by Rachelle Hadland, AAPPD Staff | May 4, 2018
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On Thursday night the Legislature adjourned the session for the year. The legislature was in session for 116 days, passing out 369 bills. The Governor has 10 days from the end of session to consider the remaining bills that have been sent to him. So far, he has signed 285 bills and vetoed 16; 10 of the 16 bills were revived by the Legislature and sent back to the Governor for his reconsideration.
If you’re an AAPPD member, you’ll know from our communications that all budget bills have been passed and are now signed by the Governor. Here is what was included in the budget related to I/DD that AAPPD supported:
- $11 million in one-time funding related to the impacts of Prop. 206. This is $1 million more than the one-time funding received last year. This is matched with $25,460,100 in federal funding.
- $2 million in one-time funding for room and board. This prevents cuts to room and board.
- $3.9 million for Prop. 206 Min Wage increase (this is the annualization of the 1/1/2018 increase and is the 1/1/2019 increase). This is also matched with federal funds.
- $6.4 million to address a structural shortfall in room and board funding (does not change rates but prevents cuts).
- $2.4 million for state-only case management (addresses structural shortfall in funding).
- $1.9 million to address a structural shortfall in the AzEIP program funds (does not change rates but prevents cuts).
- $34.1 million for growth in the DD program (this accounts for growth in members and growth in utilization of services). This money does not affect rates, but keeps the program running and prevents cuts.
Please Say Thank you
AAPPD was very pleased to see the additional one-time funding in the budget. While we will continue our advocacy work to make the one-time funding permanent (on going) in order to help us address low caregiver pay, we would like to thank our members and all those who advocated for DD funding in this year’s budget.
If you care about this issue, or did outreach during this legislative session, please take the time to send your elected officials a thank you email or note. In particular, please thank the following legislators for their support and work to keep DD funding in the budget. All of these members helped out in particular ways throughout session and championed our cause:
Senator Kate Brophy McGee - KBROPHYMCGEE@AZLEG.GOV
Senator Nancy Barto - NBARTO@AZLEG.GOV
Senator Sylvia Allen - SALLEN@AZLEG.GOV
Senator Steve Smith - STSMITH@AZLEG.GOV
Senator Karen Fann - KFANN@AZLEG.GOV
Representative John Allen - JALLEN@AZLEG.GOV
Representative TJ Shope - TSHOPE@AZLEG.GOV
Representative Regina Cobb - RCOBB@AZLEG.GOV
Representative Jill Norgaard - JNORGAARD@AZLEG.GOV
Representative Rusty Bowers - RBOWERS@AZLEG.GOV
Representative Heather Carter - HCARTER@AZLEG.GOV
If you are not an AAPPD member, but are interested in AAPPD membership, please check out the “join us” section of our website for more information on membership and who can become a member or contact our staff at info@aappd.org or 602-510-9373.
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