Governor Perdue Announces November Revenue Figures

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of November 2006 (FY07) totaled $1,278,047,000 compared to $1,208,629,000 for November 2005 (FY06), an increase of $69,418,000 or 5.7 percent. The percentage increase year-to-date for FY07 compared to FY06 is 5.6 percent.

Senate Republicans launch website for public comments

The Walker County Messenger reported today about a new website developed by Senate republicans to make it easier for the public to suggest ideas...

Republican leaders in the state Senate announced a new initiative called “Georgia Speaks” — a program and Web site that lets citizens present their ideas for new legislation. Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) and Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) made the announcement during a press conference at the State Capitol on Monday.

“We are looking to give our constituents more input into the legislative process,” Williams said. “We are looking for ideas that will adhere to Georgia’s conservative principals.”

Some of the criteria the Senators will use when deciding whether to consider the potential legislation will include:

Will it reduce the size of government?
Will it strengthen our traditional family structure?
Will it reduce the tax burden for our citizens?
Will it increase personal responsibility?

“We want to see more Georgians get involved in the political process and share their ideas with us,” Williams said. “We are here to serve them and we hope they will use GeorgiaSpeaks as another way to communicate with us.”

Ethics and Intellectual Disabilities

The Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown was created with the support of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation. The Institute has worked for decades on Bioethics issues and has a strong interest in bioethics and people with intellectual disabilities. They have recently devoted a section of their website to such issues, including a periodic newsletter on Ethics and Intellectual Disabilities.

THE 2007 DISABILITY POLICY SEMINAR

SAVE THE DATE: MARCH 4 - 6

New Congress, New Opportunities, the theme for the 2007 Disability Policy Seminar, is a practical vision of the many new public policy opportunities for the millions of people with disabilities and their families nationwide once the 110th Congress commences. Everything from health care and family supports to civil rights and education could be on the table, and the disability community needs to be ready to press for a progressive disability policy agenda.

Democrats control the new Congress with only a slim majority, which will require working both sides of the aisle to achieve legislative successes. Bipartisanship, historically for the disability community, is a key ingredient to our successes on Capitol Hill. Together, The Arc of the United States, United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD), AAMR/AAIDD and National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) will look to our extensive grassroots networks to advocate in a bipartisan manner for national public policies promoting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in our society.

On Sunday, March 4, at 9:30 a.m., participants will begin their two-days of in-depth, intense public policy discussions/presentations that end on March
5 at 6:00 p.m. And, on March 6, we will take our unified message to Capitol Hill.

What will we be talking about at the Seminar and lobbying on Capitol Hill?
We expect the following public policy issues will take center stage:

Developmental Disabilities Act
Family Support
Americans with Disabilities Act
Long-term Services and Supports
Education
Employment
Health
Housing
Budget and Appropriations
Social Security
Capitol Hill staff and our nation's leading public policy experts, disability advocates and association leaders will be on hand to address these and other issues.

SEMINAR & HOTEL REGISTRATION
OPENS ON NOVEMBER 30
COMING SOON - REGISTRATION DETAILS AND DEADLINES

November 2006 Partners in Policymaking Updates

I hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving with family last weekend and are looking forward to the holiday season.

By now, you all should have received a phone call from two Partners alums, Susan Farner or Vickie Martin, to update your information and to ask you a few questions about your Partners training and your leadership development needs for the future. Thank you for taking their calls and sharing your advocacy experiences with them. The information you gave them has been put into the Partners database and is extremely valuable as we plan and assess the needs of Partner graduates and their level of advocacy after graduation.

In the surveys we have administered to graduates in the past year, education is one of the top priorities and areas of advocacy of Partners alumni. In response to that, we will be including more information on how to get involved in state level advocacy on education.
There will be stakeholder meetings around the state to get input on state regulations on special education. These meetings will be held during the months of December and January. If you attend, please send me an email and let me know what the experience was like. We will post it in a future blog.

To access the state regulations and dates, look for state rules on the DOE website.

Partner alumni are continuing to bring families out for Unlock’s “Conversations that Matter” with Dr. Steve Hall, director of the Office of DD. Attendance at each event has been excellent. Our next event is December 5 in Roswell from 6:30pm -8:30pm at the Teaching Museum. Contact Jennifer Carroll for more details or to volunteer.

Other dates include:
Macon on January 23 contact: Nalini Isaac
Savannah – February 20 contact: Mary Poncy
The Albany event is being rescheduled for February. contact Rosalyn Horne

Partners Postings:
Don Pollard is looking for interested athletes for power wheelchair soccer in the Conyers area.
Dot Jones is looking to start a networking/social group for all graduates in Athens and surrounding counties. Email rita@aadd.org if you want to contact Dot.

The January session at the Capitol is just around the corner!
Upcoming Advocacy Dates:
February 7th- Advocates Legislative Day at the Capitol. This is a new first time event for disability advocates. Contact Sarah Pike for details and to RSVP.
February 22nd – Disability Day at the Capitol. It is strongly suggested that you register early this year!

Panel Calls for Big Changes in Medicaid

The New York Times published this article on November 23rd about changes being discussed for Medicaid services for the elderly and people with disabilities. Only one person voted against it...

Gwendolyn G. Gillenwater, a commission member who is policy director of the American Association of People With Disabilities, an advocacy group, voted against the report. “People with disabilities have not had good experience with managed care,” Ms. Gillenwater said. “We need federal protections and safeguards. People with disabilities should at least have a choice of two managed care plans. And what are your choices if you opt out of managed care? The alternatives are getting more and more limited."

This debate is an important one as Georgia moves forward with additional funding for people with disabilities.

Moreover, it said states should be allowed to enroll some of the sickest Medicaid recipients, including nursing home residents and people with disabilities, in managed care plans. The panel said such plans “would provide a medical home and better coordinated care” for people entitled to both Medicaid and Medicare. Care is often fragmented now because Medicaid pays nursing homes while Medicare is the primary payer for doctors and hospitals, and in many cases “clinical data is not shared,” the panel said. People enrolled simultaneously in the two programs account for 13 percent of Medicaid recipients, but more than 40 percent of Medicaid costs. Medicaid, which is financed jointly by the federal government and the states, covers two-thirds of the nation’s 1.6 million nursing home residents.

The problem becomes when managed care means less care...

Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the Democrat in line to lead the Finance Committee, said many of the proposals would make it more difficult for “the most vulnerable Americans” to get comprehensive care. John C. Rother, policy director of AARP, the lobby for older Americans, said, “In some states, flexibility means cutting benefits.”

How do we offer more flexbility and control without risking the level of care that makes community living for people with disabilities possible?

Their siblings' keepers: When parents die, disabled adults need help

Gayle White wrote a very nice article in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the aging of family cargivers who are taking care of people with developmental disabilities who are also aging. As she reports, more than 17,000 Georgians with developmental disabilities or 711,000 nationwide were living with caregivers 60 or older.

As of September, the list of Georgia residents of all ages on the waiting list for services from respite to 24-hour care was about 6,600. Almost 3,700 needed immediate help, according to the Georgia Department of Human Resources. Legislators increased funding in Georgia to create 1,500 slots for Medicaid-funded services in fiscal year 2007—-up from 30 two years ago. But some applicants need multiple "slots" or services, and 1,100 people enter the system each year.

Consider sending Gayle White a thank you email for her coverage. There is still time to help make a difference by sending the Governor a letter asking him to continue his support for Unlocking Georgia's waiting lists for disability supports.

Governor Perdue's Response to Letters on Unlock the Waiting Lists

Dear

Thank you for contacting my office and sharing your thoughts and concerns regarding services for Georgians with disabilities. I am pleased that the voices of people with disabilities, their families and other disability advocates are strong in Georgia, and I want to assure you that we hear those voices.

From listening, we know that Georgians with disabilities want alternatives to institutional care. They want to be active, participating members of their own communities, and they want a fair chance to be a part of Georgia's great workforce.

I am very proud of the support that we have been able to provide for Mental Retardation/ Developmental Disability (MR/DD) services during my administration. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, we provided funding for 925 new MR/DD services. The FY 2007 Appropriation Bill included funding for 1,500 new Medicaid Waiver services including funding to allow 150 children, adolescents and adults with DD to transition from institutions to community services. Also, the FY 2007 budget included funds to strengthen our MR/DD system's capacity to meet the increasingly complex needs of our consumer population. On an annual basis, the FY 2007 appropriation will total over $19 million in state dollars, the largest increase in MR/DD funding in Georgia's history.

Developing our state's budget involves making difficult decisions as we must weigh and prioritize the many competing and important needs of the people of our state. However, I want to assure you that I will not forget my respect for and commitment to Georgians with disabilities during this budget cycle.

Again, I want to thank you for sharing your unique prospective. I encourage you to also share your thoughts and concerns with your legislators. The General Assembly has the ultimate responsibility in the allocation of our state's resources. If you need contact information for your members, it is available from your county board of voter registration. As always, I appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time in the future.


Sincerely,
Sonny Perdue

Texas settles with advocacy group on Unlock the Waiting List

Summary: Pursuant to a settlement between the State and the Arc, State officials will ask lawmakers for money to reduce waiting lists for programs that provide at-home services. VOR will be studying the specifics of this settlement to determine what impact it may have on developmental center residents.

By Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman
Wednesday, October 25, 2006

As part of a lawsuit settlement, state officials will ask for more money to stop the growth of waiting lists for state services for people with mental retardation and other disabilities and reduce the number of people on the lists 5 percent to 10 percent a year.

Advocates say the settlement could lead to as many as 60,000 more people getting care at home or in group homes, rather than in institutions: those now on waiting lists plus those who are added to the lists in the next few years.

"This is a real issue of civil rights for individuals with disabilities," said Geoffrey Courtney, general counsel for the Arc of Texas, which is an advocate for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. "It enables them to live where they want to live."

But state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, a member of the House Human Services Committee and a supporter of reducing the waiting lists, said the settlement might not mean the issue is resolved. "I'm hopeful that the leadership in the Legislature will do the right thing, but I'm not convinced that it will happen," he said.

If it doesn't, Naishtat said, he expects advocates to file another lawsuit.

Ted Hughes, a spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said his agency has "long been concerned about the (waiting) lists as is evidenced by our ongoing efforts to reduce, and eventually eliminate, them."

The settlement involves a 2002 lawsuit by the Arc of Texas that said the state violated federal law granting options to people with mental retardation and other disabilities to remain at home or in group homes.


The lawsuit involved two programs that provide home-based nursing care, physical therapy, respite care and other services for people with disabilities. There were about 15,000 people on the waiting lists for
Those programs when the lawsuit was filed in 2002. There are now about 45,000.


"This is an issue that could potentially bring tremendous benefit to thousands of families across the state," said Mike Bright, executive director of the Arc of Texas. "Families can have hope that the state of Texas is going to be responding to a critical need as a result of this settlement."

But the people won't get the services if the Legislature, which convenes in January, doesn't approve $254.7 million in state dollars, which will be requested by the Health and Human Services Commission.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was Jamie Travis, whose daughter, Christy, 27, has severe physical and mental disabilities and requires around-the-clock supervision. Travis, who lives in West Columbia, near Houston, spent nine years on a waiting list for the state program that provides the services.

Now, she has a chance to take a break from full-time caregiving and volunteer at her other children's school. "It's been pretty awesome," said Travis, whose daughter is one of 12,000 Texans moving off of state waiting lists as part of a plan approved by legislators in 2005 that is not directly related to the lawsuit.

But 85,000 elderly Texans and those with disabilities are still on Waiting lists for programs that allow them to live at home or in group homes. The lawsuit aimed to reduce the waiting lists for two of the programs, both of which involved people with disabilities.

Partners in Policymaking Fall 2006

Great news! Voices That Count graduates have been added to our database and will be included in all of our future advocacy efforts and trainings. Voices that Count is a training program geared toward the issues for self advocates and has about 100 graduates. Combining the two will give us access to over 500 trained advocates across the state. Voices and Partners are both sponsored by the Georgia Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. With that in mind, what is your suggestion on what to call this monthly newsletter that would include everyone?

A series of workshops entitled “Conversations that Matter” have been organized across the state by Partners alumni. Forums were held in Athens, Suwannee, and Augusta in October with huge success! All events were attended by legislators and have been well attended by the public. The events were held in key legislative districts, and were centered on informing families about the new MRWP waiver. The series will continue through February. Please volunteer and attend if you live near the events. For more information, go to www.unlockthewaitinglists.com/townhalls.html

To contact the leaders, click on their names below.

December 5 Roswell Jennifer Carroll
January 16 Albany Rosalyn Horne
January 23 Macon Nalini Isaac
February 20 Savannah Mary Poncy

February 7th 2007, we will hold a separate legislative training at the Capitol for a smaller group of advocates. This effort will be held on a different day than Disability Day, which will be February 23rd. If you would like to be a part of this unique training experience, please contact Sarah Pike. Sarah is a PIP graduate and is recruiting participants for us. The training centers around pre-set, one-on-one meetings with legislators to discuss specific issues regarding Unlock the Waiting list and funding for waivers.

ACTION ALERT: Please send your letters to the Governor regarding Unlock. We need 2000 letters to get to him by the end of the year. We are at 69% of that goal.

We have made it very easy at http://www.unlockthewaitinglists.com/actionalert.html