Advocacy Days for Special Budget Session

Journey with us…

The pandemic known as COVID-19 has altered the norm of daily life for all of us. The economic fallout from this crisis has seen many people out of work and state coffers that are completely reliant on people having and spending money in order to bring in the revenue our state needs to fund basic services that people rely on.

On May 13, 2020, Governor Inslee issued a directive to all state agencies to look for reductions in their budgets for what was thought to be a $7 billion shortfall in state revenue. Agencies were told to find savings of 15% that they could propose to cut. To see the proposed cuts from the Developmental Disabilities Administration Proposed cuts 6-2020.

The cuts being proposed would decimate the service system for people with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD). Legislators are going to need to convene in a special session to try to figure out how to address the budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2020.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOUR VOICES TO BE HEARD!

The Arc of Washington State is convening a special session of Virtual Advocacy Days, in partnership with the Washington State Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC) and Self Advocates in Leadership (SAIL). These will be held on Thursday mornings from 10-11:30am. Each week will have different Guest Legislators. A parent and a self-advocate from each district will also talk about how the proposed cuts would be devastating for them. We will also take questions from attendees as time allows.

PUT THESE DATES ON YOUR CALENDAR - 10-11:30am

July 2nd: Representative Timm Ormsby (3rd LD) & Senator Ann Rivers (18th LD)

July 9th: Senator Karen Keiser (33rd LD) & Representative Gina Mosbrucker (14th LD)

July 16th: Senator Mark Schoesler (9th LD) &

July 23rd: TBD

July 30th: TBD

August 6th: Senator Sharon Brown (8th LD) 

(Legislator names will be added as they are scheduled, so check back later)

Join by Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89083668225 (Note: this link is the same for the whole 6 week series.)

Watch live on The Arc of Washington State Facebook Page

Need additional information? Diana@arcwa.org

Voting Resources

Your Vote Has Power!

The 2020 election is only a few months away. Elections can decide how critical programs for people with disabilities and family members work—make sure your vote counts!

Visit thearc.org/vote to get new, free resources on:

• Why it is important to vote, how to vote, and what to do if your voting rights are violated

• Important issues for people with disabilities and families



• Sample questions you can ask candidates

All materials in are in plain language. They are available in English and Spanish and in PDF and Word versions.

2020 Legislative Wrap Up

This year's Legislative Session had lots of "wins" for the I/DD community with lots of bills passing.
We also came out pretty well with the budget and didn't get any line item vetoes due to COVID-19.

Here are a list of the bills that passed concerning those with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.

Arc of Washington - Advocacy Info

Check out the Arc of Washington's Advocacy page for info on

The Governor's Budget
2020 Bills of Interest
2020 Legislative Hearings
Advocacy Days ............and much more :-)

https://arcwa.org/advocacy/advocacy-days/

2020 Legislative Notebook

The Arc of WA puts together the Legislative Notebook with DDA information and stakeholder legislative issue pages. This is a great snapshot of DDA services across the state and what is needed from the legislature to improve services to persons with I/DD.

Click on the link below, scroll halfway down the page, and you'll find the legislative notebook link.
https://arcwa.org/advocacy/

2020 Parent and Family Priorities

What Parent Coalitions hear from families: 

Equity: Services are not equitable across settings for the individual. 

Community Capacity: Communities lack the capacity to meet the needs of 
individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Customer Experience: Families are experiencing significant barriers within 
the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) system, including 
inaccessibility, lack of transparency, lack of cultural competence, and 
challenges navigating the system.

Families need investments in services in the community:

Increase the number of Individual and Family Services waiver slots.
the number of individuals being found eligible for DDA is increasing by more
than 500 people per month. We need to address the backlog of families and
provide this preventive service to keep families from going into crisis.

Increase the availability of out of home overnight planned respite in 
local communities. This allows families to have a break and prevents higher 
cost crisis services. Families want this service in their local community.

Provide seed grants to local communities to identify needs and help develop
and increase local providers with priority going to rural communities. Local
communities, particularly small rural areas are struggling with not having
enough providers. Allowoing investment in a "ground up" approach will 
help to create opportunities that can be customized for the needs of the 
local community.

  #Equity #Family #Community

                                         

2019 DDA Caseload and Cost Report

For those of you who like the numbers.....

Here is the link to the 2019 DDA Caseload and Cost Report.
Information specific to Kittitas County is on pages 18, 20 and 33

Happy reading :-)