Volume 10, Issue 2 Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities ~ Unlock the Waiting Lists! Campaign January 14, 2005 Review of Governor's State of the State and Budget Address Governor Perdue presented the State of the State and Budget address at 8PM on Wednesday, January 12th. He reported that the administration would continue to examine the role of government in peoples' lives, emphasizing the themes of smaller government, lower taxes, traditional family values and personal responsibility. He highlighted new caseworkers for DFACS, tax credits for new hires in growth industries, an increase in capacity for the Pre-K program, support for enabling faithbased institutions to provide human services, and new electronic resources for education: Georgia College 411, assistance for College application, and the Georgia Virtual High School, which will offer online HS courses to districts where they might not be available. No information on health care or services for people with disabilities was delivered in the address, although the Governor's budget proposal is very favorable to people with developmental disabilities on the whole. See budget summaries below. SB 17: Establish the Georgia Long Term Care Partnership Program: to provide that certain assets of persons not be considered when certain determinations concerning eligibility for Medicaid assistance are made. Sponsors: Golden. Status: Senate Prefile SB 23: Establish Dekalb County Commission on Disability: to bring about full inclusion of all DeKalb County residents, whether disabled or not disabled, into all aspects of community life in DeKalb County through collaborative partnership among residents, local government, nonprofit organizations, and other entities and through strategic management, education, advocacy, training, research, and improved service delivery. Sponsors: Butler, Henson, Weber, Miles, Thompson, Adelman. Status: Senate Hopper SB 33: To authorize the establishment of the Georgia Virtual School; to provide for rules and regulations; to provide for a Georgia Virtual School grant account, and others. Sponsors: Moody, Douglas, Balfour, Hooks, Bulloch. Status: Senate Hopper On Monday the 17th, the Capitol will be closed for the MLK Holiday and Tuesday and Wednesday will be used for budget briefings. Lawmakers will reconvene January 24th at 1:00 pm for the 4th legislative day. Register online for Disability Day at the Capitol 2005! www.gcdd.org Senate Leadership Presiding: Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor Senate President Pro Tempore: Eric Johnson Senate Majority Leader: Bill Stephens Senate Majority Whip: Mitch Seabaugh Senate Minority Leader: Robert Brown Senate Minority Whip: David Adelman House Leadership Speaker of the House: Glenn Richardson Speaker Pro Tempore: Mark Burhalter Majority Leader: Jerry Keen Majority Whip: Barry Fleming Minority Leader: Dubose Porter Minority Whip: Carolyn Hugley House Appropriation Sub Committee Members Chair--Ben Harbin Vice Chair Education--Jan Jones Vice Chair Health--Jeff Brown Senate Appropriation Sub Committee Members Chair--Jack Hill Sub Committee Chair Education--Dan Moody Sub Committee Chair Community Health--Tommy Williams Sub Committee Chair Human Development--Renee Unterman Go to actmajority.com for the complete listing of house committee members. Check the DD Council's website, www.gcdd.org, for Senate committees and updates beginning Tuesday, Jan. 18th. Legislation Tracker As last year was the second year of the two year session, all legislation that did not pass both houses was considered dead. The following SB 34: Provide for the establishment of the "Georgia Master Teacher Program"; to provide for the establishment of criteria for Master Teacher Certification; to provide for the establishment of rules and regulations by the Professional Standards Commission; to provide for the establishment of the "Academic Coach Program"; to provide for the establishment of rules and regulations by the State Board of Education; to provide for the employment of an academic coach by a public school in accordance with a school improvement plan; to provide for monetary and other incentives for academic coaches; to provide for the establishment of a Master Teacher and Academic Coach Implementation Committee. Sponsors: Moody, Weber, Johnson, Williams, Thomas. Status: Senate Hopper House HB 35: provide for the Community Service Board Overview Commission; to provide for such commissios organization, vacancies, duties, powers, and expenditures; to provide for the appointment, qualifications, terms, compensation, allowances, and expenses of members; to provide for commission assistance, staffing, and services; to provide for community service board cooperation; to provide for reports; to provide for legal enforcement. Sponsor: Mitchell. Status: House Prefiled HB 50: Exchange of National Criminal History Background Checks: to authorize the exchange of national criminal history background checks on providers of care to children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, including, but not limited to, volunteers with youth sports organizations and other youth activities. Sponsor: Teilhut. Status: House second readers. Budget Overview The Supplemental Budget, or FY 2005 Budget as shown here, covers the remaining part of Fiscal Year '05, until June 30, 2005. All numbers in parentheses are cuts. Items are reported as they appear in the Governor's Budget Report and further analysis of the budget is on-going. FY 2005 Supplemental Budget DHR Budget 2005 Transfer 79 nursing home clients from nursing homes who are able to function in the community to the DHR CCSP program. $511,350 DCH Budget 2005 Transfer 79 nursing home clients from nursing homes who are able to function in legislation is starting new with this session. the community to the DHR CCSP program. ($511,350) You may view any bill in its entirety at: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2003_04/leg/legislation.htm Senate SB 6: Exchange of National Criminal History Background Checks: to authorize the exchange of national criminal history background checks on providers of care to children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, including, but not limited to, volunteers with youth sports organizations and other youth activities. Sponsors: Stoner and Rogers. Status: Senate Hopper DOE Budget 2005 Provide funds for the Atlanta Area school for the Deaf, the Georgia Academy for the Blind and The Georgia School for the Deaf to avoid interruption of services to students and add a teacher pay grade $689,000 Provide start up funds and two positions for development of Georgia Virtual High School Project $500,000 Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Effective from July 1, 2005 to June 30th, 2006. Items reported as appeared in budget document. Many questions remain as to actual meaning and background of several items. Analysis will be on-going. DHR FY06 Olmstead - Fund 925 MR/DD slots to Unlock the Waiting Lists. (Total funds: $8,302,823) $3,284,597 Fund an increase to MR/DD provider rates by 3% beginning 1/1/2006. $2,302,148 Provide state funds to replace lost federal social service block grant funds that are used to serve developmental disabled consumers. $4,514,508 Reduce room and board payments to MR/DD providers. ($1,732,058) Convert 166 consumers from state-supported developmental disability services to Medicaid eligible waiver services ($915,832) Fund 2 ORS surveyors to support increased mental retardation/developmental disabilities waiver slots $130,000 Eliminate 2 special purpose contracts in the Home and Community-based services program ($180,150) Reduce funds for East Central Regional Hospital by moving 30 consumers with developmental disabilities into the community, and relocate 62 consumers with developmental disabilities to Gracewood Campus ($3,517,885) (This reduction also includes some transfer of forensic beds to Central State) Reduce personal service and technical assistance to community collaboratives in the Family Connection Program ($276,077) Fund services to additional 600 elderly clients on the non-Medicaid home and community based waiting list $799,630 Fund an additional 200 slots in the CCSP program $899,153 Capital outlay: Authorize $2,395,000 in 20 year bonds to replace roofs at Gracewood State Hospital $208,000 debt service DCH FY06 In the DCH budget, require families that earn over $100,000, who are served by the Katie Beckett Program, to pay a $200 per month premium. Yes Set a fixed cap for the home and community based services provided by the ICWP for disability services to redirect savings ($1,042,759 state funds) to comply with the Olmstead Agreement by providing 46 additional ICWP slots. (Total Funds: $2,643,912) Yes Implement disease and case management process to improve medical management for aged, blind, and disabled populations. (Medicaid clients who are not in waiver services) ($15,509,515) Transfer 79 nursing home clients from nursing homes who are able to function in the community to the DHR CCSP program. ($653,557) DOE FY06 Provide 2% salary increase for teachers effective Sept 1, 2005 $105,768,823 3% reduction to Communities in Schools project ($39,619) 3% reduction to Regional Educational Service Agencies ($335,512) Provide funds for the Atlanta Area school for the Deaf, the Georgia Academy for the Blind and The Georgia School for the Deaf to avoid interruption of services to students and add a teacher pay grade $689,000 Provide funds to adjust for actual enrollment for the Severely Emotionally Disturbed network $4,913,593 Provide funds and 3 positions for development of Georgia Virtual High School Project $1,385,000 DOL FY06 Replace state funds with federal funds for Tools for Life ($146,775) Moving Forward is published by the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities as a public information source. Please visit the Council's website for additional resources and tools to utilize in your advocacy efforts.