DC Disability Budget Hearing on June 16

The hearing on the DDS budget is next Monday, June 16, and from what I can tell only thirteen people have signed up, so there's plenty of room for more.  As I reported in my most recent post, the DDS budget was relatively well protected in the mayor's proposed budget for FY2026, particularly given the lack of Congressional action to restore the funds they abruptly erased from DC's FY2025 budget.  Still, there are some troubling elements, such as the fact that future funding for the DSP wage act of 2020 is not assured.  (Note: go here for unfamiliar terms or abbreviations.)  Given the continuing difficulty in locating and retaining staff to support residents with disabilities, this could mean more vacancies as people choose other types of employment instead.

The biggest concern going forward, though, is what will be happening to Medicaid nationally and how that will affect our local programming.  For this reason, when Andy Reese made his presentation on May 30, he said he would initiate an effort starting later in the summer to identify the reasons for significant increases in support costs and ways to bring those costs down.

The Mayor's Budget is Out

Well, we now have the mayor's budget in hand, described here by our friend Martin Austermuhle.  These are tough times and there's a lot of concern over the focus on longer-term economic growth at the expense of some near-term social programs, including those for people who aren't US citizens.  There's no doubt that the mayor is treading very carefully though, since otherwise the Congress and President Trump could easily slash our overall budget at any time.

Given this context, it was a relief to learn at the DDS Friday forum that there are not major cuts foreseen to current supports to people with developmental disabilities, and hopefully this won't change after council consideration.  (The clothing allowance reduction from last year will remain, though, and there are deeper cuts to administrative fees than last year.)  The power point and recording from last Friday will be found here and here as of this Wednesday 6/4, and the hearing on the DDS budget will take place on Monday June 16:  sign up here to testify.  The DD council can assist if folks need help with their testimony. [I haven't studied or heard how the EPD waiver is affected in the budget, but that hearing is on June 11, and you can sign up here to testify.]

Time is short, and the council will be voting on the mayor's budget in July.

Thanks for reading!  And note also that as of last month I've started a weekly newsletter on Substack entitled "DClives," about the real DC where people live and don't just pass through.  Here is my latest installment.