CA Budget passed

CDCAN Information:

LEGISLATURE PASSES BUDGET BY MAJORITY VOTE - HEADS TO GOVERNOR

SACRAMENTO, CALIF (CDCAN) [Last updated 06/28/2011 09:19 PM] - The California Legislature passed, on a majority vote, the main budget bill for 2011-2012, SB 87 that did not rely on any votes from Republicans.

The Assembly voted to pass the main budget bill after brief debate by a vote of 51 to 25 just after 6:30 PM.. The State Senate followed but had alittle more difficulty in rounding up the needed 21 votes among Democrats to pass it. The first roll call taken at around 7:25 PM, failed to win the necessary 21 votes to pass, but subsequently passed at 9:19 PM by a vote of 21 to 19.

SB 87 was sent immediately to the Governor for his approval, which he is expected to sign either this evening or tomorrow morning.

Both houses also approved 6 of the 7 budget trailer bills. As of 09:19 PM both houses are waiting for the one remaining budget trailer bill dealing with education finance that the State Senate has still not received from the Legislative Counsel for members to review and vote on. That trailer bill is expected to be delivered to the Senate at around 9:45 :PM and both houses are expected to take up the bill and pass shortly after that, wrapping up their work on all the budget bills. .

State Employees Getting Raises?

In response to information that Psych Techs will get a raise this year, while most other services take cuts, this information is adapted from a bulletin board. Raises some pretty interesting questions, doesn't it?

How can the state afford to increase pay to state employees while so many state funded health and human service programs in our communities are in danger of collapse?

I have talked about the DDS budget with many consumers and family members and there is one statistic that concerns them more than any other. How can it be that the average cost per individual served at the State Developmental Centers has been allowed to reach $346,000 per person per year? It’s true that as population declines, the cost per person rises, but at some point it becomes ridiculous, and we are long past that point.

And it never stops. Of all the destructive things included in the Governor’s 2011-2012 budget, there is one item that few people have noticed. In August, 2010, the Legislature approved a new contract for the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians (CAPT). That contract raises the TOP of the wage scale for Psych Techs at the Developmental Centers by 5% - effective January 1, 2012. This means that the direct service staff in the Developmental Centers, who are already at their highest level of earnings, will get an even bigger share of the funds available for the developmental disabilities system. Meanwhile, community-based services are starving.

Consider this: The average annual cost to serve an individual at a State Developmental Center in 2011-12 will be approximately $346,000. The best estimate I've heard of the average annual cost to serve individuals in the community who have moved out of a Developmental Center is $110,000. Just a few years ago the average cost at the DCs was about $249,000. If the DCs were required to limit their average annual cost per consumer to $249,000, a savings of $97,000 per individual would be realized. Since there are approximately 1800 individuals currently residing in California's DCs, the annual savings to the State would be $174 million. That is the exact amount the legislature is requiring to be saved from community services in the coming year.

When asked how direct service staff in DCs could possibly be getting raises at this particular moment, we are told that these raises make up for other concessions they’ve made. Concessions with an incredible benefit package, which so many community services are simply not able to provide.

Your thoughts?

Budget thoughts - Regional Centers

I have been writing to the Governor, legislators, and talking to anyone who will listen (and many who didn't want to listen at all) about this situation - which I hear about almost weekly from clients.

Just got off the phone with the administrator of a regional center-funded residential facility that has 4 clients, 4 service coordinators, 1 quality assurance staff, and a case management liaison. Each of those regional center staff visit this facility at least 4 times a year (and the service coordinator sees each client quarterly if they are on different visit cycles based on their birthday month), bringing the grand total of regional center visits to at least 12 times per year, plus at least 1 CCL visit. And most of the residents/consumers/clients in these facilities attend a day program, so there are additional people who might notice changes that would require follow up (if you accept the assumption that the monitors are assuring people's health and safety in facilities). In sharp contrast to RCFEs, who can go up to 5 years without seeing a monitoring person. I understand that the CCL part has to do with Medicaid Waiver and an agreement with Department of Health Services, but really??????? Is it just me?

My letters to legislators address the massive inefficiencies in our systems. Assigning one person to each facility still means quarterly visits which can be done at a fraction of the current cost to the operations budget. And might begin to address the disparity between expenditures for regional center operations and purchase of services. Residential providers are expected to provide routine transportation without additional compensation to their current rates. The rates were set when gasoline was somewhere around $1.25 (according to CA Energy Commission). RC staff have had been reimbursed at progressively higher rates since the residential rates were set. And whose rates of pay have been decreased by over 4%? And who will have to pay back funds from July 2010? Hmmm.......

I know people read these posts. I know why no one responds in writing. I wish you would, though.

Argh…..

Vendor Cuts - Lawsuit Update

Information from ResCoalition:

The state budget recently passed included an additional 1.25% cut to regional center vendors, retroactive to July 1, 2010.

There are now 12 plaintiff groups participating in a lawsuit against all regional centers and DDS, making this a broad based lawsuit representing most vendor types in the state. The suit addresses the retroactive cut - one which would be devastating to providers.

A second hearing is scheduled for November 23rd to make a decision. This is an extremely important case because NO PRECEDENT exists in CA for retroactive returns of money. This means there is nothing that says the state can or can't take money back after paying it. With a projected 6 years of additional deficits in CA AND the $25 billion coming up next year this could be a significant issue for years to come.

Stay tuned for updates.