Do you advocate for students with disabilities?

You might want to pick up the phone

Legislative Hotline: 1.800.562.6000

• Find your district and legislators here 
• Roster of legislators

There is an extra $2.5 billion or so in federal funding available to Washington students, but there is not a clear picture of how the state and local schools will use those funds to support students furthest from justice. As for state funds, there are some smart, targeted investments that both House and Senate need to agree on.

Your insight is needed.

Here is a side by side of House and Senate funding proposals to support students with disabilities.

Please contact your legislators – they need to hear from families about what support students with disabilities need. You can email them, but given the short turnaround, calling might be most effective.

Budget writers are meeting this week to start reconciling the House and Senate proposals.

Some quick talking points

(See further down for background and context)

• Equity is essential. Continue funding OSPI's Inclusionary Practices Program and increasing access to general education. Support the modest Senate allocation of $12 million.
  
  
• Put money – millions more – into social emotional, trauma-informed, and counseling support for students. It is critical for recovery, resilience, and academic progress. Consider tapping federal recovery funds.
  
  
• Do not lock up American Rescue Plan funds for special education into the Safety Net. Please use the House approach and ensure all eligible IDEA students have ready access to recovery services.
  
  
• Streamline! Thank you for extending transition services for eligible students. This process, though, should be automatic for participating students. The issue is service interruption, not validation. In this situation, requiring IEP team review and approval adds unnecessary expense and delay.
  
  
• Be proactive about access. The House steers millions in federal funds to non-school providers for after-school and wrap-around support. These programs MUST be able and willing to support students with disabilities. Any grant process must spell out how students with disabilities will be accommodated. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation act of 1973 requires equal access to people with disabilities when federal funding is in play.
  
  
• Fund for whole child success. The House allocation of $760,000 for multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) implementation is a smart, targeted investment to get students what they need, when they need it – whether it be academic, behavior, or social emotional support.
  
  
• Provide a basic education, regardless of setting. Please support the House level of funding to ensure students in institutions have access basic education, including access to special education supports as required. Fund $4.5 million for institutional education, and $1.5 million for justice-involved youth.

Background and context

Social and emotional/trauma/mental health support

All students have had a rough year and schools need to be prepared to support them socially and emotionally.

• The House funds a small pot of money for social and emotional learning grants; the Senate does not.
• The House funds also funds a small pot of money for technical assistance for trauma-informed learning; again, the Senate does not.

Good news is there is funding for counselors at high poverty schools in both budgets, though the House allocation is much higher.

TALKING POINT: Relationship, belonging, and membership are essential to brain development and building resiliency. For kids to thrive, they need access to core social and emotional learning. This next year, especially, they need access to counselors and trauma-informed practices. Please direct substantially more funding into social emotional learning, trauma-informed instruction, and access to counselors so our youth can move through and process the stress of the pandemic.

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Access to recovery services, specific to special education

For a year now, many students with individualized education programs (IEPs) have not had access to the individualized instruction and related supports they require to meet learning standards, or more specific IEP goals. Most will need recovery services, and some will need compensatory education.

It is critical that schools have ready access to the American Rescue Plan Act funds designated to support these students.

The Senate’s plan puts these funds into the state’s Safety Net – an extremely problematic approach. The Safety Net program provides additional funding to address extraordinary costs associated with students with exceptional needs. Those are big barriers and access to Safety Net funds only comes AFTER schools have spent the money. The Safety Net is a way to partially recover costs for exceptional support needs. It will not provide ready access to the majority who will who need recovery support over the next year.

TALKING POINT: Do not lock up American Rescue Plan funds for special education into the Safety Net. Please use the House approach and ensure students have ready access to support. The need for post-pandemic recovery learning is not limited to a small number of high impact students, and schools do not have the cash to pay first and ask for partial reimbursement later.

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Extending eligibility for transition services

All students using special education services in high school should have a transition plan that states what conditions will be met for them to exit school; this includes the opportunity to complete graduation requirements and, for some, attend a transition program after grade 12. The pandemic interrupted transition programs. Both House and Senate set aside $24 million to extend eligibility for students turning 21 during the last 2 years who did not graduate with a regular diploma.

Advocates’ only ask is that this extension be automatic for those eligible and not subject to IEP team negotiation. If their program was interrupted, students should be able to complete it. Requiring IEP team approval creates inequitable barriers and delays. The IEP already states the program is required.

TALKING POINT: Extending transition services for eligible students is great. Thank you! But this should be automatic for students already participating. The issue is service interruption, not validation. In this situation, pulling in the IEP team for review and approval adds unnecessary expense and delay. Please streamline!
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Equal access to non-school support

Here is the reality: Too many after-school programs and community-led wrap-around supports are not available to students with disabilities. The organizations don’t design their programs for this demographic. The House wants to send millions in federal recovery funds to non-school entities. This public money is intended to support all students, and students with disabilities must have equal access.

If the House proceeds with this plan, then measures must be put in place to the grant-making process to ensure programs will accommodate students with disabilities. This includes toileting accommodations.

TALKING POINT: Be proactive about access. The House steers millions in federal funds to non-school providers for after-school and wrap-around support. That is fine … but these providers MUST be able and willing to support students with disabilities. Any grant process to private entities must spell out how students with disabilities will be accommodated.

• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation act of 1973 requires equal access to people with disabilities when federal funding is in play.

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MTSS: What students need, when they need it

A multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) is an essential component of universal design. It helps schools respond to and support students, focusing on the whole child. It uses prevention and interventions that increase with intensity based on student need. MTSS is an integrated approach that addresses academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs.

Wellness, mental health, and social services – as well as academics - are part of an MTSS approach.

The House budget includes $760,000 to support districts in implementing MTSS. The Senate budget does not.

TALKING POINT: Please fund support for district implementation of MTSS. The House allocation of $760,000 is a smart, targeted investment to get students what they need, when they need it – whether it be academic, behavior, or social emotional support.

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Inclusion: At the heart of it all

Membership, belonging, and participation are fundamental to healthy development, learning, and lifelong well-being. Another word for all this is inclusion. In the educational realm, inclusion is intentional, with policies and practices designed to ensure access and promote belonging.

But for many students with disabilities in Washington, segregation is the norm. Washington – more so than most states – segregates out students with disabilities from their non-disabled peers. Even when students with disabilities are not segregated, they may be integrated without support, a practice that pushes youth to the margins.

Two years ago, the legislature and the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction took steps to build inclusionary practices. The Senate invests a modest $12 million to continue OSPI’s Inclusionary Practices Program. The House does not.

TALKING POINT: Membership, belonging, and participation are fundamental to healthy development, learning, and lifelong well-being. Please invest a modest $12 million and continue the Inclusionary Practices Program at OSPI. Washington should not be a leader in disability segregation.

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Institutional education

Youth and young adults with disabilities – and especially Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) – are disproportionately removed to institutions or incarcerated, where their access to education can be limited. This can include group homes for youth, stays in intermediate care facilities for people with developmental disabilities, and juvenile rehabilitation centers.

Institutional education is not funded in the same way public schools are. The House budget invests in supports and strategies to ensure youth living in institutions have access to the state’s program of basic education. These include differentiated instruction, education advocates, IEP reviews, data collection, and more.

TALKING POINT: Please support the House level of funding for institutional education to ensure students in institutions have access basic education, including access to special education supports as required.

Week 8 Vitual Olympia

• Sign up for advocacy days (Wednesdays at 10 am)
• Action alert: We need community housing, not institutions
• Petition from the Shut Them Down Coalition
  

Legislators are on the floor all week (or in caucus) deciding which bills will pass out of their chamber of origin by the March 9 cutoff. If a bill you like is still in Rules, now is the time to contact your legislators and ask for their support in getting it to a vote.

Here is our big list of bills. We include disability-specific ones as well as ones we think people with developmental disabilities might be interested in.

• Cutoff bills in play_March 2
• Find your legislator

How the legislative process works:

1. Bills must pass out of their policy and fiscal committees.

2. Bills that do, then go to Rules for consideration for a floor vote.

3. If the Rules committee "pulls" the bill, then it is placed on "2nd reading" for a floor vote. 

4. If it passes off the floor, it goes to the other chamber, and the process repeats

5. Many bills get changed (or amended) when they go to the other chamber; so after passing out of the second chamber they go BACK to the original chamber to make sure a majority agrees with the new version. This is called reconciliation. Sometimes the chambers do not agree, and the bill dies.

Did you know? 

Lots of bills never make it out of Rules; and sometimes the chambers run out of time and can't get to all of bills pulled for a floor vote.

Zombie bills

Sometimes bills that did not make cutoff stay in play; this is because the legislators decide they are necessary to pass the budget. For this reason, a lot of bills about taxes or bills with large fiscal notes are left to the very end.

Budget bills

Now is also a GREAT time to talk to your legislators about budget priorities. Legislators are making their requests now, and the House and Senate budget proposals are expected in mid-March. 

The Arc of Washington State has an alert out for the capital budget - that is the budget for building things. 

The Arc is concerned about the governor's proposal to build a $120 million nursing facility on the grounds of Fircrest, an old institution in Shoreline for people with developmental disabilities, while at the same time failing to designate any funds for the developmental disability set aside in the Housing Trust Fund. Typically, funds are designated to ensure projects are created to expand housing stock for supportive housing options for people with DD. As for the nursing facility, advocates agree new state-run nursing facilities are needed but have proposed an alternate, lower-cost proposal for small community-based nursing homes across the state. This would keep people in their communities, near family, friends and other natural supports while freeing up tens of millions to invest in accessible housing for people with disabilities.

We do not know yet about cuts to long-term supports. While the budget outlook is improving, the governor's no-cuts proposal relied on passing a capital gains tax. One capital gains proposal passed the Senate Ways and Means committee and is in Rules, but there is no word on whether the chamber will vote on it.

A key bill we are tracking, SB 5268 - Transforming services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by increasing the capabilities of community residential settings and redesigning the long-term nature of intermediate care facilities - is also still in Rules.

ALTSA budget request for FY 2021-23

 

Reductions: Eligibility cuts, provider rate cuts, rental subsidies, wage savings for state employees, furlough days for state employees

• Cuts have larger impacts on people with behavior health considerations
  

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This letter was shared by email from DSHS ALTSA:

STATE OF WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES
Aging and Long-Term Support Administration
PO Box 45600, Olympia, Washington 98504-5600

September 16, 2020

Dear Interested Stakeholder, 

Today, Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Secretary, Cheryl Strange, announced the submission of the DSHS proposed budget to the Office of Financial Management (OFM) which included ALTSA’s budget proposal.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the way in which we all support clients in need of long-term services and supports.  It has also significantly impacted state revenues.  This has forced budget prioritization resulting in difficult choices in both investments and reduction options.

In developing our budget priorities, ALTSA followed a few key principles that align with our Mission, Vision and Values:

1. Ensure that our clients with the greatest need continue to receive services;
2. Continue our priority of safety and protection of vulnerable adults;
3. Preserve our services to the greatest extent possible;
4. Preserve our workforce by proposing furloughs and implementing hiring, travel and purchasing freezes to avoid complete job loss.

Understanding the proposed budget and our priorities:

The agency submits two types of proposals for the next biennium’s budget: budget requests and reductions.  ALTSA budget requests include funding or savings for things like new programs and services or a change in the way existing services are delivered, some of which may require a change in statute. Reduction options are done at the direction of the Office of Financial Management in order to illustrate a 15 percent reduction in General Fund-State expenditures across all state agencies.

ALTSA Budget Requests:

COVID-19 Funding: Includes Infection Control and Client Services, In-home Provider Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and the Transitional Care Center of Seattle, a DSHS-owned nursing home targeted for acute hospital long length of stay transitions. ($119.0M Total Funds: $61.5M GF-State; 105.9 FTE)

Nursing Facility Rate Methodology: adds the temporary rate changes that the 2020 Legislature made to the rate statute, adding an inflation factor to costs reported by nursing homes, and changing the rebasing from every other year to annually. ($22.9M Total Funds; $11.5M GF-State)

Behavioral Health Transitions: Increases Specialized Dementia and Behavior Specialty Program beds to continue client transitions from state hospitals to ALTSA community settings. ($16.9M Total Funds; $8.4M GF-State; 11.1 FTE)

Convert MTD to Medicaid State Plan: The five year Medicaid Transformation Demonstration waiver ends December 2021.  Having demonstrated that the Medicaid Alternative Care and Tailored Supports for Older Adults programs save money by addressing the increased demand for services in a way that provides more options for clients/family caregivers while also managing costs across populations, ALTSA requests funding continued services to support at risk individuals and family caregivers serving loved ones to delay and divert entry into more intensive Medicaid services.    ($81.4M Total Funds; $40.7M GF-State; 36.6 FTE)

Managed Care Organizations Medicaid Personal Care: Request for the cost of personal care for clients whose need for personal care is due to their psychiatric disability. These services are currently approved by the Managed Care Organizations (MCO) contracted by the Health Care Authority (HCA). This will streamline the process of authorizing and paying for personal care. ($14.0 Total Funds; $13.6M GF-State; 3.0 FTE).  It should be noted that the Health Care authority is also seeking funding for MCOs to provide long-term services and supports wrap around services to support individuals with significant behavioral health needs.

Reduction Options:

Furlough Savings: Continuation of the Governor's furloughs for specific job classifications, but assuming two furlough days per month. (-$36.5M Total Funds; -$17.6M GF-State)

General Wage Savings: Continuation of the Governor's modification of the 3% General Wage increase for EMS and WMS Positions. (-$2.0M Total Funds; -$1.0M GF-State)

Rental Subsidies: ALTSA will assist people who want to transition from nursing facilities more quickly by helping to cover the cost of rent for a limited time in their communities. The cost of in-home services, ALTSA staff, and the state-only rental subsidies is less than the GF-State portion of the nursing home Medicaid rate. (-$22.5M Total Funds; -$9.4M GF-State; 5.0 FTE)

Provider Rate Cuts: 2.4 percent rate cuts across the board for Medicaid providers, including in-home providers, nursing homes, adult family homes, adult day health, private duty nursing, enhanced service facilities and assisted living facilities. (-$145.2M Total Funds; -$66.6M GF-State)

Client Eligibility Cuts: This reduction option for temporary program eligibility changes would result in the loss of ALTSA services for over 12,000 people served in their own homes, community settings and nursing homes, and a reduction in the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and Area Agency on Aging (AAA) staff due to a smaller number of clients receiving services. (-$805.3M Total Funds; -$385.6M GF-State; -69.6 FTE)

Please remember that this is just the first step in our budget process.  Using the information sent from DSHS and other agencies, the Governor will develop and submit a budget. Then the House and Senate will provide their budgets and from there a final conference budget will be negotiated and passed. 

Thank you for the work you do to support individuals in Washington who are in need of long-term services and supports.  For additional details on the ALTSA budget request, click here. 

 

Sincerely,

 Bill Moss

Assistant Secretary
Aging and Long-Term Support Administration

DSHS: Transforming Lives

DDA budget request for FY 2021-23

Reductions: Eligibility cuts; provider rate cuts; Residential Habilitation Center closure; wage savings for state employees; furlough days for state employees

• See also: DDA Budget Reduction Exercise: Possible Client Eligibility Cuts
  

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This letter was shared by email from DSHS DDA:

Developmental Disabilities Administration; September 16, 2020

Dear Interested Stakeholder,

Today the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Secretary Cheryl Strange announced the submission of the DSHS proposed 2021-23 biennial budget to the Office of Financial Management, which included the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) budget proposal.

The agency submitted two types of proposals for the next biennium’s budget: budget requests and reduction options.  The budget requests include funding for increased services or a change in the way existing services are delivered.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and projected budget shortfalls extraordinary proposed reductions of 15% were required by the Office of Financial Management this year. This painstaking effort included staff furloughs, administrative cuts, and provider rate reductions. Even more difficult were the substantial cuts to client services, including eligibility, which had to be made to reach the goal of a 15% reduction. Please remember that this is just the first step in the biennial budget process.  

Budget Requests:

• Children’s State-Operated Living Alternative (SOLA): Five new SOLA homes would serve 15 children age 20 and younger on the west side of the state who are not eligible for Residential Habilitation Center admission and are not able to successfully transition to out-of-home residential placement because suitable options do not exist. ($10.7M; $5.7M GF-State; 50.1FTE)
  
  
• High School Transition Students: Adding Basic Plus waiver capacity in anticipation that 878 eligible high school graduates will seek DDA services in the 2021-23 Biennium. ($10.3M; $5.7M GF-State)
  
  
• Increase Children’s Intensive In-Home Behavioral Support (CIIBS) waiver capacity: Expand the CIIBS Medicaid waiver from 100 to 200 slots. ($8.7M; $4.6M GF-State; 13.2 FTE)
  
  
• Financial Eligibility Staff: This funding for additional staff will improve the timeliness and accuracy of eligibility reviews, application processing, and case management updates, resulting in better meeting the 45-day application processing requirement. ($6.0M; $3.5M GF-State; 27.1 FTE)
  
  
• Increase Preadmission Screening and Resident Review (PASRR) Capacity: More clients are entitled to PASRR specialized services for people with developmental disabilities. DDA is required to initiate these services within 120 days of assessment. ($4.3M; $2.1M GF-State)
  
  
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Requesting purchase of PPE for both DDA staff and for in-home caregivers. ($10.3M; $5.1M GF-State; 1.9 FTE)
  
  
• COVID-19: New costs are related to dealing with the pandemic, including a state-operated facility (residential cottage) on the grounds of Rainier School and technology for remote supports for staff to maintain client contact without in-person visits. ($7.8M; $5.9M GF-State; 2.0 FTE)
  
  
• Residential Habilitation Centers (RHC) Digital Records Transformation: An electronic health record system for the RHCs is necessary to maintain compliance with federal Medicaid certification standards. ($406,000; $203,000 GF-State)
  
  
• Paper to Electronic Workflows: An electronic document management system to replace paper files is essential for staff to successfully meet client and provider needs while working remotely and to comply with federal requirements in a timely manner. ($2.3M; $1.2M GF-State; 7.0 FTE)

Reduction Options:

• Furlough Reductions: Continuation of the Governor's  Furlough Days to achieve cost savings with two furlough days per month. (-$38.7M; -$21M)
  
  
• General Wage Savings: Continuation of the Governor's modification of the 3% General Wage increase for EMS and WMS Positions. (-$892,000; -$512,000 GF-State)
  
  
• RHC Cuts and Rainier Closure: Staffing reductions, cottage closures and decreased purchasing at three RHCs, and Rainier School is proposed to be closed by the end of the next biennium, June 30, 2023. (-$36.8M; -$16.6M GF-State; -283.1 FTE)
  
  
• Provider Rate Cuts: A 2.4 percent rate cut would affect in-home caregivers, Adult Family Homes, respite providers, Adult Residential Care, and Employment and Day services providers. (-$34.2M; -$15.7M GF-State)
  
  
• Client Eligibility Cuts: Under this option, approximately 6,500 clients with lighter care needs would temporarily lose paid services in the 21-23 biennium, including in-home personal care, residential services, SOLA and RHC. (-$490M; -$243.8M; -112.3 FTE)

The budget can and will change over time, and we appreciate the Governor’s support. As we move through this process we will be meeting with stakeholders and will keep you apprised of the budget status, particularly in regard to potential reductions. More detail can be found at this link: https://abr.ofm.wa.gov/budget/agency/requests 

Sincerely,

Evelyn Perez

Assistant Secretary, Developmental Disabilities Administration

 Contact us for questions or feedback.

Follow up: Cuts cause crisis

Resources, and a few more details

This is a follow-up to an online discussion and materials posted earlier. There are cuts being considered by the governor that would take away long-term Medicaid support for thousands and permanently shrink the state's caseload by making it harder to qualify for services.

These include cuts to services administered through the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) and the Aging and Long-Term Support Administration (ALTSA).

At this stage, there are two actions you should take.

1. Learn about the situation and alert others who could lose their long-term support

• Many people still may not be aware of what's at stake. As of last July, the DDA counted 6,474 children and 6,173 adults in King County as clients; 9,362 are getting a paid service, while 3,284 are on the No Paid Services list. We have not reached anywhere near those numbers, yet, through our communications. Please, share resources
  

2. Contact your state legislators and the governor

• Tell them what loss of service (or continued denial of service) would mean to you
  
• For those of you who will be electing new state representatives, contact the candidates
• See Resources to Engage, below. The easiest way is to sign up with The Arc of Washington's Action Center
  

WHAT'S HAPPENED SO FAR: More than 50 people in our community gathered on Zoom recently for a Civics Monday discussion on proposed cuts to Medicaid long-term support. Another 1,000 or so have been tracking the situation through our online communications. Conversations have begun about how to connect with decision-makers.

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Budget details - Forecast is worse

• State revenue projection for 2019–21 lowered by nearly $4.5 billion

This means the state does not have the money to pay for the current budget. This is worse than the situation just last week, when the shortfall was estimated to be $2 billion to $3 billion. For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, this means the 14,089 people on the No Paid Services list will continue to go without services; and the 1,069 who have a waiver but were denied support due to capacity will continue to go under-served and risk crisis. It also means thousands who have services are at risk of being cut off, permanently.

• State agency Fiscal Year 2021 savings options

Knowing there would be a shortfall, the governor asked the departments he oversees to share cost-saving options. You can find the proposals on the web page linked to, above. We gave an overview of the DDA and ALTSA plans here.

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Plans from departments that people with I/DD most interact with

• Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) – Includes the Developmental Disabilities Administration; Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Behavior Health Administration
  
• Health Care Authority Medical Assistance and Health Benefits Exchange
• Department of Children, Youth, and Families
• Commerce - Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) and other critical supports are channeled through Commerce

We encourage you to review the different cost-saving proposals so you can consider how they might affect you or a loved one. Changing eligibility for care is not the only proposal we are concerned about; but it is the one we are most alarmed and disturbed by.

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What we know about changing eligibility requirements

Both the DDA and ALTSA proposals mean fewer people would qualify and receive long-term support. The DDA is projecting several thousand would lose services.

It also means that going forward a significantly smaller pool of people would qualify for habilitative support, personal care, or respite, and thus likely increase use of emergency services as individuals and families fall into crisis.

• Habilitative support is a service that helps you keep, learn, or improve skills and functioning needed for daily living. Speech, occupational and other therapies are all examples of habilitative supports. So is employment support
  
  
• Personal care includes assistance with dressing, feeding, washing and toileting, as well as advice, encouragement and emotional and psychological support
  
  
• Respite services offer relief to a person's family caregiver; often respite doubles as access to day programs, including stimulating arts and recreational opportunities

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Background

Most services provided by the DDA are funded though Medicaid home- and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. The waivers are designed for specific groups. The “waiver” involved is an agreement to receive services in a home or community setting, as opposed to an institutional or facility setting. About 99 percent of the state's DDA clients are supported in the community.

The current DDA waivers include:
•    Individual and Family Services Waiver
•    Basic-Plus Waiver
•    Core Waiver
•    Children’s Intensive In-home Behavioral Supports Waiver
•    Community Protection Waiver

In order to qualify for an HCBS waiver administrated through the DDA, a person with an intellectual or developmental disability must meet “ICF/DD Level of Care” as defined in WAC 388.828.4400 (for adults) and WAC 388.828.3040 (for children).

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What would change

The DDA is proposing to change the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) so that the definition of ICF/DD Level of Care is tighter. ICF/DD is an acronym for Intermediate Care Facility/Developmental Disabilities. Washington has several ICF/DDs housed in Residential Habilitation Centers, including Fircrest in Shoreline, which includes both an ICF/DD and a nursing care facility.

Because there is a complex algorithm attached to the waiver assessment, the DDA says it cannot explain exactly what would change, just that it would become harder to meet the ICF/DD Level of Care criteria.

The DDA projects that several thousand clients would lose their supports. This applies across all the DDA waivers and would impact individuals in a range of living environments, including living with family members, using community-based residential programs (e.g. Supported Living and Adult Family Homes), or residing in Residential Habilitation Centers.

Separately, the Aging and Long-Term Support Administration (ALTSA) has also put forward reducing eligibility as its main cost-cutting suggestion. Many people with I/DD receive supports through ALTSA.

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No legislative action required

The DDA confirmed that changing the WAC does not require legislation. The eligibility change can be made through an administrative rule change. For matters of civic engagement, this means less public scrutiny and no vote by your elected leaders. The public can weigh in, but the secretary of DSHS – a governor appointee – would make decisions about eligibility and who is no longer deemed vulnerable enough to receive long-term support.

Ultimately, the decision to do far less for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is the governor’s, through his administrative staff, unless the legislature chooses to intervene with a policy change to the Revised Code of Washington, or make a funding change.

If the proposal to change eligibility is approved, the DDA projects changes could take effect January 2021. The state legislature does not convene for its next general session until January 11, 2021. So this change could happen before the legislature re-convenes.


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Did you know?

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are four times more likely to contract COVID-19, and twice as likely to die from it. This article looks at a recent study. Now is an especially difficult time to cut support.

People with cognitive and behavioral disabilities face deepest poverty in Washington. 17 percent are in deep poverty; 32% are in poverty or deep poverty; and 54% are low income, in poverty or in deep poverty. (Source: DSHS/Economic Services Administration Analysis of 5-Year American Community Survey data 2013-2017. See page 10 of 10-year plan, Jan 2020, Poverty Reduction Work Group)

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Resources to engage:

ACTION CENTER: We are encouraging people to contact their state legislators. The Arc of Washington has an action alert center. If you are interested, you can access it here:

• https://arcwa.org/action-center/
  

There is a petition to the governor posted, as well as an action alert for state legislators.


CONNECT DIRECTLY: Or, you can email your legislators directly.
You can find your district number and state representatives and senators here:

• https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

1. Enter address; your legislative district number and the names of your state reps will come up
2. Click on the name of a legislator to get contact info for them
   
   

CONTACT CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE: The Arc - Washington State has a list of every candidate, with contact information.

• Click here for The Arc's 2020 Elections resource page

• If you don't know your state legislative district, use the district finder tool
  
  

TALKING POINTS-PLUS:

• Click here for a Developmental Disabilities Budget Crisis Advocacy Toolkit, assembled by advocates from across the state

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Resources to share or learn from:

• Plain talk explanation of the budget situation

• Overview of proposed cuts and budget timeline (This links to another post in our Voice blog)
  
  

A virtual advocacy day: The state Developmental Disabilities Council, Self Advocates in Leadership (SAIL), and The Arc – Washington State cohosted a recent Zoom meeting that included a Q&A with Bryce Anderson of the Office of Financial Management.

• Tape of the meeting
• Slides shown during the meeting

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To wrap up:

This is a lot to take in. Mainly:

• The threat of cuts is real
• The cuts would be dire to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families
  
• You should keep informed (we will do our best to keep you up to date)
• Please contact your legislators and the governor. Tell them what loss of services means to you
• We can share the numbers and big picture stuff; only YOU have the power of your story.
  

Cuts Cause Crisis - In plain talk

 

The Arc - Washington State has a petition to the governor. You can sign it here.

The Arc also has an action alert that you can send to your state legislators. You can edit the message to share what supports mean to you. Click here for the action alert.