Some of you might already know that the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities was the only agency that received an increase in the amended 2010 and 2011 proposed budgets from the Governor, while most agencies received deep cuts. This is due to a federal investigation that is going on by the Department of Justice concerning Georgia's management of our mental health and DD systems. From Perdue,the Behavioral Health and DD budget received a $20M increase for 2010, and it is proposed that they receive about $50M for 2011. From the information that we have so far, the money will go to staffing, training, and technology for our state hospitals in order to bring them into compliance. We are hearing that heavy emphasis is being made on fixing the hospital system with very little being said about community based services. At this point, 150 Money Follows the Person slots have been allocated in the proposed budget for people who have DD. These slots would support individuals transitioning from institutions into the community. The amended 2010 budget passed out of the House last week and is headed to the Senate this week. One of the House budget amendments for DD was a restoration of funds to the Marcus Center.
We are also tracking Senate Bill 22 which should make it into Senate Rules this week. Senate Bill 22 would call for a coordinating council of all state agencies that provide transportation to individuals who are aging, have disabilities, or are mental health consumers. We hope that this coordination would result in leveraging their efforts for greater efficiency. AADD provided testimony at a Senate subcommittee in support of the bill.
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