Organizations participating:
The Alliance, Cerebral Palsy of New York State, DDAWNY, IAC, NYSARC, SANYS
12-4-14 MEETING WITH GOVERNOR CUOMO’S STAFF
Click HERE for PDF: 12-4-14 Associations Meeting with Governor’s staff
Attendees:
Rose Duhan, Assistant Secretary for Health; Nadine Fontaine, Counsel; Lou Raffaele, Chief Budget Examiner; Marshall Vitale, Principal Budget Examiner; and Roger Bearden, OPWDD General Counsel.
Margaret Raustiala, ALIA; Barbara Crosier, CP of NYS; JR Drexelius, DDAWNY; Wini Schiff, IAC; Ben Golden, NYSARC; and Steve Holmes, SANYS.
On Thursday, December 4th, ALIA, CP of NYS, DDAWNY, IAC, NYSARC and SANYS met with members of Governor Cuomo’s program, counsel and fiscal staff to convey the profound disappointment, anger and desperation of families in the wake of the Governor’s vetoes of legislation that they had believed would begin to address the problems, of access and sufficiency of services, to meet the needs of their family members with developmental disabilities. The tone of the meeting was serious, even somber, as we conveyed the frustration and desperation of families and the heart-wrenching stories, which they told at the recent OPWDD 5.07 plan hearings, of their inability to access crucial services for their family member. The point was made that family after family spoke movingly of their frustration with and lack of trust in OPWDD because the rhetoric of choice, person centered services and self-determination were belied by reality.
DOB responded that these egregious situations are unacceptable. The Governor’s staff repeatedly made the point that a needs-assessment, that can be depended on to accurately reflect an individual’s needs is required so that those needs can then be funded. Additionally, they stressed that the goal of the Administration is to provide services to meet the individual’s needs—not more and not less–and to increase services as the needs increase. While this is a reasonable goal, we pointed out that it requires families to trust the system and right now trust is simply not there.
The association representatives argued that, even without a reliable needs assessment, (which clearly will not be available for the proposed 2015-16 Executive Budget) there is a critical need for additional resources in Governor Cuomo’s, soon to be released, Executive Budget.
Furthermore, we suggested that the resources could be found in the reinvestment of savings from the closure of developmental centers and from the $5 billion surplus. DOB responded that they are “acquiescing to fundamental changes that improve the process” even if they cost money. As an example, they stated that they recognized that some of the problems plaguing the Front Door process were due to state staff shortages, so they provided $25 million for 500 additional staff people to improve the Front Door process.
The general stance of the Governor’s staff was collaborative, stating repeatedly that they share our goals and will be providing adequate funding to meet the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities. According to DOB, while they were not at liberty to discuss the upcoming Executive Budget, they were looking at:
- Using federal Balancing Incentives Program (BIP) funding for ongoing, and not just for non-reoccurring, expenses. It was unclear where the funding would come from to support reoccurring expenses once BIP funding is no longer available.
- “Template funds” for individuals who leave the Developmental Centers.
- New dollars to fund needed services
In addition to our emphasis on the mood of the families and the need for additional resources, we:
- Thanked them for the COLA and requested that information on implementation be released quickly.
- Discussed the problems with the plan to close Work Centers (aka Sheltered Workshops) in 6 years as opposed to the far more reasonable plan adopted by Rhode Island, with its longer time frame and recognition of individual choice.
- Expressed concern of the timing and sufficiency of soon to be released SEMP rates;
- Discussed the need for information on OPWDD’s plans for the START Program after the pilots have ended.
- Requested an update on the OPWDD’s housing strategy.
- Were assured that funding will not be taken from supports and services, for people with developmental disabilities and their families, to develop or support a new managed care infrastructure.
In summary, the Governor’s staff said that they agreed with us, that they shared our desire to work cooperatively, and they pledged to administratively implement actions to address the issues that the vetoed legislation was designed to address. Most importantly, they repeatedly stated that resources would be in the, soon to be released, Executive Budget to address the lack of services. In a few weeks, Governor Cuomo will release his 2015-2016 Executive Budget and we will all learn whether the positive statements made by his staff are allowed to materialize in the budget or instead, become more rhetoric unsupported by reality.
The Associations also met with the Assembly program & fiscal Staff and CP of NYS will be setting up an OPWDD rate-setting and fiscal tutorial with Jim Moran. Senate staff were unavailable but we will be having similar meetings with them in the beginning of January.