California Residents Receiving RC funding...Please read!

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

Our community is facing its most serious threat in many years.

Governor Brown's proposed budget cuts would gut the Lanterman Act's promise that

people with developmental disabilities will get the services and supports they

need to live full lives in the community.

If the cuts happen, you could lose all of your services. There is no way to know

until after they pass, if they do. This is serious.

The Arc and other disability organizations are fighting in the Capitol to

protect our community's services. To limit the damage, we need a strong show of

support from the community. That means you and the people you know throughout

the state.

I'll tell you more about the threat, but first, here's what I'm asking you to

do:

· Come to Sacramento on Thursday, February 3, and Thursday, February

10, the dates of the Legislature’s only public hearings on the developmental

services budget. We need to fill the hearing rooms with people who are ready to

tell the legislators what the real effect of the earlier cuts has been and what

the likely categorical reductions and service eliminations would mean to them

and the ones they love.

· Call your local state senator and assemblymember this week and give

them the same message.

The threat is caused by the state's massive budget shortfall, probably the worst

since the Great Depression. To balance the budget, Governor Brown has proposed

more than $12 billion in cuts and about the same amount in revenue increases by

continuing some existing taxes by five years.

In developmental services, that would mean cuts to services of more than three

quarters of a billion dollars -- real, new cuts, over and above continuing the

much smaller 2009 and 2010 cuts. The total cut this year would include the

federal matching funds we would lose as a result of the state fund cuts.

It's hard to grasp how much a cut that large would reduce the Lanterman Act

services, especially because the governor hasn't said exactly where the ax would

fall. The state could eliminate all the regional centers' operating budgets and

still not cut that much.

We do know that most of the cuts probably would come from imposing what are

called statewide " service standards. "

" Service standards " sounds good, doesn't it? But what it means is simply

eliminating the IPP team's ability to pick the services and supports that the

person with the disability needs, the key promise of the Lanterman Act. The 2009

caps on respite care and Early Start are the most recent examples of " service

standards. "

Under the Lanterman Act, IPP teams write plans to reflect the specific needs of

individuals, but with the cuts being proposed this process would certainly be

harmed dramatically. Let the policymakers know how the services and supports

benefit you and the real consequences to your life and the lives of your family

members.

Real life consequences to real life people throughout the state are the kinds of

things you should communicate to the legislative committees in Sacramento and to

your local state senator and assemblymember. Tell them the cut is just too big

to bear.

Here is the best information I have as of today on the committees' public

hearings:

· Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, 9:30 a.m.

or later, February 3, Room 4202, State Capitol, Sacramento.

· Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, 9:30 a.m. or

later, February 10, Room 4203, State Capitol, Sacramento.

And here's how to call your local state senator and assemblymember, if you

don’t know who they or how to call them:

* Click on The Arc’s Legislative Action Center:

http://capwiz.com/thearc/state/main/?state=CA & view=myofficials.

* Enter your ZIP code and click on “Goâ€

* Scroll down to “State Senators,†and click on it.

* Click on “contacts†and call your senator’s Sacramento office

(unless you know someone who works in the senator’s district office).

* Do the same with “State Representatives.â€

When you call, get the name of the person you’re talking to. Think of this as

the beginning of a relationship. Tell him or her why you care, and that Governor

Brown’s proposed cut in developmental services is just too big.

And I hope to see you in Sacramento next week and the week after.

Thank you for your advocacy.

P.S. Please forward this Action Alert to everyone you know. We need a very

strong show of support this time.