Legislative Update from JCDS April 5th

Once upon time there was a crucial bill named SB 210  

It went up for a vote by the big, powerful legislature

Remarkably, it passed

And everyone lived happily every after!

 

Well, perhaps it wasn’t as simple as this little ditty makes it appear. The debate was a bit grueling at times, but thanks to JoCo Representatives Colloton and Kiegerl who passionately pled our cause, the majority of legislators respectfully voted in favor of passage 89 to 34.  I felt as if I were sitting in church as the carrier of the bill made his closing speech.  Riveting and gave me the shivers! 

 

The next step is Governor Brownback’s signature.  We have no reason to believe that he won’t sign it. 

 

The assessment won’t go into effect until we get approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  Once we have that “okay”, we’re ready to go!

 

Johnson County legislators supporting the bill were:

Bollier, Bruchman (new), Colloton, Kiegerl, Kleeb, Meigs (new), Schwab, Siegfreid, Slattery, Spalding, Wolf and Worley. 

 

Those “nay” votes:

Brown, Denning(new) Donohoe, Grosserode (new) Hildabrand (new) Kinzer, Montgomery (new), O’Hara (new), Rubin (new) and Smith (new).

 

Please note that only two of our NEW legislators voted for the bill.  This tells me that we have lots of work to do towards educating our new legislators about the community DD system. 

 

We got a wonderful surprise on Thursday while the House was debating their FY‘12 budget bill.

·         Our own Representative Ron Worley offered an amendment adding $3.5 million into the community DD budget! 

·         Remember, the House has a new rule that if a new spending is added to an Appropriations bill, the dollars must be found to pay for it.

·         Worley said he’d get it from the oil and gas valuation depletion trust fund (who even knew there was such a thing)! Works for me!  Obviously worked for the majority!  It passed.

·         He slated $1.5 million for State General Funds (which CDDO’s typically use to serve folks who aren’t eligible for Medicaid, but still need a little support) with $2 million going into the waiting list. That $2 million would be eligible for federal matching funds.

 

As it stands right now, both Senate and House FY’12 budget bills contain dollars for DD! Representatives from the Senate and the House will begin meeting mid-April to negotiate a final bill. 

 

1-      Look at how your representative voted on SB 210.

2-      Write a thank you note if they supported SB 210 or a tactful  “I’m disappointed”  note if they didn’t support it.

3-      Send the note to their home address. (See attached).

4-      Legislators are home for the next three weeks. Go to the websites and find out where they are going to be. Many are hosting forums, get togethers, town hall meetings, etc. 

5-      Join them and share your story. 

6-      As with SB 210, our loved ones with developmental disabilities deserve to live happily EVER AFTER! It doesn’t have to be only in a fairy tale. Let’s make it happen!

 

Warm regards,

  

Lurena Mead 
JCDS Community Relations Manager

913.826.2212