In a blog post earlier this month (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2022/03/todays-history-making-legislation-for.html),
I celebrated the DC council’s final passage of B24-0268, the Developmental
Disability Eligibility Reform Amendment Act.
It’s now been transmitted to the mayor and is awaiting her signature (https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B24-0268).
But Mayor Bowser already has signaled her intent, by
including $500,000 in funding for DDS in her proposed FY2023 budget, under
“Health and Human Services” here: https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-presents-fiscal-year-2023-budget-proposal. This money is intended to support new intake
staff and training so that DDS can be ready to implement eligibility reform
effective October 1. (Some of the new
staff will come on board before the end of this fiscal year, which ends on
September 30.) That signature still is
important though! After she signs, the
Congress will have its opportunity to review the bill, as they always do (https://dccouncil.us/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law/),
but it’s highly unlikely this bill would attract any negative attention from national
legislators.
So SPREAD THE WORD! Advocates
will be creating opportunities over the coming months to ensure people across
the city are aware of this historic legislation and the change it will bring.
DDS director Reese has indicated on several occasions that
DDS will be contacting anyone who was turned down for DDA supports over the
past three years to encourage them to re-apply.
In the Committee on Human Services hearing yesterday on the proposed DDS
budget (beginning around the start of the second hour, 2:00:00, at https://brianneknadeau.com/live), he
indicated that nearly 100 slots are going unused in the traditional I/DD waiver
(1923 available, 1826 utilized), with another 55 slots available (5 used out of
60) in the IFS waiver. He also noted
that 50 additional slots are normally added each year, with the distribution
between the IFS and IDD waivers yet to be determined.
One serious budget issue that remains is that the
administration is proposing a 3-year phase-in instead of an immediate increase in
DSP salaries, which will continue to put pressure on DDS providers’ recruitment
efforts – hear DC Coalition (http://dc-coalition.org/)
director Ian Paregol starting around minute 1:25:00 of https://brianneknadeau.com/live, and
stick around to hear other advocates on that panel. You’ll note that in my own testimony at around
1:40:00, in addition to noting passage and funding of the DDERAA, I called
attention to the need for more robust efforts in favor of customized employment
in this, the tenth year of DC’s participation as an Employment First state (see
https://www.ddinwdc.com/2022/03/making-employment-first-reality.html).
A few other noteworthy events:
-
“Worlds
Imagined” events for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (DDAM) continue
tonight: https://dds.dc.gov/node/1584116. Contact Charlisa Payne
(Charlisa.Payne2@dc.gov) or Alison Whyte (alison.whyte@dc.gov) to make sure you get the links for remaining events. The DDS link shown here also has recordings
of some previous DDAM events from earlier this month.
- You’ll note
that one of the events shown is Quality Trust’s “Better Together” Zoom
gathering on Thursday at 5:30 – you have one more day to buy your ticket at https://qualitytrustforindividualswithdisabilities.networkforgood.com/events/39364-2022-better-together-reception if you want to participate in the painting! No doubt Quality Trust’s new CEO, Shawn
Ullman, will also be on hand!
- This Friday,
March 25, will be the last of DDS’s routine weekly community calls. Starting in April, these calls will occur
monthly on the fourth Friday of each month.
(A planning team will be meeting on the second Friday of each month.)
As always, if you wonder about any of
the organizations or acronyms I use in my blog, please take a look at my (new
and improved!) blog page “DC Disability-related Organizations and Terminology”
(https://www.ddinwdc.com/p/blog-page.html), which you can find over in the righthand panel of my
blog. If you don’t see
something there that you’re wondering about, or if you think something needs
updating, please let me know!