Legislative update

[Guest guest]

This is potentially great news!

FYI...

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

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1. SENATE VERSION OF BUDGET CUTS SODCs BY 25%! - In what could be the first

glint of hope for a change in disability service philosophy in Illinois,

Amendment # 1 to Senate Bill 2450 would cut the operating budgets of the 8

remaining state operated developmental centers by 25%. The bill, which is the

Democratic Senators' version of the DHS budget, puts the budgets of all the

SODCs into one line and slashes them by this amount. Supportive communications

for this move should be directed to Senator Steans, the bill's sponsor,

and Senator Cullerton, Senate President. (jen@... and

john@...).

My email to Steans and Cullerton:

I would be ecstatic to see our state finally going in the right direction!

Senator Steans and Senator Cullerton, I am the parent of a young adult with

autism and I can tell you that most families with young adults want their loved

ones in smaller community settings. Not only is the cost typically considerably

less in community, but the fact is, that EVERYONE, regardless of handicapping

condition, can and should be living, working and playing in our communities,

with appropriate supports.

You have my complete approval, support and gratitude!

I will be sending this out to a listserv of over 800 families.

Ellen

2. MEETING ON " GRAYWOOD BILL " - This morning I participated in a meeting was

held by the sponsors of House Bill 653, a bill that was introduced to prevent

future situations like the death at the CILA operated by the Graywood Foundation

earlier this year. The bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Greg

(D-Chicago) and passed by a vote of 115-0. It was picked up in the Senate by

Senator Pam Althoff (R-Crystal Lake). The sponsors called the meeting because

several statewide advocacy and trade organizations, including us, had concerns

that portions of the bill went over the edge in increased monitoring and

background checks (without really adding more protections for the safety and

welfare of CILA residents) and that some of the language was too broad to be

implemented.

Representatives at the meeting included the Institute on Public Policy for

Persons with Disabilities ( Terrill), IARF, Jewish Federation, the

Governor's office, DHS Secretary Saddler and Assistant Secretary Hou, Reta

Hoskin and representatives from DCFS and the Department of Public Health.

Without going into detail, several changes in the bill's language recommended

by the advocacy/provider community were agreed to.

3. BUDGET IN THE NEWS - CBS News in Chicago had an excellent feature last

evening on how state government wastes money at the same time it cuts funding

for disability services. The following message from Seguin Services gives you

the link to the story and the chance for you to comment--which we strongly

encourage in order to bolster the effort:

As we told you yesterday, last night CBS 2 Chicago aired a story on its 10:00 pm

broadcast featuring Seguin , produced by their investigative reporter Pam

Zekman. Zekman focused on wasteful government spending (more specifically about

$900,000 in spending on promotional items and “chotchkiesâ€) that she and her

investigative team found), and how human services such as Seguin are impacted by

shortfalls in our State funding due this type of waste. Voit and

participant Olga Bach were given brief time for commentary on the situation,

while many other participants working in Seguin Gardens & Gifts were also shown.

Here’s the link to the story and the video from CBS 2:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/state-may-be-cutting-programs-but-not-pro\

motions/

The full narrative of the story is included below as well. Please feel free to

share with family, friends, and of course your own State Senator and State

Representative as well. We are also working to get Ms. Zekman and CBS 2 to do a

more full-blown story of the proposed State budget cuts to human services, and

to address the high expense of state institutions, which cost 2.5 times what it

costs Seguin to provide the same services. Stay tuned for more…and keep up the

pressure!

Thanks,

Jim Haptonstahl

Executive Vice President

4. COORDINATED SERVICE CONTRACT BILL ADVANCES - Rep. Chapin Rose's House

Bill 1485 which would make major breakthroughs in eliminating duplicative and

unnecessary contracting and monitoring of private service providers, is getting

close to final passage stage in the Legislature. The bill, which previously

passed the House 115-0, was approved by the Senate Human Services Committee

yesterday by a vote of 8-0. We have strongly lobbied for this bill and served

on the stakeholder's committee to plan for its implementation.

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