Take Action
Gina Jenning’s take on things…..You just got to stay informed about what is going on legislatively, in the last 2 years there have been major cuts to services for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The Lanterman Act (the law that established California’s responsibilities to individuals with developmental disabilities) has been just hammered and my fear is that it will continued to be hammered at until there is very little left.
The Lanterman Act was the result of the ongoing and relentless advocacy efforts of parents who wanted to ensure that their sons and daughters have the services and supports to live as independently and productively as possible in their own communities. Advocates in the field, have done that best to keep this system together but unless parents and individuals with developmental disabilities continue to fight (aka advocate), my fear is that this historically underfunded system will crash!
Last week a law suit was filed against California State because our State is violating federal law by failing to adequately fund services needed by individuals with developmental disabilities, leaving 245,000 Californians with developmental disabilities at serious risk.
Speak up or get hammered and has been our motto here at Full Circle. We are in contact with our local legislators and we make it a priority to stay informed both on a Statewide and on the Federal levels. Your voices are needed too, let your local legislator know how continued cuts will and have impacted your lives or the life of your loved one.
Become involved now! Here are a few tips that will help you.
- Know what district you live in and the contact information of your local legislator.
- Each legislator from Assembly to US Senate has a district office. Get to know staff at your district office, their job is to know and understand the issues that are important to their legislator’s constituents.
- Get to know your legislator’s bio. An easy way to do so is to check out their webpage.This will help you become more comfortable with them. Legislators sincerely want to know and understand their needs of their constituents. If they don’t know about the issues they can’t help.
- Sign-up to receive e-mails from your district legislators.
Send a letter, e-mail or make a phone call to your local Assembly member and Senator today. Here are a few things you could mention.
- Thank them for all their work last year as you understand that it must have been a difficult year!
- That you understand that our State’s financial issues are real and relevant.
- Let them know you are concerned about the upcoming year as (your son/daughter or yourself) have a developmental disability and you are concerned that more cuts will devastate the system.
- That 4.25% cut over the last year was real and savings to the state was realized as soon as the cut was enacted. It was not money that moved from one place to another.
- Service providers are doing their best to ensure services continue but their efforts can’t last forever. The cost of providing services continues to rise and service rates continue to be cut. It is not hard to see what the outcome of that will be. The services will close jobs will be lost.
- Your feelings about the Law suit that was filed.
Links the Assembly and Senate
It is so easy; your local legislators want to hear from you! Seriously!!
For more info on the Lanterman Act go tohttp://www.dds.ca.gov/Statutes/Statutes_Home.cfm
More info on the law suit
For Immediate Release:
September 28, 2011
State Budget Cuts Endanger Californians with Developmental Disabilities
Advocates Sue State of California Seeking to Protect People at Risk
(Sacramento, CA) – Advocates for Californians with developmental disabilities filed a lawsuit against the State of California Wednesday alleging the State is violating federal law by failing to adequately fund services needed by individuals with developmental disabilities. The suit illustrates how the State has abandoned people with developmental disabilities and exposed them to health and safety risks by failing to provide reasonable support services. A decade of rate freezes, program closures and devastating budget cuts have destroyed many community-based services, leaving 245,000 Californians with developmental disabilities at serious risk.
“As California taxpayers, we fully appreciate the State’s need to reduce costs, but we cannot allow the State to endanger its citizens and risk their basic civil rights,” said Tony Anderson, Executive Director, The Arc California.
“It’s illegal to slash basic support services that allow Californians with developmental disabilities to live safely in their communities,” Anderson continued. “These basic civil rights cannot be compromised or bargained away as part of a budget deal. The State of California must follow the law and honor its commitment to serve and protect the rights of Californians with developmental disabilities.”
The Arc California and UCP of San Diego filed the lawsuit against the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) and the Department of Health Care Services. The suit, filed in federal court, outlines how California’s failure to fund programs has devastated community service providers, whose reimbursement rates have been frozen since 2003. Many community providers have been forced to limit services or close completely. In some cases, staffing levels are dangerously low, jeopardizing care.
This crisis was predicted by the State’s own experts more than a decade ago. That’s when a report prepared by the Department of Developmental Services warned the State that its lack of reasonable funding would adversely affect tens of thousands of disabled individuals and place them at risk of harm.
“Despite repeated warnings from top state experts and the State Auditor General, California continued to withhold necessary funding and push these programs to the brink of collapse,” said Dave Carucci, Executive Director UCP San Diego.
“It’s not right, fair or legal and must be stopped, Carucci added. “The State’s neglect has left Californians with developmental disabilities at great risk, their health and safety is in jeopardy. All we are asking is that California comply with both state and federal law to ensure the basic needs of these individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are met.”
The federal lawsuit accuses the State of violating federal law, specifically the Federal Home and Community Based Service Providers (HCBS) waiver program, by reducing rates and reimbursements without federal approval, and without considering impacts on federally required safeguards.
The suit also accuses the State of violating California’s landmark Lanterman Act, which was signed by former Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1969. That groundbreaking statute guarantees individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities the right to obtain the support services necessary to live as independently as possible in their own communities. Prior to the Lanterman Act, people with developmental disabilities were confined to state-run institutions, where they were warehoused in overcrowded facilities far from their families.
However, after more than a decade of funding neglect, including another $174 Million funding cut this summer, support programs that allow Californians with developmental disabilities to live in their communities are shutting down, putting many in jeopardy. If Californians with developmental disabilities do not receive the community-based support they need and deserve, thousands may end up being shipped to state-run institutions where the cost to taxpayers soars. Community-based services cost a fraction of the $340,000 expense per person in State institutions.
This lawsuit asks the Court to enforce laws which require the State to provide the necessary funding to ensure adequate care.