:30 in Room 4203 of the Capitol.

 

The agenda for the DDS portion of the Assembly hearing includes the issue relating to a proposal for an additional 1.25% cut in payments to virtually all programs (except supported employment) and regional center operations. We don’t yet have this much detail on the Senate hearing.

 

CDSA OPPOSES this additional cut to vital service funding! But as is the case with virtually every issue in such difficult fiscal times, we do not believe it possible to simply avoid reductions; we must have alternatives!

Our proposal, with which we are joined by several other statewide organizations, is as follows:

 

  1. Oppose a 1.25% payment reduction on both the POS and regional center operations budgets. (In order to garner $25 million in General Fund Savings, the cut would have to be nearly $42 million in total funds!)

    2.  

  2. Redirect $25 million (and only $25 million!) of the $36 million allocation to regional center operations for a “prevention program”, actually a case management review program, for early start infants denied access to actual services.

    3.  

  3. Actual expenditures to meet the needs of this new program are not likely to exceed $5 million. A far better use of these funds would be to avoid additional cuts to services already devastated by more than $500 million GF cuts in the last two years!

 

{See below for more detailed description of the issue}

 

URGENT ACTION REQUEST!

 

  1. FAX a letter to each Member of the Assembly and Senate Budget Sub-committees! Assembly first! Their hearing is tomorrow morning! Addresses/FAX numbers are posted below

    2.  

  1. If you are near to Sacramento, plan to bring people to these hearings to oppose additional cuts to services! Some services have already been hard hit! No one should feel secure if additional cuts are made – many programs at close to the tipping point!

 

I wish we could give all of you more forward notice. But we are subject to the Legislative process and schedule and we are letting you know as soon as we know!

Thanks as always for what you have always done to help make a difference here!

 

 

SAMPLE LETTER

May 19, 2010

 

TO:     Members, Assembly Budget Sub-Committee #1
            Members, Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Sub-Committee #3
            (Add YOUR Assembly Member and YOUR Senator!)

 

RE:      OPPOSE ADDITIONAL BUDGET CUTS TO SERVICES; Support our reasonalbe alternative!
            Department of Developmental Services; Budget Item 4300

 

I am {name} and am (a consumer, family member, direct care staff, executive, board member, business partner, interested community member, etc!) who is very concerned about proposed cuts to services for people with developmental disabilities.

 

In the last two years, our services have been cut more than $500 milllion in State funds alone! Many of our services have been reduced and some have been eliminated! We cannot suffer yet another cut!

The Department of Developmental Services is propsing such a cut. We Oppose this proposal which will take another $42 million away from direct services!

 

Instead, we support a proposal by a coalition of respected statewide organizations to take funds from another DDS-funded program – an overfunded case management “prevention program” – and use the excess funds to eliminate the needs for further cuts.

 

Please support this alternative. Protect Services for people with disabilities. Cut paper and process, not people!

 

If you have any questions, please call me or call one of our representatives in Sacramento!

 

Sincerely,

 

Signature

Title

 

 

 

MORE DETAILS ON THE PREVENTION PROGRAM. {SEE MAY 17TH STATUS BRIEF}

 

Clearly, the cost of saving $25 million in General Fund from the 1.25 percent rate reduction will cost providers and regional center operations $41.5 million – which includes the lost federal funds.

In addition to the cuts, there is also a continuing proposal to spend $36.3 million on a “prevention program” related to Early Start.

 

D. Prevention Program

$36,300,000

$36,300,000

$0

 

The explanation for this is important. You will recall that last year’s budget contained major cuts to early intervention services for babies 0-2 years of age. More than 17,000 families were made inelligible to receive services that have historically resulted in these at-risk children not needing ongoing services later in life.

 

The program was heavily general fund, therefore cuts to this area had a dramatic positive impact to the current year’s bottom line. We are concerned that long-term impacts from otherwise unnecessary services into the future, however, will prove these cuts to be penny-wise and pound foolish.

 

But the problem is actually larger than just the cuts.  These 17,000 at-risk infants would have had their services determined and coorindated by regional center case managers at a 45:1 ratio. The loss of 17,000 consumers would mean a need for over 370 fewer case managers. But that did not happen.

 

Instead, the Department created a new “prevention program”.  According to the description in the May Revision, “The Prevention Program focuses primarily on providing intake, assessment, case management, and referral to generic agencies for eligible children birth through 35 months”. {Page C-4}.

 

$7.2 million came from Regional Center operations. The remaining $29.1  of the total $36.3 million was transferred from POS funds to, in essence, regional center operations budgets under a restricted use category.

 

In essence, this level of funding would provide roughly $1,600 per baby for a program that, once a child is determined to be inelgible to receive services paid for by DDS, will be referred elsewhere and phone calls will be made to check up on the family every 6 months.

 

It is interesting to note that only about 3,000 familes have actually enrolled in the program – determining we believe that this service doesn’t have as much value to them as previously thought. Using our earlier math of $1,600 per baby, the cost to serve 3,000 children would be approximately $4.8 million. Yet the May Revision contains the full $36 million.

 

Also of interest is the fact that the 3% cut to regional center operations last year (the same level of cut experienced by the service providers) was valued at $15.7 million and the additional 1.25% cut would add an additional $6.6 million for a total 2010-11 cut of $22.3 million.