Sponsored by the wonderful and talented September Hargrove comes another update put out by the California SCDD with regard to how it will most specifically affect the council.  Be aware there are other cuts looming in the process that may not directly affect the council, rather other agencies.

State Council Legislative Update - 2008-12-19

Democratic Budget - Darrell Steinberg - 2008-12-17

In an effort to persuade the Governor and legislators to limit the impact of budget cuts and revenue increases against people with disabilities.  As funding gets cut on all the essential services allowing people to live independently, potential elimination of cost of living increases with the addition of new tax increases, the budget cuts disproportionately affect those with disabilities.  The California SCDD has made its position clear in saying that in past fiscal years, it is always health and human services that sustains the disproportionate amount of cuts compared to other services.

Attached to this post are PDF copies of letters delivered to legislators and the Governor:

• California SCDD Letter to the Governor Opposing Proposed Budget Cuts for Fiscal Year 2008-2009
• California SCDD Letter to Top Legislators Opposing Proposed Budget Cuts
• California SCDD Proposed Budget Cuts Talking Points
• California SCDD Temporary Senate Roster - 2008-12-01

California State Budget

Yesterday the Legislature failed to pass the Democrat budget-balancing plan. This Democratic proposal called for $8.1 billion in cuts and $8.1 billion in new revenues over the next 19 months.

AB 7xxxx, the Spending Reduction Bill, would have made $600 million in cuts to SSI/SSP over the next two years by eliminating cost-of-living increases. This bill was defeated in the Assembly 40 to 30.

AB 6xxxx, the Revenue Bill, would have raised $8.1 billion in new revenues by reinstating the vehicle license fee to the level it was at when Governor Gray Davis was in office and temporarily freezing the state’s income tax tables to last year’s rates. This bill was rejected by the Assembly 41 to 31.

The Senate never took the bills up for a vote, but Senate Republicans are opposed to any increases in taxes.

The Legislative session officially ends on Sunday. On Monday, December 1, 2008 the newly elected and re-elected members of the Legislature will be sworn in. It is expected that the Governor will call the new Legislature into another special session.

Earlier today the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities released their legislative update pertaining to the end of the California legislative session. NorCal Disability would like to thank the State Council and more specifically their legislative analyst for releasing an update of the Council’s legislative endeavors.

Click the “More…” link to read the rest of the article.

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The California State Council on Developmental Disabilities recently put out by a legislative update for the bills sponsored by the Council throughout the 2008 session.

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Good News on our Employment Bill, AB 2424. It passed out of the Senate Human Services Committee yesterday 4-0. Senator Alquist, the Chair of the Committee; expressed interest in being a principal co-author on the Senate side. Ted Martens and Lisa Cooley provided excellent testimony from the Council.

The bill now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee which will likely occur next month. That will be our last legislative hurdle, but a big one. The latest staff analysis for the Senate Human Services Committee indicated the cost of the bill is $2 million to regional centers (additional mandates, workload, etc) and $100,000 to the DDS. We will likely have to scale back the bill before it goes to Senate Appropriations. As most of you know, the bill now contains the following:

1. Employment First Policy
2. IPP Changes
3. Stakeholder group convened by the Council; and
4. A Consumer Advisory Group to the Council

On a related matter; a few of us met with the First Lady’s Office to discuss an Employment Initiative that the First Lady and Governor are planning to roll out in November asking the public and private sector to hire 20,000 people with developmental disabilities in California. More details to follow.

Thanks for all of your great support on AB 2424. While it has been scaled back to deal with the state budget realities, it is still an important piece of legislation that will move our system forward.

There’s not much more to this post than to release the information:

Assembly Bill 2424 - Latest, Greatest Fact Sheet - 2008-06-09

Legislative Budget Actions - June 2008

State Council on Developmental Disabilities - Legislative Action and Status - 2008-06-08

REQUEST FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE to Avoid Federal Narrowing of Class Action Rights of People with Developmental Disabilities and Other Issues - Comments need to be Filed by June 9, 2008.

New rules could create barriers for Protection and Advocacy’s ability to represent people with Developmental Disabilities and distract from meaningful advocacy work.

The federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Developmental Disabilities Act of 2000. There are issues raised in this proposed rule that could have an extremely negative impact on the ability of the three DD entities - State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, Protection and Advocacy programs, and University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities - to carry out their statutorily mandated roles. In addition, ADD requests comments on the issues of 1) class actions and 2) educating policy makers and may base further regulations on these comments.

Send your letter to ADD by June 9th (electronic submission is possible) in order to help us ward off any negative regulations. It is important that ADD receive as many comments as possible from advocates and organizations who collaborate with community collaborators to assure that negative implications are not enshrined in Federal regulations.

Electronically via the Internet at: http://www.regulations.acf.hhs.gov. Electronic comments must include the full name, address, and organizational affiliation (if any) of the commenter.

Note: Once clicking on the above link, you must then click on Comment on a Regulation.

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Redwood Coast Regional Center partnered with the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and Area Board 1 on Developmental Disabilities are proud to present a special event on Emergency Preparedness.

The event has lined up Ana Marie Jones, the executive director of CARD.

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Council Members, Staff, and other Friends!

We are sending you some great materials on AB 2424 to use in your communities to help spread the word on AB 2424. Many thanks to Mark Starford and Charlene Jones for producing the AB 2424 Adaptation as well as a Power Point that you can show to groups you are affiliated with across the state.

Here is an update on AB 2424:

The bill is set for a first hearing in the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, April 2, 2008. The hearing is scheduled for 1:30pm and will be at the Capitol in Room 126.

If the bill passes out of the Assembly Education Committee, it will next be heard in the Assembly Human Services Committee Chaired by Assemblyman Beall on April 15th. We are not sure yet the time and room location but will send that out as soon as we hear.

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