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What’s Happening in Olympia?
Legislators at a Crossroads – What Does it Mean for You
by Phil Jordan
March 26, 2003
The Legislative session of 2003 is just past the half-way point. Momentous changes to laws that affect people with disabilities are being debated daily in Olympia. Below you will find a discussion of some of the bills that the Legislature is considering and what they may mean to you. When reading about the bills below, HB is short for “House Bill” and SB is short for “Senate Bill.”
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Fircrest Closure - SB 5971 |
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Changes to DD services - SB 5566, HB 1623 |
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Mental Health Ombuds - the bill is apparently dead |
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Mental Health Insurance Parity - the bill is apparently dead |
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Employment for People with Disabilities - HB 1813 |
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Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities - budget item |
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How to Contact your Legislators |
Developmental Disabilities
SB 5971 – Creating the Fircrest Legacy Trust, closing Fircrest, and allowing residents the choice of where they want to live.
In these tough economic times when the Legislature is desperately seeking ways to balance the budget, this may be the most important bill of the session for people with developmental disabilities. Please see the Feature Story of the Spring edition of Envoy On-Line to learn more about this important issue.
SB 5566, HB 1623 – Changing the law that determines how services for people with developmental disabilities are provided.
If you like lots of confusion, this is the issue for you.
Back in January, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) asked the Legislature to make sweeping changes to the law that spells out how services are to be provided for people with developmental disabilities. Representative Ruth Kagi (D-Shoreline) and Senator Alex Deccio (R-Yakima) were both skeptical of the proposal, but agreed to sponsor the bill as a courtesy to DSHS. The bill numbers are HB 1623 and SB 5566.
The disability community erupted in protest. The bills, as written by DSHS, would have eliminated services for at least 3,000 people. The bill proposed to re-write the entire chapter of the law that relates to services for people with developmental disabilities and would have had the following effects:
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Change the definition of a "developmental disability." The new definition would describe a person with a developmental disability as someone who has a cognitive disability. This means that many people with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, brain injuries, and autism (among others) would no longer be eligible for services from the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). Although some people who would lose eligibility would be able to qualify for services from other parts of DSHS, there are no guarantees that the transition would go smoothly. Even more frightening, children who no longer meet the definition of having a developmental disability would probably not be eligible for any services if they don't qualify for Medicaid. |
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Reduce the level of services. Currently, the law directs DDD to provide services that are in the "best interests" of eligible people. The bill would lower that standard. Although not written very clearly, the bill implies that DDD will not have to provide services in the future except when the "health or safety" of the individual is threatened. |
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Remove language that says it is the intent of the Legislature to support people with developmental disabilities to live in their communities. This important statement describes the desire of people with developmental disabilities to be self-sufficient and to live where they choose. It is totally unacceptable for DSHS to seek to eliminate this important statement of values. |
Because of the protests from the disability community, these two bills were quickly killed. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Many Legislators believe that something dramatic must be done regarding the way the state provides services for people with developmental disabilities. Several meetings have been held, and it has become clear that many of the elements of SB 5566 and HB 1623 will be re-introduced in a new bill.
Nobody knows exactly when a new bill will be introduced. It could happen anytime before the end of the Legislative session, which is scheduled to end on April 27, 2003. Check the WPAS Legislative Agenda on the WPAS web site often to stay up-to-date on this important issue. You can also sign up for WPAS E-Mail Updates to receive e-mail alerts about important issues like this one.
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Mental Health issues
SB 5946 – Creating an independent Mental Health Ombuds office
This is an issue that WPAS has been pushing for many years. Currently, there are mental health ombuds whose job it is to help people who have problems with the state mental health system. Unfortunately, the ombuds are hired and fired by the Regional Support Networks (RSNs) who are the county-based organizations that manage the state system. This means that if an ombuds tries to help someone who is complaining about the way they were treated by the RSN, the ombuds would have to stand up to their own boss.
WPAS believes that the ombuds must be independent of the RSNs if they have any hope of doing a good job helping people who are having trouble with the state system.
Neither the state, nor the RSNs have been helpful in creating an independent ombuds system. Once again this year, opponents of the bill found a way to keep this popular bill – which has received great support from Legislators – from coming up for a vote. The bill is probably dead for the year. WPAS will try again next year to push this bill through.
HB 1828 – Mental health insurance parity
A similar fate was met by another bill that WPAS has been working on for years. Currently, health insurance coverage of mental health services is very limited. HB 1828 would require insurers to cover mental health services in the same way they cover medical and surgical services. The Washington Coalition for Insurance Parity worked very hard this year to present a bill that would have no fiscal impact on the state budget for five years. The bill appeared to have sufficient votes to pass the House of Representatives, but the bill failed to receive a hearing in the House Appropriations Committee and is apparently dead until next year.
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Employment
HB 1813 – Employment for people with disabilities
WPAS worked hard on this bill, and although we were originally skeptical that it would help people with disabilities find meaningful employment, we are now satisfied that this is a good piece of legislation. The bill would make it easier for businesses owned or operated by people with disabilities to get government contracts. It will also extend the same benefit to Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) who often run sheltered workshops.
WPAS believes that sheltered workshops can be used to exploit people with disabilities, because they can pay workers less than the minimum wage. However, in order for CRPs to continue receive the benefits of this bill, they have to show that they are improving every year in finding real jobs for people with disabilities, paying better wages, and promoting people with disabilities into management positions.
Because of these built-in safeguards, WPAS is happy to support this bill. HB 1813 could be a first step in reforming a system that has not treated people with disabilities in a fair or equitable manner.
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Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities (HWD)
This program has been called many things. When it was passed into law two years ago, it was known as Ticket to Work, or the Medicaid Buy-in. Its real name is Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities (HWD) and it is an important program for people with disabilities who want to work.
The biggest reason that people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) don’t find good jobs is that they can’t afford to lose the healthcare coverage (Medicaid) that they receive as a result of receiving their SSI checks. Medicaid is one of the few healthcare insurance programs that provides services that are critical to people with disabilities. HWD is an important piece in a larger puzzle that helps people work at a good job, and still receive Medicaid coverage.
Under the HWD program, if a person finds a job that results in the loss of their SSI benefits (because of earning a good wage), they can actually pay an insurance premium that will allow them to continue to receive Medicaid coverage.
The Governor has proposed that the HWD program be eliminated in this year’s budget. Part of his reasoning may be that the HWD currently has only about 150 people using the program. This figure, however, is misleading. HWD was created to work hand-in-hand with the federal Ticket to Work legislation. Ticket to Work is a new program that will provide “tickets” to SSI and SSDI recipients. These tickets can be exchanged for employment services from organizations that help people with disabilities find jobs. The federal government hopes that people with disabilities will find good jobs and be able to become more self-sufficient.
So why are only 150 people signed up for this program? Because the Ticket to Work program has not started yet (in Washington). Tickets will be mailed to SSI and SSDI recipients in Washington beginning in November of 2003. The distribution of tickets won’t be complete until sometime in 2004. If HWD is eliminated now, the tickets will be virtually worthless to people with disabilities because if they start working, they stand to lose their healthcare coverage.
Legislators have been slow to grasp this important point. E-mail or call your Legislators today and tell them that people with disabilities want to work and become self-sufficient. They are looking forward to receiving their Ticket to Work from the federal government, but it will be worthless without the Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities program.
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Contact Your Legislators
Don’t know who your Legislators are? Here is a website that will help you find out!
Prefer to telephone? Call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. The operators will help you get your message to your Legislators.
There are many other bills that are being debated in the Legislature that affect people with disabilities. Keep up-to-date by checking in regularly with the WPAS Legislative Agenda on the WPAS web site.
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