On July 3, the Legislature gave us the best possible budget we could have hoped for, thereby showing its commitment to individuals with disabilities and the community services system.

While the hardest work may be over, we must give one final push to ensure that the Governor does not veto either the name change or any of the increases in the disability accounts. As the Globe reported this morning, the Governor vetoed $40 million in spending last year and is expected to veto more this year given the state’s budget crunch.

We must ensure that funding and initiatives essential to people with disabilities are not on the Governor’s veto list. If you haven’t already, go to our Action Center to ask Gov. Patrick not to touch disability accounts or the proposal to change the name of the Department of Mental Retardation. He has until July 13 to issue vetoes. 

If we succeed in staving off vetoes, the budget the Legislature has given us includes increases from the final FY’08 budget and the Governor’s proposed FY’09 budget in almost all our key line items: Family Supports, DOE-DMR, Community Residential, Residential Rate, Turning 22, and Autism Division. Some accounts, including DMR Admin & Operations and State-Operated facilities were down from FY’08. (See below for details, including highlights and a chart or visit the State House/Policy section of our website www.arcmass.org.)

It is important to note that all earmarks added in Conference Committee were funded with new dollars (which therefore causes no pain) with the exception of the Autism Division.

Not to be forgotten is the language included in the Legislature’s budget that would finally change the name of The Department of Mental Retardation to The Department of Developmental Services. This change is long overdue.

Budget Highlights (Barring Gubernatorial Vetoes):

·         The Department of Mental Retardation will be renamed The Department of Developmental Services.

·         Family Support (Respite) services will receive a $1 million boost from FY’08 budget. This will allow about 500 individuals and families to come off the 3,000-person wait list.

·         DOE-DMR Program will receive its biggest increase in a decade, $2 million, which will address the 2-year wait list.

·         The Residential Rate Initiative, a line-item that supplements funding for community residential services, faced the threat of complete elimination but was restored in Conference and will increased by $250,000 over FY’08.

·         Community Residential Services line-item will receive a bump up of $177,000, but part of that eaten up by an additional earmark.

·         Autism Division funding will increase by nearly $3 million from FY’08. Funding for the Autism Division increased sharply through the course of the budget process. The Conference Committee’s inclusion of additional earmarks only slightly impacted those big gains.

·         The Community First Initiative will receive $20 Million. This is significantly less than the Governor’s proposed $45.8 million, but had been at risk of being cut even further.   

·         Both Early Intervention accounts will be funded at significantly higher levels than FY’08.  

·         Administration & Operations account is $650,000 short of level-funded.

·         Funding for state-operated facilities is short about $1 million when State Operated Facilities and Boulet/Waiting List accounts are combined.

This positive budget could not have happened without the leadership of the Conference Committee chairmen, Sen. Steven Panagiotakos and Rep. Robert DeLeo as well as Sen. President Therese Murray and House Speaker Sal DiMasi. Both chairmen demonstrated a willingness to listen to your concerns and sympathize with your needs, and that understanding was reflected in the final conference budget.

In addition to asking the Governor not to veto disability accounts, we also encourage you to thank House and Senate Conference Committee members, especially Sen. Panagiotakos and Rep. DeLeo, as well as President Murray and Speaker DiMasi. Please visit our Action Center to thank these leaders and to ask Gov. Patrick NOT to veto any disability accounts.

On each line-item, we will be asking our legislators to get behind either the House version or the Senate version, depending on which one better serves people with disabilities.

As you can see from the chart above, we will be asking the Conference Committee to support the House versions of:
1. Community Residential 5920-2000
2. Residential Rate Initiative 5920-2006
3. Boulet/ Waiting List 5920-2020
4. Day/Employment Programs 5920-2025

And the Senate versions of:
1. Family Supports (Respite) 5920-3000
2. Autism Division 5920-3010
3. DOE/DMR Program 5948-0012
4. Community First Initiative 4000-0650

If your Rep. or Senator happens to be either a Conference Committee member or the House Speaker or Senate President, we especially need your help emailing, calling and, if possible, visiting your lawmaker, to make sure they understand not only the needs of people with disabilities but also the support from their district for programs that meet those needs.

Most of you, however, will be asking your Rep. and Senator to support the best services possible for people with disabilities and to relay their support to the Conference Committee members. If Conference Committee members get enough pressure from enough “regular” members, the Committee members will ultimately support our budget priorities.

After Conference Committee, the budget is voted on by the full House and Senate and then goes to the Governor’s desk. See our Main Budget Page for an overview of the budget process.