Action Alert!! Legislative Report #7 & CARD Funding Crisis

[Guest guest]

Dear Advocates,

We are in the home stretch and need you to act again. We need the same level of enthusiasm we had during the first two weeks of April. Your calls, emails and rallies caused the Governor and legislature to act and reverse the APD cuts for this year. If the legislature doesn't fully fund APD in the budget, we will be in the same boat starting in July.

Please don't forget to thank the Governor for rescinding the APD cuts. You need to thank him and also stress the need for the legislature to fully fund APD for next year, so we don't end up in the same situation. Phone numbers and email addresses are below.

VERY IMPORTANT! You also need to contact the leadership and stress the need to hold the CARD Centers harmless. The House currently has a 25% cut and the Senate over 10%. This is on top of cuts the past couple years. CARD provides invaluable services to families and these additional cuts will be devastating. The CARD Centers constituency has increased 70% in the past 5 years (from 14,000 to over 24,000) and funding has decreased by 22% over that same period. Make it personal and tell how CARD has helped your family. If you don't do this, CARD will most definitely have to cut services.

Regards,

Ven Sequenzia

President

Autism Society of America

State of Florida Chapter

Developmental Disabilities

Legislative Session Report #7

By Kingsley Ross

k.ross@...

Summary: There was little activity in Week 7 of this year’s legislative session as it relates to people with developmental disabilities (DD). The Senate was in recess and the House and Senate leadership could not reach an agreement on allocations for the Appropriation act so conference did not begin.

Action during week 7: The House met during week 7 but there was no significant action as it related to services for people with DD. The Senate did not meet.

The appropriations conference committees were not named last week and the conference process continues to be temporarily halted. Negotiations between the two chambers broke down over allocations. House Speaker Cannon stated that it may be difficult for the Legislature to complete its work on time.

Anticipated Action in Week 8: Both the House and Senate will be back in Tallahassee on Monday, April 25. Conference members should be named and the process of reconciling difference should begin.

Action Needed. First, thank the Governor for rescinding the emergency rule. To date no one has written or called thanking him for what he did. No matter how you look at it, reversing his position midmonth and working out a solution for the rest of this year was extraordinary and he needs to know we do more than just complain.

Gov. Rick ’s contact info is:

Office

Fax

rick.scott@...

Second, contact the chairs of Appropriation committees listed below. Thank them for helping to solve this year’s deficit and ask them to fully fund the Agency for Persons with Disabilities waiver so we can avoid another year of deficits and service reductions.

Rep. Grimsley

House Appropriations Committee Chair

denise.grimsley@...

Rep. Matt Hudson

House Health Care Approp. Chair

matt.hudson@...

Sen. J D

Senate Budget Committee Chair

alexander.jd.web@...

Sen. Joe Negron

Sen. Health & Human Services Subcommittee Chair

negron.joe.web@...

Background Analysis: The reason for the lack of agreement on allocations remains obscure. Press reports indicate it has to do with how much money is going to be spent on education and health and human services. Rumors point to more personal political agendas. Regardless, time is running out for the legislature to finish on time. It can still be done at this point but the process will be compressed and there will be less time to intervene.

The Governor’s office has circulated proviso language that would require the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to reduce the value of waiver cost plans to at least 95% of the amount that is appropriated by an across the board reduction. At this time cost plans total $1.13 billion according to the Governor’s office and this year’s initial appropriation was $805 million. Next fiscal year’s appropriation may be more or less than this amount depending on conference deliberations. APD estimates that people are spending an average of 85% of their cost plans. If this number is correct then the cost of services that are being used totals about $960 million per year.

While some people do not fully utilize all of the services authorized in their cost plans, some do - especially people who no longer live with their parents. An across the board reduction would therefore have an uneven impact on people. Advocates have worked out alternative proviso language that would reduce cost plans in proportion to what people with DD are spending on their services. If, however, the amount of funds that are appropriated is substantially less than the $960 million, either version of the proviso could result in another round of deep cuts. Neither the House nor the Senate appropriation acts include waiver funding near that amount.

A compressed conference process will make it more difficult to intervene because there will be less transparency and less time for constituents to react. The best strategy at this point is to begin now asking for the waiver to be fully funded. We need at least as much of an effort as we had when the Governor cut service rates on April 1.