Gov Signs Budget But Fiscal Crisis Remains - Makes $1 Million In Additional Cuts; Minor Reduction to Special Ed Dispute Resolution

Governor Gray Davis signed today the 2003-2004 state budget, officially giving California a spending plan 33 days late, though the fiscal crisis remains, with an $8 billion deficit already projected for next year. As expected, the embattled governor, facing an historic recall, made only minor additional reductions and changes to the budget, using his line item veto (or "blue pencil") authority, totaling about $1 million.  None of those additional reductions impacted people with developmental, cognitive or other disabilities, or seniors with the exception of a minor reduction of $123,000 for special education dispute resolution, mediation and fair hearing programs.

Not included in the the total of $1 million in additional reductions, are several reductions (none in the Departments of Developmental Services, Rehabilitation or Social Services) that the Governor claimed were "technical corrections" or "adjustments" - essentially correcting drafting errors in the budget bill that did not correspond to actions taken by the Legislature. None of these reductions had any impact to Medi-Cal, SSI/SSP or other community-based services and supports for people with developmental, cognitive and other disabilities.

Davis will take action on a package of several other bills that are linked to the budget bill (referred to as budget "trailer" bills because they follow or trail the budget) over the next week.

SUMMARY OF LINE ITEM VETOES MADE BY GOV DAVIS TODAY IN THE BUDGET BILL OF INTEREST TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
The governor made the following additional reductions or changes to the budget bill that are of interest or have some level of impact - mostly none - to people with developmental, cognitive or other disabilities.  Please note that all these changes are either technical (corrects a drafting error) or minor (in terms of dollar amount or impact on program):

DEPARTMENT: EDUCATION (SPECIAL EDUCATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM)
BUDGET ITEM: 6110-001-0890
What THIS Item (or Provision) Does:  Provision 9 from this budget line item in the budget bill relates to a legislative appropriation that totaled $10,263,000 for dispute resolution services, including mediation and fair hearing services, provided through contract for the Special Education Program.
What the Governor Did: Reduced support (line item vetoed) from $129,929,000 to $129,304,000 and revised Provisions 9 and 24 [Provision 24 relates to support for the Ravenswood City School Improvement Program, which does not directly impact people with disabilities]. The Governor claimed that the reduction of $123,000 eliminates only the amount for salary increases for contracted employees.  The Governor wrote that "..."As the Budget provides for no augmentations for state employees, I believe it would be inequitable to fund salary increases for contracted employees. With this reduction, $10,140,000 remains available for dispute resolution services. I am revising Provision 9 to conform to this action."
Impact to People With Developmental, Cognitive and other Disabilities: No direct impact as this reduction should not have any significant impact to dispute resolution, mediation or fair hearing services.

DEPARTMENT: DEPARTMENT OF AGING
Budget Item: 4170-001-0001
What THIS Budget Item/Provision Does: Provision 1 from this budget line item in the budget bill, specifies that a reduction made to the Department of Aging state operations cannot be allocated in a way that affects positions that provide direct services for the Department of Aging to the public or that administer the federal Older Americans Act programs.
What the Governor Did: Deleted (line item vetoed) Provision 1 (for support of this department). The Governor wrote in his veto message that "...This language would restrict the Administration's ability to prioritize resources and deal with the legislative reduction based on programmatic needs of the Department of Aging."
Impact to People with developmental, cognitive and other disabilities: Some possible impact for those seniors who receive services through Department of Aging depending on how staffing reductions in state operations are carried out. The Governor's veto of THIS provision could be indicative of how his administration would react to similar provisions in other budget areas (Developmental Services for instance) and should be of interest to advocates.

DEPARTMENT: DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH
Budget Item 4440-101-0001
What THIS Budget Item/Provision Does: Relates to Department of Mental Health community services (local assistance) "other treatment", specifically Mental Health Managed Care programs.
What the Governor Did: Reduced (line item vetoed) THIS budget item from  $1,139,412,000 to $1,127,228,000 (reduction of $12,284,000) as a "technical adjustment" or "correction" according to the Governor that conforms to actions by the Legislature that implemented a 5% reduction to Mental Health Managed Care programs.
Impact To People With Developmental, cognitive and other disabilities: Some impact to those people who are enrolled in mental health managed care programs.  This is NOT a new reduction, according to the Governor - but merely corrects what the Legislature had already reduced.

DEPARTMENT: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES
Budget Item 4260-101-0890
What the Governor Did: Reduced from $16,566,488,000 to $16,409,608,000 due to a technical error in the budget bill. This reduction corrects that error, consistent, according to the Governor, to the Legislature's intent and action on this item.
Impact to People with developmental, cognitive and other disabilities: None. This is NOT a new reduction - but, according to the Governor, corrects what the Legislature already reduced.

NEXT UCP REPORT
Details on all the reductions made to health and human service related programs and services impacting people with developmental, cognitive and other disabilities - including further details on specific impact of the cut to the Secretary of the Health and Human Service Agency budget, and  other departments including Department of Rehabilitation, Office of Criminal Justice Planning and elimination of state support for a program related to training and outreach regarding people with disabilities who are victims of crime or abuse, will be reported in the next CA UCP Capitol Report on Sunday (August 3). That report will be a final summary of all reductions, cuts and other changes impacting people with developmental, cognitive and other disabilities.

NEXT STEPS
* SENATE: the Senate passed the budget on Sunday evening (7/27) and adjourned just after 9 PM on July 29 (Sunday) for their summer recess, and will not return to Sacramento until August 18, Monday afternoon.
ASSEMBLY
* The Assembly, passed the budget 56-22 (as approved by the Senate) after a record-setting marathon legislative session of over 28 hours, on Tuesday (July 29). The Assembly adjourned for their summer recess and will not return until August 18, Monday afternoon.  There still are about 2 budget related bills that the Assembly introduced and passed that will need approval by the Senate in August, before going to the Governor. Those bills have no impact to people with developmental and other disabilities.
GOVERNOR
* Governor will sign other legislation linked to the budget bill (referred to as "budget trailer bills) over the next several days.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS REPORT
* This is a report  for Californians with developmental (& other disabilities), families, providers and other advocates, from the California Coalition of United Cerebral Palsy Associations, a link to the California Community Advocacy Network.
* If you would like to get on this distribution (and conversely, get off of it) please send an email with that request to:   martyomoto@rcip.com.  Sharing information is part of our organizing effort. Please feel free to forward or copy this (attribution is nice). We're all in this together!
Marty Omoto, advocate/brother of Alana, sister with developmental disabilities
CA Coalition of United Cerebral Palsy Associations
1225 8th Street Suite 480 Sacramento, CA 95814  916/446-0013 (NEW phone number!)
NEW fax number: 916/446-0026        email: martyomoto@rcip.com 
Coalition Chair: Philip Ksarjian (UCP of Greater Sacramento)
Past Chair: Ron Cohen (UCP of LA, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties)