Debra Dowds
Executive Director

Lawmakers will be drifting in and out of Tallahassee over the next few months for interim committee meetings before the 2010 Legislative Session begin on March 2. The main topic of conversation will doubtless be how to plug the projected $2.6 million dollar hole in the state budget. Make no mistake, programs will be cut – we just don’t know yet how bad it will be for persons with disabilities.

In preparation for what will be a difficult session, the Council developed seven legislative priorities to guide lawmakers in making funding decisions. Perhaps the most important one - which was also a priority last year – is a request to lawmakers to find new revenue sources to fund social service and education programs. In today’s uncertain times, Florida’s most vulnerable families are at greater risk of going into a crisis situation. Revenue losses and a slowing economy are leaving the Sunshine State’s most vulnerable citizens without a safety net.

Individuals with developmental disabilities have already sustained extensive service reductions and service eliminations as a result of budget cuts in 2007 and 2008, and 19,000 individuals with developmental disabilities are currently waiting for services. There ARE alternatives to simply reducing what remains of our families’ services. Florida’s leaders must consider new ideas for generating revenue to protect Florida’s quality of life, business climate and those most vulnerable.

We are urging Florida’s elected officials to look for new ideas and find cost-effective solutions, such as approving alternative sources of revenue, including elimination of certain tax exemptions and closing tax breaks, as realistic methods for funding human services and education.

Eliminating the Waitlist is another of our priorities. Due to population growth and other factors, the state continues to have a waiting list that leaves some individuals waiting for extended periods with little or no services. If nothing more is done to respond to the growing unmet needs within the developmental disabilities service system, these numbers will grow larger due to the expected growth in the state population and inescapable demographics of an aging population that will accelerate demand over the next several years. The Council wants to see individuals with developmental disabilities who are on the waitlist receive the services they need.

 

The Council is also asking lawmakers and the Governor to not reduce the funding for community services for people with developmental disabilities; to develop a process for individual budgeting which will allow individuals with developmental disabilities to make independent decisions about what they need to live independently.

Our next priority is to adequately fund the Florida Early Steps System, which ensures that infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities, developmental delays, and their families achieve their full potential in the context of everyday relationships, activities, and places.

Funding per child is at a critical level that has forced many providers to withdraw participation or offer services that are inadequate in scope and frequency, therefore minimizing the impact that these services can provide. Without help from the Federal Economic Stimulus Package, Early Steps would not have been able to meet their Federal Match requirement (22%) and would not have been able to continue helping children during their critically important first three years.

The Council strongly supports the development and implementation of statutory authority that will provide for the safety of students with developmental disabilities while simultaneously offering school personnel clear and unambiguous regulations on the use of restraint and seclusion.

Creating a Medicaid Buy-In Program would allow people with disabilities on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) to go back to work without fear of losing their Medicaid, as long as they share in paying for their Medicaid services. Current state policy encourages persons with various disabilities to stay home and have taxpayers support their living expenses instead of allowing these individuals to work and decrease their dependence on government support. The proposed Medicaid Buy-In program would continue to offer Medicaid coverage to people with disabilities who are working. Once they enrolled in the program they would have the opportunity to earn more and save more than the allowable limits for regular Medicaid and still retain their health care coverage through the state’s Medicaid Program.

The Council supports increasing funding for the Transportation Disadvantaged program, improving the availability of reliable, affordable, dependable quality transportation for persons with disabilities, and creating more transportation options. These options ideally include provisions that optimize an individual’s choice of provider and route, such as a voucher system that could reimburse any available provider.

We need your help in 2010 to make sure there are no cuts to programs serving persons with developmental disabilities. If you would like to find out how you can help, or if you would like copies of Council’s 2010 Legislative Priorities, please contact me at debrad@fddc.org.