MEMORANDUM
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To: |
PRAT Attendees |
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From: |
Evelyn Abouhassan, Legislative Advocate |
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Re: |
Legislative Update |
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Date: |
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Outlined below is a brief summary as to some of our key legislative work this year. If you have questions regarding a specific budget action or piece of legislation, please feel free to contact me.
The Governor signed
the 2005-06 Budget on
·
SSI/
Despite advocate
efforts, the governor’s budget suspends the annual state COLA for two years for
the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/
·
IHSS
Advocates succeeded in
preventing the Governor’s efforts to eliminate state funding for IHSS provider wages
and benefits above the state’s minimum wage of $6.75 per hour. The state will contribute
toward IHSS wages and benefits of up to $11.10 per hour in 2005-06, an increase
of $1 per hour from the 2004-05 level.
·
Medi-Cal
Because of the input and lobbying efforts of advocates, the
Legislature rejected most of the Administration’s original Medi-Cal redesign
proposal. The final budget includes modified
versions of the Administration’s proposals.
Modification of Medi-Cal’s
Adult Dental Care Package -The budget places a $1,800 yearly limit on
dental services for adults on Medi-Cal.
The cap allows for exemptions to be made for certain dental
services. The Dental Cap excludes emergency
services, dentures, dental services provided in long term care settings, and
complex oral and maxillofacial surgery.
The Medi-Cal dental cap will begin in January 2006 and will sunset in
January 2009.
Expansion of Medi-Cal Managed Care-The budget
proposes to add 13 new counties to the existing 22 counties with mandatory
managed care for families and children.
The managed care expansion will phase in the additional counties
beginning in 2007. The budget also
provides for voluntary enrollment into managed care for the seniors and persons
with disabilities in the counties that have a county organized health system
(COHS).
· Department of Mental Health
Mental Health
Services Act (Proposition 63)-The
Budget includes $16.6 million from the Mental Health Services Fund (MHSF) and
89.5 positions for the
AB 3632 Services
-The Governor’s budget included $120,000,000 to fund counties for
providing special education mental health services under the AB 3632 state
mandate for students with disabilities. The Governor indicated that while he allowed
funding for the AB 3632 programs this year, he has the intention of proceeding
with moving the requirement from the counties back to the schools in the next
year.
·
Department
of Developmental Services
Agnews Closure- the Budget reflects a net increase of $33.7 million for the planned July 2007
closure of
Self-Directed
Services- The Budget reflects a
phase-in of a statewide Self-Directed Services Program, subject to receipt of a
federal waiver. This voluntary program will allow consumers and their families
to purchase services through individual budget accounts based upon the
individual’s needs. The Budget includes $1.7 million for regional centers to
implement the program and reflects net General Fund savings of $2.2 million in
the regional centers’ purchase of services budget.
With the expertise of staff from PAI’s Office of Patients
Rights, we were able to successfully advocate during the budget process for the
full restoration $120,000 that the Administration cut in prior years.
·
AB
468 (Yee) - This bill would have provided the parent with an opportunity to consent
to the assessment plan at the same time that the parent consents to referral
for AB 3632 services. The bill did not move beyond the Assembly Appropriations
Committee because the high estimated cost of implementation. Additionally, despite our advocacy efforts
the governor was unwilling to adopt the same language in the budget bill when
AB 468 failed passage in Assembly Appropriations Committee because of the
uncertainty of the AB 3632 program next year (see summary of the outcome of AB 3632 program above)
·
AB
1535 (Bass) -This bill requires the Department of Developmental Services to prepare
or contract with an appropriate research facility to prepare, a report that set
forth expenditures for the purchase of services and denials of eligibility for
each regional center aggregated by race and ethnicity of the consumers. It also requires the department to post the
information on its web site. The
legislation is now a two year bill and PAI staff is working with the author’s
office and staff from the Department of Developmental Services to address the
department’s concerns with the legislation.
·
SB 643 (Chesbro) -This bill is PAI’s legislative
effort to advance the implementation of Olmstead.
Among other things, SB 643 requires DHS
to seek 500 more slots in the home- and community-based Level A/B nursing
facility waivers. It requires DHS to
reserve 250 of these slots for residents residing in facilities and
transitioning out of facilities. The
legislation requires DHS to expedite waiver processing to so that persons who
are being discharged from hospitals can return to the community instead of
going into a nursing home. Language in
SB 643 relating to SNF residents plans of care, targeted case management,
assessments for conservatees, modifications to the personal and incidental
needs allowance for
·
Access
Notification Legislation: In May 2005, the Legislation Committee approved the
recommendation that PAI staff coordinate with other disability rights organizations
to provide technical assistance in drafting narrowly tailored legislation to
address the problem of “unscrupulous attorneys” and fend off a potential ballot
initiative by the business community. During
the last few months, disability rights advocates, including staff from PAI participated
in the process, along with members of the business community and staff from the
senate and assembly judiciary committee.
We are now near the end of the process and close to finalizing draft
language that will be brought to PAI’s Board Legislative Committee for review
and support. The goal is to use this
language in a bill that will go through the legislative committee process in
the 2005-2006 legislative year.
On
·
Proposition 76 - gives the Governor sweeping power to reduce
spending, potentially including the ability to override state laws. Proposition 76 authorizes enables the
Governor to unilaterally impose cuts to programs that serve persons with
disabilities, including state dollars provided to counties that support county
health, mental health, and human services programs.
·
Proposition
78 - creates a discount prescription drug program for
individuals whose income does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level, or
$28,710 a year for one individual. It requires the Department of Heath Services
to contract with pharmacies to sell prescription drugs at agreed-upon,
discounts negotiated in advance, and to negotiate rebate agreements with drug
manufacturers. Proposition 78 does
not promote the accessibility and availability of prescription medication. Proposition 78 provides no guarantee of an
adequate number of participating pharmacies to meet the needs of persons with
disabilities.
·
Proposition
79 - provides
for prescription drug discounts to Californians whose income does not exceed
400% of the federal poverty level, or $38,280 a year for one individual, to be
funded through rebates from participating drug manufacturers negotiated by
California Department of Health Services. The
initiative creates a drug discount program that requires participation by drug
manufacturers, or the drug companies will lose the ability to sell drugs to the
Medi-Cal program. Proposition 79 is particularly problematic because the
provisions in the measure may deprive individuals of the medications their
doctors want to proscribe for them.