Legislative Session Begins on Monday!!!

Legislative Session Update
March 26, 2010

Let the games begin!

LEGISLATIVE SESSION:

The legislative session officially starts on Monday, March 29^th at noon and ends at 6:00 on Monday, June 21^st.

DHH’s BUDGET:

The House Appropriations Committee has already met to hear testimony on House Bill 1 (the state budget). Included in HB 1 for the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (OCDD) AND the Office of Aging and Adult Services (OAAS) are:

· Privatization of state run community homes

· Consolidation of North east and North west Services and Supports Centers

· Plans to reduce the number of individuals living in state run developmental centers by 20%

· 3.1% cuts to community based providers

· Addition of 150 New Opportunities Waiver slots

· $61 Million cut from PCS-LTC services

PUBLIC TESTIMONY:

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hear public testimony on Tuesday, March 30^th and Wednesday, March 31^st. I will be there to testify in opposition to HB 1 with testimony that will focus on the devastating CUMULATIVE effects of all of the cuts to community based providers over the past 18 months. If you would like to testify and share information on the impact that the cuts have had to your specific agency OR to the people you serve, then please feel free to join me at the capitol. If you can’t be at the capitol next week, but have a specific story to tell, then please call or email me and I would be happy to share your story with our legislators.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES:

I am in the process of reviewing all of the bills for this legislative session. I will post periodic legislative updates to The Arc’s Legislative Policy Blog at http://thearclapolicy.blogspot.com/ . You can access The Arc’s Legislative Policy Blog at any time to see the most recent legislative reports from The Arc of Louisiana.