OLMSTEAD UPDATES

News blog follows implementation of landmark 2014 federal consent decree that requires Rhode Island to remedy violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision. Over ten years, Rhode Island must reinvent state services for citizens with developmental disabilities to give them opportunities for supportive employment and meaningful activities in their communities.

By Gina Macris

Both the Rhode Island House and Senate have withdrawn from negotiations on a three-year budget plan to overhaul the state’s developmental disabilities system and comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

The development of such a plan had been recommended by an independent federal court monitor as part of a fiscal analysis he submitted in November to Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr of the U.S. District Court. McConnell oversees the state’s efforts to get into compliance with a 2014 consent decree in which the state agreed to correct violations of the ADA by 2024.

Members of the House and Senate joined the talks in December, but the leadership of both chambers of the General Assembly decided to withdraw after McConnell made the development of the three-year budget plan the topic of a court order Jan. 6.

Dominic Ruggerio

“We are concerned that continued involvement of the Senate could be perceived as tacit approval of the entire body without the proper processes that allows for meaningful member input,” Senate President Dominic Ruggerio and Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey said in a Feb. 3 letter to McConnell.

The House used similar language in a separate letter.

Ruggerio and McCaffrey wrote, “We appreciate the work of the Court and the process by which you are moving to identify and operationalize solutions to accomplish the goals of the consent decree.”

“We anticipate that the Court will order the state to undertake a course of action, and at that time, in our role as the appropriating body, we will further engage in this process,” the Senate leadership told Judge McConnell.

Last July, McConnell ordered an overhaul of the entire developmental disabilities service system to end segregated care and encourage the integration of individuals with intellectual challenges in their communities.

In response to that July order, representatives of the state’s developmental disability agency began working with families, providers, and advocates on a 16-point agenda for reforming the way services are delivered and the rules for reimbursing the private agencies which provide direct care.

McConnell’s order on Jan. 6 focused on the budgetary implications, memorializing the main points of the monitor’s analysis, including a requirement that the state raise the wages of direct care workers to $20 an hour by Fiscal 2024.

In the same order, McConnell also said the actual costs of developmental disabilities services must be included in a state budgeting procedure known as the Caseload Estimating Conference, which allows the state to get a better handle on its financial obligations for entitlement programs.

shekarchi headshot2 (2).jpg — Joseph Shekarchi

In a statement responding to a request for specifics prompting the withdrawal, Shekarchi, newly elected Speaker of the House, said, “It would be best to answer these questions with an overall clarification that the action by the House is not a repudiation of any of the specific ideas being discussed.“

When the House was invited to join talks in December, the leadership expected that its representatives would participate in discussions about issues of concern for service providers and options for what might be included in the Governor’s upcoming budget. House leadership “was happy to have someone included,” Shekarchi said.

Because the Jan. 6 order contained “much more prescriptive policy remedies than expected, the House felt that further participation might be perceived as delegation of its legislative authority,” the statement said.

It was out of an abundance of caution that the House withdrew, he said.

The Senate leadership’s letter said it was “unclear if the Senate’s inclusion was designed to guide discussions and outcomes or merely for observation.”

Ruggerio and McCaffrey said “the Senate values continued dialogue and looks forward to reviewing any proffered solutions in an open, public committee process.”

Similarly, the letter from the House leadership said they encourage continued dialogue and “are eager to have one or more of our committees review potential solutions in an open and public process.”

Individual Senators may continue to participate in the current talks, but are acting on their own behalf and do not represent the Senate as a body, Ruggerio and McCaffrey said.

Sen. Louis DiPalma, D-Middletown, has attended the negotiations and is widely known as an advocate for the integration of adults with developmental disabilities.

McConnell, meanwhile, has scheduled a private conference Feb. 11 with the monitor, Antosh, and lawyers representing the U.S. Department of Justice, the state, and several service providers.

By Gina Macris

The $9.2 million Rhode Island budget, which appeared poised for final passage by the Senate on June 30, now hangs in limbo on the first day of the new fiscal year, July 1, a casualty of a dispute between the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate over the Speaker’s signature car tax relief plan.

The situation means that by law, the levels of spending approved by the General Assembly a year ago remain in effect until the General Assembly resolves the Fiscal Year 2018 budget – and no one knows when that might be.

For Rhode Islanders who are elderly or have disabilities, the one exception to the spending freeze is separate legislation, on its way to the governor, which restores their free bus passes on the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, a $5 million item.

But increases to direct care workers in both developmental disabilities and home health care fields remain up in the air. So do millions of dollars in reimbursements to private developmental disability service agencies, some of them for expenses already incurred in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The dispute between House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, centers on a Senate amendment which would freeze the level of Mattiello’s car tax relief if, at any time during the six-year phase-out, the state has to dip into its rainy day fund.

During the floor discussion, senators said the state needed a safety net in the event the state cannot ultimately afford the overall $221 million cost of the phase-out, especially in light of uncertainty in Washington over billions of dollars in proposed cuts to Medicaid nationwide. Those drastic reductions would deal Rhode Island a severe blow in many human service programs, including those supporting adults and children with developmental disabilities.

The Senate passed the amendment, with the rest of the budget that had been approved by the House, with just hours remaining in the old fiscal year.

But by that time, Mattiello had adjourned the House and sent the members home. He gave no indication when he might call the House back into session.

In a statement, he said “Despite the House, the Senate and the Governor reaching agreement on a responsible and balanced state budget, I learned today that the Senate was likely to amend the budget on this, the last legislative day. This would have resulted in a long and unproductive night for the members and the public. I urge the Senate to honor the original agreement and pass the state budget.”