As posted, Thank you to Access Living And Amber for the update...
Dear Access Living friends and allies,
Today, the State of Illinois kicked off its budget wars for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014! The Governor delivered a speech on the state of our budget, and five state agencies did a presentation together about the budget’s impact on human services.
Believe it or not, the programs Access Living tends to focus its energy on will NOT be cut, if all goes as the Governor proposes. Most of the programs we deal with come from the Department of Human Services (DHS), and DHS is not cutting any programs. So that means state funds for Centers for Independent Living and the Community Reintegration Program would stay the same. The Home Services Program would experience an overall increase of about $86 million from various items. Care is also being taken to preserve the Community Care Program for Seniors. There is also DHS funding for the Ligas and Williams cases.
The State IS planning for the Medicaid expansion by hiring new staff to deal with new cases. The Department of Health and Family Services is also proposing to spend a total of between $22 and $23 million on the Colbert implementation plan to move people with disabilities out of nursing facilities in Cook County.
The Governor did not announce new institution closures, but he is still moving forward with closing Murray Developmental Center in Centralia, and advocates will continue asking that he close two more developmental centers by end of year 2015.
What with these relatively positive developments, the mood at the Capitol was a little less flat-out scared than in the past few years. (I admit I never thought I would see the day…) State revenue is up over $800 million and the state is making some progress on its back bills.
The devil, of course, is in the details---some are BIG details such as the fact that the Governor’s proposed budget is $600 million more than what the Illinois House of Representatives has estimated. The Governor is also proposing a $400 million cut to education, which could pit education folks against everyone else. Plus, the State and the legislature need to fix the pension problem as one in every five dollars will go to pension costs.
Furthermore, the Governor’s budget does not provide pay increases to a lot of disability providers, such as those working with people with developmental disabilities. The types of details that prevent disability organizations from going about our jobs are things to watch for.
If you would like to review the budget on your own, feel free to go to: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/budget/Pages/BudgetBooks.aspx.
In the meantime, stay tuned for action alerts about our state budget! We will need advocates to teach our legislators which issues are most important to them.
The legislators are now in the position of likely having to make cuts to the Governor’s proposal, so they need to know what matters to you!
Amber Smock
Director of Advocacy, Access Living
###
For Access Living of Chicago, visit : http://www.accessliving.org/
For Gov Quinns 2014 budget speach, see post : 'Governor Quinn Delivers Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Address - Transcript' March 6, 2013
http://abilitychicagoinfo.blogspot.com/2013/03/governor-quinn-delivers-fiscal-year.html
Dear Access Living friends and allies,
Today, the State of Illinois kicked off its budget wars for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014! The Governor delivered a speech on the state of our budget, and five state agencies did a presentation together about the budget’s impact on human services.
Believe it or not, the programs Access Living tends to focus its energy on will NOT be cut, if all goes as the Governor proposes. Most of the programs we deal with come from the Department of Human Services (DHS), and DHS is not cutting any programs. So that means state funds for Centers for Independent Living and the Community Reintegration Program would stay the same. The Home Services Program would experience an overall increase of about $86 million from various items. Care is also being taken to preserve the Community Care Program for Seniors. There is also DHS funding for the Ligas and Williams cases.
The State IS planning for the Medicaid expansion by hiring new staff to deal with new cases. The Department of Health and Family Services is also proposing to spend a total of between $22 and $23 million on the Colbert implementation plan to move people with disabilities out of nursing facilities in Cook County.
The Governor did not announce new institution closures, but he is still moving forward with closing Murray Developmental Center in Centralia, and advocates will continue asking that he close two more developmental centers by end of year 2015.
What with these relatively positive developments, the mood at the Capitol was a little less flat-out scared than in the past few years. (I admit I never thought I would see the day…) State revenue is up over $800 million and the state is making some progress on its back bills.
The devil, of course, is in the details---some are BIG details such as the fact that the Governor’s proposed budget is $600 million more than what the Illinois House of Representatives has estimated. The Governor is also proposing a $400 million cut to education, which could pit education folks against everyone else. Plus, the State and the legislature need to fix the pension problem as one in every five dollars will go to pension costs.
Furthermore, the Governor’s budget does not provide pay increases to a lot of disability providers, such as those working with people with developmental disabilities. The types of details that prevent disability organizations from going about our jobs are things to watch for.
If you would like to review the budget on your own, feel free to go to: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/budget/Pages/BudgetBooks.aspx.
In the meantime, stay tuned for action alerts about our state budget! We will need advocates to teach our legislators which issues are most important to them.
The legislators are now in the position of likely having to make cuts to the Governor’s proposal, so they need to know what matters to you!
Amber Smock
Director of Advocacy, Access Living
###
For Access Living of Chicago, visit : http://www.accessliving.org/
For Gov Quinns 2014 budget speach, see post : 'Governor Quinn Delivers Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Address - Transcript' March 6, 2013
http://abilitychicagoinfo.blogspot.com/2013/03/governor-quinn-delivers-fiscal-year.html
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