Advocacy Update

Hello everyone. Its hard to believe that its already April but it is great to be able to go outside and enjoy warm weather again. April means the State budget is completed and we can take a small breather after months of work on various budget concerns.

Of particular concern for us this year was the $1.5 million cut proposed by the Governor affecting the Statewide Independent Living Centers. Such a large cut could have meant the loss of more than $40,000 to the Plattsburgh center. You can imagine how much that would have hurt our effectiveness in delivering the many services we provide. Many action alerts were sent out asking our friends to contact the governor and state legislators to recognize the positive influence and investment that Independent Living Centers provide to the state and local communities and to therefore restore the cut and increase funding to the centers. We are incredibly grateful for all the support and assistance you gave us in responding to the action alerts. Although the final budget does cut some funding to ILC's your efforts made a difference in making those cuts much smaller than previously proposed, significantly limiting the impact on individual centers' ability to deliver the services we provide.

The Original Governor's proposed budget would have cut $1.5 million from Independent Living Centers. The final budget will cut the allocation for Independent Living Centers by $235,000. We don't know yet how much each center's allocation will be reduced.

In closing, NCCI will have a chartered bus going down to Albany on May 12th for the Assembly Disability Awareness Day. The bus will depart from the Center on Sharron Avenue at 7 AM and arrive back in Plattsburgh around 6 PM. There will be training sessions on a variety of subjects and we will be visiting our local legislators throughout the day. If you are interested in attending please give us a call at 563-9058 and ask for Robert or e-mail me at robert@ncci-online.com. There will be limited space for power chairs so please let us know as soon as possible.

Action Alert! Ask Senator Little to Co-Sponsor S.6311, The Polling Place Access Bill

Last fall, Senator Larkin introduced S.6311, a polling place access bill. Since then, Assemblyman Cahill altered the polling place access bill he had introduced in the Assembly (A.244) to make the bill "same as" Senator Larkin's bill. The Assembly unanimously passed the bill last year. This year, we expect it will be passed on the Assembly Disability Awareness Day.

S.6311, however, has been stuck in committee for quite some time. We need to get more Senators to support this bill by becoming co-sponsors. The goal is to get enough sponsors and support for passage by Senate Disability Awareness Day on May 6th.

Please call Senator Little at (518) 455-2811 or 561-2430 and ask her to co-sponsor Senate bill S.6311, the Polling Site Access Bill. Also ask her to call Senator Griffo's office (Senate chair of the Elections Committee) to ask him to move the bill out of committee and put it on the floor for a vote on May 6th, Senate Disability Awareness Day.

One more push for ILC funding

This week is the last chance for supporters of New York's Independent Living Centers to voice their support for funding. The State budget is almost finished. To date, over 400 calls and e-mails have reached the Governor and key legislators in support of restoring and increasing ILC funding. I am including a copy of the Background Summary provided in an action alert earlier this month so you can see what's at stake.

Please take a moment to send a web-based fax on this important issue. Click the link below, and the system will be all set up for you to send faxes to the key decision-makers in Albany.

We all appreciate your support!

Click here to support ILC funding.

Urge Governor Patterson To Fully Fund Independent Living Centers

Action:

Call Governor Paterson and your local Assembly and Senate member TODAY and leave the following message:

“Please do not permit the proposed across the board Budget cuts to further erode critical services to people with disabilities by cutting funding for independent living centers. These centers help disabled New Yorkers to prepare for, and find, jobs. Independent Living Centers were already cut $1.5 million in this year’s budget at a time when the Regents were requesting an additional $5 million for independent living centers.

Please prevent further cuts to ILC services. Restore the previous $1.5 million cut and provide an additional $5 million in ILC funding in this year’s budget.”

CALL Governor Paterson at 1-518-474-8390.

Find the contact information for your representatives:

http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/

http://senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm


Background:

Last year, the legislature approved total ILC funding of $13.2 million. The Executive Budget provided $11.7 million in ILC funding for the 2008-2009 budget year. Last year’s increase provided one year of full funding for three new ILCs in Herkimer, Putnam and Sullivan counties. The balance of the increase was distributed to the existing 36 centers identified in state Education Law.

The $1.5 million funding increase approved by the legislature last year provided some additional ability for centers to address existing funding shortfalls. Funding has not kept pace with the dramatic increase in demand for services over several years, however. According to figures from the state Department of Education, demand for ILC services has increased 27% from 2000 to 2007, while funding has increased only 11%. We are therefore seeking an ILC funding increase of $5 million as well as authorization in state Education Law and full funding for three new centers in Herkimer, Putnam, and Sullivan counties and a fourth new center in Ontario county.

ILCs need a $5 million increase to continue and expand their work providing people of all ages and disabilities with services that allow them to:

Develop skills to live independently
Earn degrees, find jobs, and become self-sufficient
Reduce their reliance on state and federal benefit programs
Stay out of institutions and participate fully in community life
ILCs are more important to the State than ever before given the following facts:

· The employment gap between people with disabilities and those without disabilities is increasing

· The unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is 66.5%, according to Cornell University’s most recent figures

· Working age people with disabilities are more likely to be living in poverty than people without disabilities, and the gap is increasing

· Educational attainment of people with disabilities lags behind the broader population, and working age people with disabilities are less likely to obtain a college degree

The benefits to the state of ILC-provided services include:

· ILCs can help close the education, employment, and income gap between people with disabilities and people without disabilities.

· ILCs can facilitate the implementation of the state’s health care reform goals, including the restructuring of long term care and Medicaid, by ensuring that people with disabilities receive the services and supports they need to live independently in their communities.

· ILCs can help lower the cost of long-term care. According to VESID data, from 2001-2005, ILCs transitioned or diverted 4,152 individuals from nursing homes and other institutions, saving the state nearly $350 million.

· ILCs can help facilitate the state’s compliance with the US Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision through their nursing facility transition and diversion efforts and by providing other services that enable people with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting.

Action Alert: Help Us Pass The Community Choice Act

Issue:

Across the country, advocates are working hard to get cosponsors for the Community Choice Act (CCA). There is a steady stream of Representatives signing on as cosponsors of this important legislation. But there are still Representatives who had signed on as cosponsors of Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Support Act (MiCASSA) who haven't signed on to CCA. The Center for Disability Rights in Rochester (CDR) is part of a coalition that is consistently advocating for passage of the Community Choice Act in our nation's capital. CDR is contacting the offices of these Representatives, but staff often report that the Representative haven't signed on because local constituents haven't contacted their offices.

In New York, six Representatives who had signed on as supporters of MiCASSA have not yet signed on to the Community Choice Act. Our very own Congressmen, John McHugh is one of these representatives, we need to urge him to cosponsor the legislation as he has done in the past.

Action:

Please call Congressman McHugh at (202) 225-4611 or (518) 563-1406 and urge him to please co-sponsor the Community Choice Act (HR 1621), which he has co-sponsored in the past when it was called MiCASSA.

Background:

The Community Choice Act builds on the Money Follows the Person initiative, paving a way to Real Choice in long term care. The bill will allow people who are eligible for nursing homes or other Medicaid-funded institutions to have the choice of living in the community through various services and supports. The legislation also provides enhanced federal matching funds to help states develop their long term care infrastructure and grant funds to help states increase their ability to provide home and community-based services. Finally, this bill creates a demonstration project to evaluate service coordination and cost sharing approaches for those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare services.

Benefits of the Community Choice Act for New York

The following information about the benefits of the Community Choice Act for New York State comes to us from Bruce Darling, Executive Director of the Center for Disability Rights (CDR) of Rochester.

"As for New York, that’s an EXCELLENT question. I’m sure that even some advocates may think that New York has sufficient services and we don’t “need” this legislation. But the Community Choice Act would indeed be beneficial for New Yorkers and the state itself.

I think the impact on actual people is really important. Let me list those first.

The Community Choice Act levels the playing field and assures choice in the long term “care” system. Right now, institutional “care” is mandated by the federal government. States MUST pay for nursing facility care. The Community Choice Act doesn’t create a new mandate, but it does expand the existing mandate so that people who would be eligible for placement in a facility could have the CHOICE to live in the community with supports. The Community Choice Act would require that states have a community-based option for people who would otherwise be placed in an institutional setting. Until we get the Community Choice Act passed, institutional “care” will remain the standard/norm. As other states have run into financial problems, they have cut community based services in order to maintain funding for nursing facilities because the institutions are REQUIRED under federal Medicaid law and community services are not.

Even look at the language that is used. Home and Community Based Services are often provided through WAIVERS where the state is asking if it can use money that is designated for institutional placement to pay for community based services. These waiver programs are capped and may run out of slots, meaning that people would need to go into a facility until a slot becomes available. We haven’t had much of this in New York, but it could easily become a problem here as the state expands the use of waivers.

The Community Choice Act includes assistance with the instrumental activities of daily living. New York does have an extensive long term care system, but it hasn’t effectively served individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Although at one time these individuals were served under the personal care program, that changed with a court case and the personal care program (including the consumer directed personal assistance program) don’t assist with instrumental activities of daily living and supports like “safety monitoring”. Even now, this group of people (who desperately need services) have EXTREMELY LIMITED options in New York. Consequently families get burnt out meeting the individual’s needs and the person ends up in a nursing facility.

The Community Choice Act includes a maintenance-of-effort requirement. This means that states can not diminish more enriched programs already being provided in the state. Again, as we face uncertain economic times, this would be particularly important in a state like New York which has a wide range of programs.

And the Community Choice Act will also benefit our state.

The Community Choice Act provides an enhanced Federal match for the five years before the services become permanent. With this enhanced match states which begin planning activities for changing their long term care systems and include Community-based Attendant Services and Supports in their State Plan would receive an additional 10% in federal matching funds. That means New York would get 60 cents on the dollar rather than just 50 cents. A dime doesn’t sound like much but on the scale we are talking, it’s good money. And its NEW money! We could definitely use that to balance our budget.

The Community Choice Act also provides an enhanced match (up to 90% Federal funding) for individuals whose costs exceed 150% of average nursing facility costs. Okay, that one sounds too much like blah blah blah, but it’s really cool. It helps both the state AND our community. The cost of serving some people is just really expensive. We were concerned that this group of people might get “left behind” in nursing facilities because there would be a financial incentive to keep them there. This provision of the Community Choice Act means that the federal government would pay a higher Medicaid match (up to 90% of the cost) to support these individuals in the community. A state like New York, which provides a significant personal care benefit (up to 24 hours per day), would get extra federal dollars to serve these people. More federal Medicaid matching funds… the state likes that. Back to us and the people we represent. We like this aspect of the legislation because it takes the heat off of people with more extensive support needs (who for years have been under fire for costing too much) and it because it helps level the financial playing field, it FREES OUR PEOPLE! "

Voting Machines Update

Clinton and Essex Counties will replace their current voting machines with a new, more accessible voting system. For more information, read today's article in the Press-Republican.

Action Alert: Independent Living Center Funding

Issue:

Independent Living Center funding

Action:

Please call Governor Spitzer today at 518-474-8390 and say:

"Please restore the $1.5 million cut in funding to Independent Living Centers in the Executive Budget in the 21 day budget amendments and increase funding to ILCs by $5 million."

Background:

Last year, the legislature approved total ILC funding of $13.2 million but the Executive Budget provides $11.7 million in ILC funding for the 2008-2009 budget year. Last year's increase provided one year of full funding for three new ILCs in Herkimer, Putnam and Sullivan counties. The balance of the increase was distributed to the existing 36 centers identified in state Education Law.

The $1.5 million funding increase approved by the legislature last year provided some additional ability for centers to address existing funding shortfalls. Funding has not kept pace with the dramatic increase in demand for services over several years, however. According to figures from the state Department of Education, demand for ILC services has increased 27% from 2000 to 2007, while funding has increased only 11%. We are therefore seeking an ILC funding increase of $5 million as well as authorization in state Education Law and full funding for three new centers in Herkimer, Putnam, and Sullivan counties and a fourth new center in Ontario county.

ILCs need a $5 million increase to continue and expand their work providing people of all ages and disabilities with services that allow them to:

Develop skills to live independently
Earn degrees, find jobs, and become self-sufficient
Reduce their reliance on state and federal benefit programs
Stay out of institutions and participate fully in community life

ILCs are more important to the State than ever before given the following facts:

· The employment gap between people with disabilities and those without disabilities is increasing

· The unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is 66.5%, according to Cornell University's most recent figures

· Working age people with disabilities are more likely to be living in poverty than people without disabilities, and the gap is increasing

· Educational attainment of people with disabilities lags behind the broader population, and working age people with disabilities are less likely to obtain a college degree

The benefits to the state of ILC-provided services include:

· ILCs can help close the education, employment, and income gap between people with disabilities and people without disabilities.

· ILCs can facilitate the implementation of the state's health care reform goals, including the restructuring of long term care and Medicaid, by ensuring that people with disabilities receive the services and supports they need to live independently in their communities.

· ILCs can help lower the cost of long-term care. According to VESID data, from 2001-2005, ILCs transitioned or diverted 4,152 individuals from nursing homes and other institutions, saving the state nearly $350 million.

· ILCs can help facilitate the state's compliance with the US Supreme Court's Olmstead decision through their nursing facility transition and diversion efforts and by providing other services that enable people with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting.

2008 Presidential Candidates on Disability Issues

The New York Primary is tomorrow, and both Democrats and Republicans have a real opportunity to influence who their parties' Presidential nominees will be this year. Everyone has his or her own reasons for voting for this or that candidate, and it is fairly easy to learn about each candidates's position on foreign policy, health care, economics, education, the war, etc. It isn't quite as easy to find out how candidates would deal with disability issues.

Here are some links and tips to help you learn more about the Presidential candidates' disability policy proposals:

American Association of People with Disabilities - [2008 Presidential Election]

Disability policies on candidate web sites
(listed alphabetically by last name)

Senator Hillary Clinton - [Economic Opportunities for People with Disabilities]
Governor Mike Huckabee - [Nothing on people with disabilities found on website]
Senator John McCain - [Nothing on people with disabilities found on website]
Governor Mitt Romney - [Nothing on people with disabilities found on website]
Senator Barack Obama - [Disabilities]
Congressman Ron Paul - [Nothing on people with disabilities found on website]

Candidates without specific disability policy statements may have policies related to people with disabilities listed under issue categories like "Senior Citizens", "Health Care", "Education", and "Employment".

There's one more thing you can do, before and after your primary vote on February 5. Use the candidates' web sites to e-mail or post to their online forums and ask them to post their disability issue positions prominently on their web sites and mention them in their campaign speeches. The more we ask candidates about the policies that affect people with disabilities, the more time the candidates will spend learning about these issues themselves. Ultimately, that will improve things no matter who is elected, and earn greater respect and influence for the disability community.

2008 Disability Priority Agenda

The New York Association on Independent Living has released its Disability Priority Agenda for 2008. Click the link below to read the agenda summary. For more details on specific issues, click the links on the right side of this page.

2008 Disability Priority Agenda